Tactile Palm Communicator

A team of Arab innovators wanted to bring the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ to life – for everybody.

The idea

The first FIFA World Cup™ in the Middle East will be a completely inclusive tournament – thanks in part to Challenge 22 winners.

One winning idea in Challenge 22's first cycle was a device – the Feelix Palm – that communicates to blind and visually impaired people, using electrical impulses to transmit a braille-like message directly onto the individual's palm. The Feelix Palm team wanted to give visually impaired people something extra from the FIFA World Cup™ experience, without restricting their hearing or physical movement.

This has now evolved to also work with virtual reality (VR) technology. Development is under way on a range of wearable technology that can connect to smartphones, VR headsets and other hardware.

The team

The Feelix Palm team exemplifies Challenge 22's focus on the Arab world: four of the five-person team come from Arab nations.

Between them, these five innovators – Thieab Aldossary, Rashid Aldosari, Ziyad Shafik, Dany Yacoub and Jozef Hendricks – possess an impressive range of expertise. They have experience in design engineering, systems engineering, electrical engineering, software development, hardware integration and product design.

The team is combining all of their skills – and a determination to push innovation – to create a more inclusive future.

See how Challenge 22 is driving innovation: Homepage | 2017 Winners | Challenges | How It Works | Partners