Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay start-ups have developed several novel technological weapons for front-line professionals and workers –including contactless detection, hot spot monitoring and real-time monitoring of logistics—to combat Covid-19 effectively.
The other weapons that the IIT-Bombay have developed include: smart trolley for hospitals, rapid ambulance service and pregnancy care. “Most of these were developed within days of the nation-wide lock-down announced by the government,” an IIT-B spokesperson said here on Sunday.
Two start-up companies Augle AIand Faclon Labshave devised solutions for detection, tracking and localization in a densely populated city. The temperature sensing system developed by Augle skims through hundreds of people moving in public places.
Tejendu, head of their tech team, said: “We are integrating this with our existing facial recognition system to strengthen the safety and security in offices, government buildings, public places, malls – any place where people gather in large numbers.”
The two start-up companies will also provide drone-based crowd analytics for quarantined areas for increasing the safety of police officials and health workers.
Faclon is working closely with BMC to install automatic plug & play screening devices that can be mounted on wall or tripod. They capture thermal snapshots of individuals andactivate alarms upon detectingthose with fever.
A robotic smart trolley with racks designed by the start-up JanYu Technologiesis being tested in local hospitals.
Dr. Om Singh of Lifecare Hospital, Vasai said that the trolley with its WiFi connected tablet screen and in-built camera for patient interaction through live audio-visuals.
Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha (Retd.) tweeted about the smart trolley for remote care for COVID patients. These trolleys can be remotely operated, for taking food, medicine, clothing and other critical supplies between isolation wards and supply units.
“Our company develops robots for hazardous workspaces. We modified these to meet the current requirements, and are delivering trolleys to hospitals in Hyderabad, Lucknow and Delhi” Sai Hemanth, founder of the company said.
Routetomarket Media India, which offers sales, distribution and media management services, is manufacturing customisable personal protection equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals, law and order personnel and other frontline workers. Harsh, one of the founders of R2MI, said: “We are manufacturing about 5,000 PPEs per day and have pledged to donate 50% of them.”
Adapt Ideations provides Cloud-based platforms for real-time monitoring of logistics and delivery. They utilized their network to manufacture face protection shields with BSL-2 compliance for use by doctors, health workers and enforcement officials.
The IIT-spokesperson said: “As of today, 200 face shields were donated to Thane traffic police,and 1250 were supplied to Aastha Pratishthan for Ratnagiri Police.More are in production, to meet the requests from Andhra Pradesh police, Telangana medical authorities, and Dharavi residents in Mumbai”.
A PhD student Farha joined hands with Sukanya, founder of a bioplastics start-up called Phabio, to develop a community engagement project. Their Spot. Corona app provides a heat map for informed decisions on contaminant zones, by predicting the number of hidden and reported cases. It uses multiple sets of data including symptoms, detection, travel history and contact tracing to identify infection hotspots. Thishelps in deciding about increased tests, optimal isolation zones and localized lockdown.
The CareNxteam developed a video series and webinars called ‘Don't Panic, Protect’in partnership with renowned gynaecologists, doctors and counsellors. Their app is used by frontline workers to counsel more than 10,000 pregnant women in remote areas.
The HelpNowstart-up team developed an app called MedCabs, reducing the time required to get an ambulance to under 15 minutes. They are aggregating ambulances, mobilizing Uber drivers andgiving them AHA-certified training as well as protective equipment.More than 350 such vehicles are currently moving on Mumbai roads, and have serviced over 9000 calls for help. The team launched a 24x7 helpline to provide sanitized ambulances with ventilators for COVID emergenciesand are helping the government to sanitize public places like CST, BKC and Dharavi.
“HelpNow was started by Aditya Makkar after his father suffered a heart attack and was told to wait for 45 minutes for an ambulance; he was saved by driving to the hospital in their own car” Dr. Aparna Rao, who coordinates various courses offered by Desai Sethi School for Entrepreneurship at IIT Bombay, said. More than 25 start-ups including Augle, Adapt, CareNx, Faclon, HelpNow, JanYu, Phabio, R2MI and others were started by IITB students who were inspired and empowered through DSSE courses and mentoring programs.
We are proud to see them rising to meet the COVID challenges with fresh thinking and effective solutions.” Dr Rao added.
