STEM-In-Action Spring Scoop: Team Artemis

Over the past year, our STEM-In-Action Grant-winning teams have been diligently advancing their eCYBERMISSION projects to create a meaningful impact in their communities. If you're new to the eCYBERMISSION blog, the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) awards STEM-In-Action Grants of up to $5,000 to support teams looking to further develop and implement their initiatives. As we check in with this year's grant recipients, we’re excited to share updates on their progress. First up: Virginia’s own Team Artemis.

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    Hello again! We are Team Artemis, a team of ninth graders from Ashburn, Virginia. Our team consists of high schoolers Aarnav Trivedi, Praneel Mukherjee, Nihal Jupalli and Abhinav Yarlagadda. Through our research, we discovered that there is a Braille literacy crisis in the US, with only 10% of the over 1.2 million legally blind people being able to read Braille. Furthermore, we also found that 77% of blind individuals that do not know Braille face unemployment. Although Braille plays a large role in the availability of opportunities such as formal education, jobs or community involvement for blind people, a steady decline in the amount of Braille teachers significantly limits the Braille learning experience for the youth. To solve this issue, we created the Artemis Braille Glasses, an artificial intelligence powered headset that allows users to interactively learn from the Braille in their environment. 

    From our last team update, we have made significant progress with regards to our software and 3D model. As for our software, we have transformed how we approach the computer vision translation and the communication interface with the user. More specifically, we have adopted a new algorithm that translates images of Braille to incorporate selections of Braille that are longer and in different environments by expanding our dataset through a technique called augmentation. Additionally, we have transitioned from using manual OpenAI GPT 3.5 API calls with general prompts to a more precise Llama 3.1 Large Language Model, which we have fine tuned on our custom dataset of real world Braille learning conversations. This way, our software will be able to perform translations faster and more accurately, while being able to provide a more efficient learning experience with the user. We are also actively working to improve the 3D CAD model. Our new component casing will be much more streamlined and better-designed, as we now have the ability to model 3D parts in Inventor that aren’t part of the 3D print. This will allow for accurate measurements and a snug fit of components. We are also allowed more freedom to experiment with part orientations without printing multiple times.

    In the past month or so, we have been working on sending out emails using an automated software called Lemlist. Using this software, we have been able to consistently send out cold emails to rehabilitation centers for the blind and relevant people that may be of assistance to getting exposure for our project. We hope to increase the response rate significantly. We’d start by posting information about our project with rehabilitation facilities we’re working with and local papers. Next, we’d optimize our website with a better domain, more detailed website and newsletter so those interested in updates of the Artemis glasses can be up to date on the latest news. Another option we haven’t explored, but could be possible if we finish our first production line of glasses soon, is running paid-traffic to garner publicity of our work and get more potential users. 

    Our biggest challenge so far has been getting blind rehabilitation centers to communicate with us. We’ve sent roughly 50 emails with a CSV lead list with personalized features to each treatment facility to make our emails more appealing to the recipient. However, we received no relevant engagement, with primarily recommendations to alternate phone lines already listed on their website, so moving forward, we’ve decided to cold call our leads. We’re most excited for testing in real treatment facilities. We eventually hope that after treatment facility testing, we would have concrete data that our product can be shipped out to the disabled internationally to access low-cost braille learning and blind adaptation.

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It's amazing to watch Team Artemis grow their invention from idea to prototype to reality as they continue to engineer ways to improve their glasses. We wish them great luck finding centers to collaborate with as they move into the testing phase of their device. Their cause is a noble one, and we know they'll accomplish whatever they set their mind to!

eCYBERMISSION registration for the 2025-2026 competition season opens this August. To learn more about how to get involved with eCYBERMISSION, visit www.ecybermission.com.

Faith Benner

Sr. Communications and Marketing Specialist