KUALA LUMPUR: A team of teenagers from MRSM Bagan Datuk in Perak has won the top prize at Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, taking home Samsung products worth up to RM47,000 for a headset that helps newly visually impaired Malaysians move around on their own.
Team InnovateZ built TheVisionSense, a wearable that uses LiDAR and ultrasound sensors to spot obstacles and send the wearer real-time audio alerts. Samsung Malaysia Electronics crowned it the overall champion on 27 October, ahead of four other finalist teams.
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Quick facts
- Winner: Team InnovateZ, MRSM Bagan Datuk (Perak)
- Prize: Samsung products worth up to RM47,000
- The build: TheVisionSense, a headset using LiDAR and ultrasound sensors with real-time audio alerts
- The field: 106 entries from 424 students nationwide, aged 13 to 15
- Run by: Samsung Malaysia with Universiti Malaya
A headset that listens for obstacles
TheVisionSense is built as a smart rehabilitation headset for people who have recently lost their sight, a group the team felt was too often overlooked. The sensors read the space ahead and the device speaks up before the wearer reaches an obstacle, so a user can learn to move through a room or along a street with more confidence and less help.
"We don't hear as much about solutions for people with visual impairments, and that inspired us to create this headset to help them," Team InnovateZ said. "Finally achieving what we had worked so hard for made us feel that all our efforts were worth it."
How the five finalists ranked
The prize money fell away sharply down the table, with the champion taking almost as much as the next two teams put together.
Team iSafePath finished second with iSafePath 2.0, a road-safety platform that uses real-time detection and two-way alerts to help pedestrians and drivers at high-risk crossings, winning products worth up to RM30,000. Team Replast took third for turning recycled plastic waste into water-resistant bricks (RM19,000), while EcoTerraNitro (RM10,000) and Primates (RM8,000) rounded out the five.
106 entries, one 'Start with CAN' brief
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow drew 106 entries from 424 students nationwide across four themes: environmental sustainability, sport and technology, health, and education. The top 10 teams reached the semi-finals, built prototypes and sat a design-thinking workshop before five went through to the Grand Finale.
"At Samsung, we believe innovation begins with the confidence to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and take action," said Agnes Wong, Head of Corporate Marketing at Samsung Malaysia Electronics. Associate Professor Ir. Dr. Mas Sahidayana Mohktar, who directs the Universiti Malaya STEM Centre, said the ideas this year reflect "the talent, creativity and determination of young Malaysians."
It is the kind of homegrown tech story that sits alongside our coverage of Samsung's latest moves in Malaysia and the rules now shaping how young Malaysians use technology.
