Two Irvine teens, Chenxi Huang and Kelley Gou, have been recognized as global semifinalists in the Technovation Girls competition. This international challenge tasks young women with developing technological solutions to real-world issues.
Chenxi Huang created Chorify, an application designed to assist deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in dancing. Her app is paired with a 3D-printed wristband. Chorify uses pose estimation to compare a dancer's movements against a pre-recorded reference video, while the accompanying wristband translates the song's beat into vibrations that the dancer can feel. Huang, who has been passionate about dancing since age six, initially developed an app for her own practice. Her focus shifted after volunteer work exposed her to people with disabilities, prompting her to consider how dance might be experienced without the ability to hear music. She noted that hard-of-hearing dancers often rely on feeling the footsteps of others. Huang stated that she wants to "make dance more accessible and inclusive" for everyone.
Kelley Gou's app, Walk With Me, emerged from a similar inspiration rooted in volunteerism. After assisting at an outdoor Easter event for visually impaired children, Gou observed that many children hesitated to take food themselves, waiting instead for a parent to help. This experience led her to consider how she could "create something to empower them." Previously, Gou had been developing a general trip-planning app, inspired by her family's own travel habits and occasional conflicts. She adapted this concept into Walk With Me, an accessibility tool specifically tailored for visually impaired users. The app integrates artificial intelligence to describe a user’s surroundings aloud from a photo, allows for itinerary planning via voice command, and can pull in details for flights, hotels, and other bookings.
Both teens developed their applications independently, working from home, a process Gou described as similar to how many teenagers might build a playlist. Their projects demonstrate a shared interest in leveraging technology for community benefit. Gou expressed surprise at advancing so far in the Technovation Girls competition, stating a desire to "help my community, help people in Irvine and Orange County" and to continue learning to create more projects that assist others.
