What if a 14-year-old solved a medical problem that billion-dollar companies haven’t?
Meet EYEVA™ — the AI wearable that detects eye drift in real time and instantly alerts the user, built by Aaryan Balani, age 14, for a fraction of the cost of existing solutions.
Intermittent strabismus affects millions of people worldwide. When the eye drifts, the person rarely knows it’s happening — and commercial detection devices cost $15,000–$30,000, putting them out of reach for most patients.
Aaryan Balani, an 8th grader from Cerritos, California, spent a year teaching himself machine learning and building a solution. EYEVA™ is a custom-trained AI wearable headband that detects eye drift in real time and alerts the user instantly. It cost $345 to build.
Awarded Ones to Watch company- OC Octane 2026
OC Octane - High Tech Awards 2026
Who is Aaryan?
The Problem. The Gap. The Solution.
The Problem
Intermittent strabismus causes the eye to drift unpredictably. Most patients have no real-time awareness when it happens — making training and correction significantly harder. The condition affects an estimated 100 million people worldwide.
The Gap
Existing clinical eye-tracking devices cost $15,000–$30,000 and are confined to clinical settings. No affordable, portable, real-time alert device exists for daily use. Patients go undetected for hours, days, or longer.
The Solution
EYEVA™ uses a custom-trained YOLO v11 machine learning model running on a Raspberry Pi 5 with an AI accelerator and infrared cameras to detect drift events in real time and deliver an immediate biofeedback alert.
Technical Stack
EYEVA™ runs on a Raspberry Pi 5 with an AI accelerator, infrared cameras, and a custom-trained YOLOv11 model optimized for real-time ocular displacement detection.
Research Foundation
- [1]Hashemi, H., Pakzad, R., Heydarian, S., Yekta, A., Aghamirsalim, M., Shokrollahzadeh, F., Khoshhal, F., Pakbin, M., Ramin, S., & Khabazkhoob, M. (2019). Global and regional prevalence of strabismus: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis. Strabismus, 27(2), 54–65. doi.org/10.1080/09273972.2019.1604773
- [2]Kedziora, L. (2019). Eye-tracker elements ready for workshops. www.lukaszkedziora.com/en/2019/02/22/eye-tracker-elements-ready-for-workshops/
- [3]Moon, H. S., Yoon, H. J., Park, S. W., Kim, C. Y., Jeong, M. S., Lim, S. M., Ryu, J. H., & Heo, H. (2021). Usefulness of virtual reality-based training to diagnose strabismus. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85265-8
- [4]Orlosky, J. (2025). EyeTracker: A lightweight and robust Python eye tracker [Computer software]. github.com/JEOresearch/EyeTracker
- [5]Savic, N. O. (2024). Piloting virtual reality-enabled dichoptic therapy in primary optometric practice for anisometropic amblyopia in children age 9–16 years. http://www.usn.no
- [6]Thorisdottir, R. L., Malmsjö, M., Tenland, K., Blohmé, J., & Hesgaard, H. B. (2021). The Success of Unilateral Surgery for Constant and Intermittent Exotropia and Factors Affecting It in a Large Scandinavian Case Series. Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, 58(1), 34–41. doi.org/10.3928/01913913-20201007-04
- [7]Tonsen, M., Zhang, X., Sugano, Y., & Bulling, A. (2016). Labelled pupils in the wild: A dataset for studying pupil detection in unconstrained environments. Eye Tracking Research and Applications Symposium (ETRA). doi.org/10.1145/2857491.2857520
The case for EYEVA™ — in four numbers
That’s a 99% cost reduction compared to existing clinical solutions.
See EYEVA™ in Action
Watch Aaryan demonstrate EYEVA™ — from drift detection to real-time alert — in this demo filmed at his home lab in Cerritos, California.
The Inventor
I’m a 14-year-old 8th grader from Cerritos, California. I built EYEVA™ because the problem was personal. When I learned that no affordable real-time detection device existed, I decided to build one myself.
Over the course of one year, I taught myself machine learning, iterated through five hardware prototypes, conducted a 30-day pilot study, and filed a full utility patent application in my own name with the USPTO. At 13, I started with an idea. At 14, I have 100 million reasons to keep going.
At the 71st Orange County Science & Engineering Fair at Chapman University in March 2026, EYEVA™ earned the highest award in the Biomedical Engineering category and the ADLM Young Investigator in Health Science Award — selected by professional medical scientists. I was also nominated to the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge, the nation’s premier middle school STEM competition.
“At 13, I started with an idea. At 14, I have 100 million reasons to keep going.”
Recognition & IP
Who We’re Looking For
EYEVA™ is actively seeking partners to help bring this technology to patients at scale.
Research Partnership
Are you a faculty member, clinician, or research institution working in ophthalmology, pediatric vision science, biomedical engineering, or wearable AI?
EYEVA™ is seeking:
- University research mentors
- IRB-approved clinical study partners
- Ophthalmology and biomedical engineering lab collaborations
- Co-investigator partnerships for multi-subject clinical trials
Industry & Licensing
Are you a medical technology company, health innovation investor, or technology scout interested in AI-powered wearable medical devices?
EYEVA™ is open to discussions about:
- Licensing of patent-pending technology
- Strategic research and development partnerships
- Pilot program sponsorships
- Technology development collaborations
All IP is owned solely by Aaryan Balani. Any collaboration is welcome provided it is structured to protect existing intellectual property. Patent Pending · Trademark Pending
In the News
ABC7 Eyewitness News
AvailableLive TV segment - Circle Of Health
KTLA 5 Morning News
AvailableLive TV segment - Rich on Tech
OC Octane HTA Award Acceptance
AvailableOCTANe High Tech Awards — 24 Sep 2026
Award Acceptance Video
AvailableOCSEF 2026 — Biomedical Engineering Award
Covering EYEVA™?
We have a full press kit with high-resolution photos, technical specifications, and background materials available on request.
Get In Touch
Whether you’re a researcher, industry partner, or member of the press, we’d love to hear from you. All inquiries are reviewed personally.