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NY Product Design AwardsEnter Award

Interface & User Experience

Wayix: AI-powered navigation system for wheelchair users

Entrant: Zejun Wu, Yiran Zheng, Siyuan Teng

2026

Silver

CategoryInterface & User Experience
Class / SubcategoryUser Experience (UX)
AI-Personalized UX
Country / RegionUnited States

The project

Project description.

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Wayix is an AI-powered navigation system designed specifically for wheelchair users. Current navigation apps don't understand the user - their wheelchair, their condition, or what terrain they can handle. They don't account for slopes, broken elevators, or unexpected curbs. The result: inconvenience at best, a failed trip at worst, with no support when things go wrong.

Before the journey, Wayix builds a personal profile through natural conversation - wheelchair type, energy level, incline tolerance, and more. Routes are generated for this person, on this day, with the option to share the journey with caregivers or companions.

During the journey, guidance unfolds across two coordinated layers. A mobile interface provides context, control, and voice interaction, while paired ground projection places spatial cues directly onto the path ahead. The user stays focused on the environment, with additional context available on the phone when needed.

Wayix's AI remains active and responsive throughout. Users can speak at any time to report how they feel or request alternatives. The system recalculates in real time based on user input and changing conditions.

By bringing together real-time routing, adaptive AI, voice agent, and ground projection, Wayix transforms navigation from a reactive task into a personalized, responsive, and actionable experience - built around the person, not just the path.

Project credits.

Zejun Wu

Product designer

Yiran Zheng

Product designer

Siyuan Teng

Product designer

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