Smart Swimming Goggles by Chittoor Student Reach Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Top 20

Pasupuleti Ruthvik, a 20 year old engineering student from Chittoor, has developed Untethered, which uses ultrasonic sensing and haptic alerts to help visually impaired swimmers detect approaching pool walls.

Twenty year old engineering student Pasupuleti Ruthvik from Chittoor has developed smart swimming goggles designed to alert visually impaired swimmers as they approach the wall of a swimming pool.
Called Untethered, the innovation uses ultrasonic sensing to measure the distance between a swimmer and the pool wall. Haptic feedback then provides a physical alert as the swimmer gets closer.
The concept is intended to help visually impaired swimmers navigate pools with greater safety, confidence and independence.
Untethered has advanced to the Top 20 teams of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, a national education and innovation competition focused on technology based solutions to practical problems through design thinking, mentorship and hands on learning.

Ruthvik said the idea emerged after an accident involving one of his friends.
“One of my friends suffered a concussion in an accident, and that stayed with me. It made me think about how technology could prevent injuries and help people participate in activities without constantly depending on someone else,” Ruthvik said.
The project also connects Ruthvik’s childhood interest in swimming with his interest in entrepreneurship.
“I always wanted to do something in sports. After joining engineering college, I began thinking about entrepreneurship—not simply as starting a company, but as identifying a real problem, building something meaningful and creating an impact,” he said.
Ruthvik entered the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Bootcamp initially focused on the technical feasibility of the goggles. The programme led him to consider how visually impaired swimmers would experience and use the product.

“Earlier, I was asking, ‘Can I make this technology work?’ The Bootcamp made me ask, ‘Who will use it? What problem are they actually facing? Will it make their lives better, and would they want to use it?’ That completely changed how I looked at my idea,” he said.
Through mentoring and sessions during the programme, Ruthvik began examining the feasibility of the product as well as its user experience and prospects for practical adoption.
“My mentors helped me understand what was technically possible and how I could approach the problem differently. Their guidance helped me move from simply having an idea to thinking like someone building a real product,” he added.

Ruthvik now wants to develop Untethered into an affordable and scalable assistive product that could be used by visually impaired swimmers in India and other countries.
“I do not want this to remain an engineering project or a prototype that works only in a laboratory. If a visually impaired swimmer can enter a pool and feel more confident and independent because of something we built, that would mean far more to me than simply developing a new technology,” Ruthvik said.
As the project progresses through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026, Ruthvik will continue developing the concept with a focus on its technical capabilities, usability and potential application for visually impaired swimmers.

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