Navigation robot for the visually impaired - a new technology that I believe is indispensable. This invention comes under different names, through different projects: CaBot, Baxter Robot, BlindPilot, etc., but they agree on the fundamental goal to assist disabled people in everyday life. As stated in the social model of disability, "disability resides in the society, not in the person." "Disability" is often viewed as a defect in a person's body; but the real defect is society's unwillingness to meet that person's needs. A paraplegic has limited mobility in a multistory building not because of their legs, but because said building lacks an elevator, a wheelchair or equivalent tools to accommodate them. Same goes for blindness. Since most of us rely on reading signs to navigate, most spaces are made unwelcoming to blind people. But! Navigation robots can amend that. By putting audio, sensors, tactile interface into a headwear, or a handwear, or a suitcase-sized robot, whatever form it may takes, this technology un-handicaps spaces and helps people with vision loss. I did, once, plan a special needs robot for a robotics class. I owe the inspiration and passion for this project to my grandma. In the last decades of her life, she had glaucoma. As her vision deteriorated, I, a witless toddler, had nary an idea how daunting it was. All I was was upset. Grandma loved driving me to school, but then she stopped. Grandma loved taking me to the store, she stopped that, too. Grandma loved playing dolls with me, then I was routinely told to sweep the floor clean of toys. I did not understand how noises in public areas, inability to read signs or perceive movable objects hindered grandma - all because she relied on other senses, hearing and touch, to navigate. These environments were incompatible with her condition. Grandma also loved sunsets. She flew kites with me every Sunday until sunset. Long after she was diagnosed, she asked me how the sky looked. Even as witless as I was, I must say I nailed the description. I said the clouds' bottoms were pinkish like cotton candies, their tops dark like my hair, the horizon was my kite's color - orange, with a golden lining, like grandma's bracelet, where it dipped below heaps of roofs. I pried her hand opened so the night's early breezes can caress her gaunt fingers, and through my boisterous laugh, she would know my kite flew up to new heights that evening. With technology, we can invent and reinvent as much as we want, until the invention caters to the need of every user. This is what technology means to me: helping people with needs. As needs evolve and expland, so do inventions. We must thrive for barrier-free spaces in pursuit of a future where people with disabilities are not punished for their condition, where they are not stripped of opportunities to jobs, education, life enjoyment, because of our spaces' incapability. I am in school for industrial design and information technology. The core to many creative works and engineering is the same: problem-solving. Whenever I make an product, I ask myself what problem it solves and how it benefits others. That is my objective: elevating quality of life. I want to combine technology and the arts to design a world where our environment does not confine people, but enables them.