Mavis Technologies, an assistive technology company, is set to transform the lives of blind and partially sighted people.
The Northampton firm has launched its revolutionary AI smart glasses, Mavis Viaro and Mavis Itero, which feature a range of life-enhancing capabilities that will provide increased independence and confidence for people who are blind or have low vision.
Designed through lived experience and developed specifically for blind and partially sighted users, the technology addresses a rapidly growing and underserved need in the UK and beyond.
An estimated two million people in the UK currently live with significant sight loss, a figure expected to rise to more than four million by 2050. At the same time, traditional support solutions remain under pressure, with long waiting lists for guide dogs and many mainstream technologies still not built with visual impairment as the primary user need.
Mavis Technologies was created to solve that gap.
Founded by visually impaired computer scientist and engineer David Sikharulidze, the company was born from both academic research and personal determination. Living with high myopia and a lifelong risk of retinal detachment, Sikharulidze understood first-hand the daily barriers faced by people with sight loss.
What began as research into smart glasses as assistive technology during his second master’s studies evolved into a company with a clear mission: to build bespoke, life-enhancing solutions for the visually impaired community.
Today, the Mavis team is focused on creating category-leading assistive smart glasses that support safer navigation, better communication, and more confident independent living, with ambitions to scale first across the UK and then globally.
Key product capabilities will aid the user with obstacle detection, via patented laser technology providing warnings in less than half a second; environmental awareness, featuring real-time description of surroundings; navigation via turn-by-turn guidance;reading and information access – printed text read aloud instantly; facial recognition to identify familiar faces; communication to enable making and receiving calls and messages; and remote assistance – enabling friends or family to support users through video calling.
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“Our mission at Mavis Technologies is clear: to become one of the leading manufacturers of assistive smart glasses, first in the UK and then globally, empowering visually impaired individuals with greater independence, dignity, and confidence,” said Sikharulidze.
“The problem we are solving is urgent and deeply personal. Millions of people in the UK live with sight loss, and driven by an ageing population, diabetes, and delayed treatment, that number is expected to increase by 27% to 2.8 million by 2035. Many people think guide dogs are the answer, but the reality is that the average wait time is 16 to 18 months, with around 900 people currently waiting.
“We built Mavis through lived experience, listening directly to those who are blind or have low vision, in a country where one in 30 people in the UK suffer sight loss, and combining that insight with cutting-edge AI and practical usability.
“As a company committed to inclusive innovation, we are proud to be contributing to the UK’s growing leadership in assistive technology.”
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