Dubai-based 11-year-old girl develops app that detects eye diseases

Leena Rafeeq, an 11-year-old Dubai-based self-taught coder, has developed an AI-based mobile app that is designed to detect various eye diseases and conditions through a unique scanning process using advanced computer vision and machine learning algorithms.

“Exciting news! I am thrilled to announce the submission of my new Artificially Intelligent mobile app, named Ogler EyeScan,” Rafeeq said in a LinkedIn post on Saturday adding that she created the AI mobile app when she was 10.

The 11-year-old’s mobile app, which is called Ogler Eyescan, can analyse various parameters such as light and colour intensity, distance and look-up points to locate the eyes within the frame range.

It also identifies any light burst issues and if the eyes are positioned exactly inside the scanner frame.

Once the quality of the scan has been established the mobile app utilises trained models to diagnose potential eye diseases or conditions including arcus, melanoma, pterygium and cataract.

An 11-year-old creates AI app

The 11-year-old coder said she created Ogler without utilising any third-party libraries or packages, using the SwiftUI programming language. The app’s development involved six months of both researching and developing the software.

“I learned more about different eye conditions, computer vision, algorithms, machine learning models, and advanced levels of Apple iOS development, including sensors data, AR, CreateML, CoreML and more,” she said.

The mobile app, which is currently under AppStore review, is supported on iPhone 10 and above with iOS 16+. Leena’s LinkedIn post has gone viral, with many users congratulating the young coder for her achievement.

Her older sister, Hana Rafeeq, also made headlines a few years ago after she created a mobile app, making her the youngest iOS developer in the world. Hana’s achievement catch the attention of Apple CEO Tim Cook who praised the young girl for her historic milestone. Now her 11-year-old sister has followed in her footsteps with the creation of Ogler Eyescan.