Fourteen-year-old Aaryan Balani created the device after living with the condition himself and searching for a non-surgical solution. The result is EYEVA, a visor-style wearable that alerts the user when their eyes begin to drift out of alignment.
"Most of what you see are accessories," Balani said while demonstrating the device at his home.
Balani said the potential impact of the technology extends far beyond his own experience.
"It's not just like a few hundred people in the world that have this condition. It's around 100 million people," he said.
His journey with strabismus began when he was five years old. After a fall that caused a concussion, his eyes began to wander.
"My head hit like the corner of the bathroom sink," Balani said.
The condition affected more than his vision. He recalled facing comments from others, saying, "People would say, you have a broken eye."
Balani's mother watched her son struggle with the condition and said he could sometimes consciously correct it.
"When he is aware, he can bring it back, but when he is not, he will just stay like that," she said.
Determined to help himself, Balani began building a device that would increase that awareness. EYEVA uses a 3D-printed visor, small cameras and artificial intelligence to detect when the eyes move apart. When they do, the device emits an alert.
"It will beep in the light and you're like, okay, now I need to be aware of my face," Balani said.
The device went through five prototypes over four months before reaching its current version. Balani's experience working with AI began in seventh grade, when he noticed street sweepers cleaning streets that appeared already clean. Using drone footage and software he coded, he trained an AI system to detect street debris in real time and relay that information to sanitation departments.
His mother saw a clear connection between that project and his eye device.
"If it can detect leaves, it can detect eyes," she said.
Balani adapted that same technology for EYEVA, investing about $300 in parts and spending months on testing and calculations. His work drew praise from educators and professionals.
"Aaryan's project is a great combination of science and engineering and computing," said Robin Van Vorhis with the Orange County Science & Engineering Fair.
EYEVA received top honors at that science fair. Balani said industry veterans encouraged him to continue developing the idea.
"People who have been working in this field for many, many years have said, yes, this is a viable product and this works really well," he said.
Balani is now working with doctors to explore clinical trials to determine whether continued use of the device could help patients correct crossed eyes over time. His father expressed optimism about the potential outcome.
"The research seems to indicate that the eyes will correct themselves automatically and you won't need that device," he said.
Setting up a clinical trial requires navigating regulatory steps, including working with the FDA, following strict guidelines and recruiting participants. The EYEVA device is also in the patent process.
Despite those challenges, Balani says his age has not held him back. His message to others interested in innovation is simple.
"The moment you get an idea, start working on it, see if it's a viable idea and try to continue with it as long as you can," he said.