[This is a sponsored article with the Singapore Government Partnerships Office.]
For many of us, riding the bus is second nature and routine. There comes a shade of green that we see, look up the service number, take one step forward, and that’s it—we’re on our way.
But for someone with low vision, that everyday task can feel completely different. At a crowded bus stop, they rely on distant sounds of brakes or snippets of conversation to guess if the next bus is theirs.
One wrong step can send them into unfamiliar territory and disrupt their entire day.
This ongoing tension became a painful reality for Lee Kiah Hong, who watched his uncle struggle with his daily commute after losing his sight. “Something as simple as a trip to the market became a source of real anxiety.”
Determined to find a solution, he and his three friends—Ryan Yeo, Chia Wee Leong and Sriram “Ram” Jeyakumar—invented. Satisfieda mobile app created to restore independence, confidence, and dignity to visually impaired passengers.
They had great ambitions, but reality struck
Kiah Hong, Ryan, Wee Leong and Ram met while pursuing their Diplomas in Applied AI at Singapore Polytechnic, and were brought together over a shared interest in using technology to create meaningful, real-world solutions. The quartet often participates in hackathons and competitions together, and Oculis is one of their many projects.
“What brought us together the most was finding out that we work together incredibly well,” said Ram. “We often found ourselves discussing not only how to build something but whether it should have been built in the first place.”
So when they heard about Kiah Hong’s uncle’s struggles after being diagnosed with glaucoma, it revealed how independent vision impairment can be—and inspired them to create a cure.
And it was an ambitious one at that. The founders originally set out to tackle the broader challenge of navigation, designing a tool that could help with everything from finding your way around a shopping mall to reading street signs and identifying landmarks. But the scale was too ambitious, and the quartet had to change gears quickly.
“Works that seem simple to us have turned out to be very challenging to replicate with technology, especially at the speed needed to be used in the real world,” explained Ryan. “We needed our solution to work quickly and reliably, and achieving that in all navigation conditions proved impossible.”
To gain more knowledge and improve their performance, the quartet has linked up with organizations such as the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) and the Purple Symphony. Through them, they met with members of the community—not just to test their performance, but to understand what everyday life was really like.
“Before meeting them, we thought we understood the challenges such as general navigation and traveling in large areas,” shared Wee Leong.
“But our understanding was superficial and based on assumptions rather than actual experience. Working with community members showed us firsthand how they need to rely on other people when navigating unfamiliar places.”
Through their discussions, they discovered one pressing point: traveling by bus. This insight eventually led to the creation of Oculis.
How the app works
Navigating the mobile app is easy—it’s all you need 3 Ss: Select, Signal, Scan
- Select: Users select the bus service they are currently waiting for at a specific bus stop.
- The signal: Users wait for an audio signal, informing them when any of their chosen bus services arrive using data provided by LTA.
- Scan: Users raise their phone to check buses, which will announce the bus number and arrival.
The process sounds simple to do, but it took more than 200 navigation sessions at more than 100 bus stops and 30 visually impaired users to get it right. Kiah Hong recounts an incident when one of their testers told them that he found it difficult to decide where to point the camera—a simple comment that made them realize what the app was missing.
“We were developing an application that will help visually impaired people to recognize buses, however we did not pay attention to the fact that they may not be pointing in the right place because we were so focused on making the AI recognition accurate that we had not fully thought about the user experience from their perspective,” he explained.
That feedback pushed the team to improve the app’s haptic feedback functions, which use vibrations to guide users in pointing their cameras in the right direction. “It was a reminder that accessible technology is not just about what the app does but also how people will use it in real life,” Kiah Hong reflected.
With its new development, they received positive feedback from testers. Some even share that Oculis is easier to use than existing navigation apps—signaling to the team that they’re on the right track.
That said, there is still room for improvement. Ryan shared that the app sometimes has trouble displaying older LEDs on buses and that the team is working to fix this so that Oculis works reliably on all buses in Singapore, regardless of how old the buses are.
Filling the gaps through collaboration
While their technical backgrounds meant they had the technical side down, that was only part of the equation. The team joined the Build For Good Accelerator, an initiative of Open Government Products (OGP), where they acquired skills beyond technology, such as operations, marketing, and business strategies.
Financial support from the accelerator also allowed them to focus their efforts on building the best solution without worrying about costs. “We didn’t have to cut corners when testing, compromise features due to budget constraints.”
Beyond resources and funding, what the group needed was something it could not build on its own: communication and trust.
We had the technical skills and the ability to build quickly, but we didn’t have a relationship with the community. We were just sending out cold emails, hoping someone would respond. The Build for Good team opened doors for us, connected us to organizations like the Purple Symphony, and gave us credibility. Besides, we were just four students with an app idea.
Lee Kiah Hong, Ryan Yeo, Chia Wee Leong, and Sriram “Ram” Jeyakumar, founders of Oculis
Since completing their pilot test in 2025, Oculis has partnered with many organizations that have helped increase its reach and impact. MINDEF Nexus provided the team with opportunities to present the app at events such as the National Day Parade Stakeholder Engagement, while Purple Symphony connected them with testers who use Oculis in their daily routines.
“This collaboration helped us to meet people that we would not have been able to reach otherwise,” said the team.
Focusing on creating solutions for those in need
The response has been encouraging so far, but it’s just the beginning for the quartet. Currently, Oculis is available through TestFlight for beta testing. Ryan explained that iPhones are the preferred choice for many visually impaired users because of their built-in accessibility features, which is why the team decided to focus on iOS first.
The app has already made its way into several group discussions among the visually impaired community—including Kiah Hong’s uncle, who has already tried the app himself.
It wasn’t an amazing, movie-worthy moment, but seeing something we built to face the challenge that started the journey felt meaningful. It started with a real person we cared about.
Lee Kiah Hong, founder of Oculis
And it’s not just that one time that keeps them going. “Every time someone tells us that Oculis made their commute shorter, or we watch someone successfully use it on their own for the first time—that little win reminds us why we do this”.
Looking ahead, Wee Leong revealed that the team will focus on improving the overall user experience, such as refining the interface and smoothing out any friction points. They are also working to develop the app to work independently on Android devices as well, before extending it to wearable devices like smart glasses.
“Our success is not just about the number of downloads or completed browsing times, but more about the impact felt. In the next one to two years, we want Oculis to become a trusted, everyday tool for the visually impaired community in Singapore,” the quartet shared.
“Ultimately, we want Oculis to be seamless and reliable enough to fit into the background, a functional tool, allowing people to focus on where they’re going, not how they’re going to get there.”
Their advice to others with ideas? Find people who can help. The team had the technical skills, the community had the living knowledge, and the collaboration gave them access and credibility. None of them could do it alone.
Through the Build For Good program, the quartet can collaborate with like-minded people who stay focused on solving real-world problems for those in need, without profit and jobs.
“This alignment of values made all the difference and allowed us to create something that truly serves the community rather than chasing commercial goals,” shared the founders.
Learn more about Oculis here, or find other programs through the Build For Good program.
Inspired to launch your community project? In addition to project guidance, Singapore’s Government Partnership Office has launched a new SG Partnership Fund to support citizen-led initiatives at various stages of development. Applications for the Seed and Sprouts categories of the fund start on 1 Apr 2026. Visit www.sgpo.gov.sg/sgpf to learn more.
Featured Image Credit: Oculis
