Hyderabad, India, 17, April 2020: T-Hub, which leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem, announced that nine of its startups have come up with breakthrough solutions to combat or curb the spread of COVID-19. The virus has inflicted incalculable damage to the world. Besides altering the lives of humans in an unprecedented manner, COVID-19 has also spelt doom for entire industries.
T-Hub’s startups have developed solutions to fight the virus across multiple fronts. T-Hub, through its various initiatives, is encouraging the entrepreneurs who are leveraging disruptive technologies to manage the pandemic and contain further outbreaks. In this hour of crisis, T-Hub is helping nurture new ideas from the ecosystem to help its partners leverage emerging opportunities.
Ravi Narayan, CEO, T-Hub, said, “As the pandemic continues to spread, it is inspiring to identify and support entrepreneurs who are exploring possible solutions/innovations for the current global crisis. Going forward, we will see more such innovations that will deploy technologies, such as machine learning and AR/VR to lend technological support during a largescale health crisis, such as COVID-19. T-Hub will continue to support and guide these ingenious entrepreneurs in all possible ways.”
The following nine startups have made an impact:
BlueSemi – It has built a smart contactless and wireless thermal sensor and imager that measures the temperature data of individuals and a crowd and relays it to any Bluetooth/wireless device, ideally on a mobile app. The device called NEEM can be integrated into any healthcare platform or AI-based crowd detection platform. Its new-age wireless technology will minimise the exposure of healthcare workers to the infection while providing useful information at record speed. The device can also help the government to study the state of health of the population, and, specifically, of the people who are prone to spreading the virus or are affected most by it. Also, the technology requires no interaction on the patient’s/attendant’s part after the initial set up.
Byteforce – It has developed an AI-based computer vision solution called Safevision that can be integrated into any existing CCTV or drone camera to monitor people in public places, such as shopping malls, hospitals, bus stations and railway stations. The product will monitor the people via real-time alerts and see if they are wearing masks, or if there are any health risks. Using thermal cameras, Safevision can find and send an alert in case of high fever to monitor COVID-19 symptoms. Also, it will provide complete analytics of the situation in the vicinity in real-time.
Blocksapp.ai – It has developed an AI-based drone monitoring solution to combat COVID-19. BlockApps and TSalla Aerospace have collaborated to develop AI and drone-based solutions to support the police and urban local bodies for effective and efficient management and monitoring of the COVID-19 outbreak pan-India. At a time, 30 to 50 drones can be deployed by the startup at any given location. It will send an accurate image back to the ground station that can help the police take stock of the situation. To combat COVID-19, the startup has deployed drone technology for the following purposes:
- Surveillance of hotspots, hospitals, unsecured locations and public places by drones
- Spraying of disinfectants by drones Supply and delivery of essential medicines
- Surveillance, live imaging and computer vision for public place monitoring and management by drones
- Public address systems for information/alerts
cogni.Care – is combining state-of-the-art Deep AI with medical records and symptomatic data and sensor-collected data to build a composite picture of the user’s health and provide analytics. It has built the first portable IR thermal sensor with AI algorithms to predict COVID-19 in real-time. It also monitors via AI any recurrence of the virus once the patients are cured. It has developed two types of ventilators to help the people in this pandemic. It operates in a completely autonomous manner and requires no external oxygen cylinder or machine.
Dimension NXG Pvt. Ltd. – (Under brand: AjnaLens) is developing large-scale thermal scanning glasses to help the government, universities and private organisations to
- Reduce the further spread of COVID-19
- Tackle community infection by COVID-19
These glasses instantly identify individuals showing symptoms of COVID-19 from a distance of 3 to 5 metres. These glasses will enable the Indian police, security agencies, doctors and epidemic control units to screen out potential COVID-19 carriers in any indoor or outdoor environment (on streets / in airports, railways, banks, apartments, etc.) The user wearing the glasses will see the real world, with an augmented overlay of real-time thermal imaging/individual temperature of a group of people in front of them. To stop the community spread in the country, the on-ground team needs a tool like AnjaLens to screen affected individuals as well as potential carriers of COVID-19 in a crowd.
Exprs – It launched a #ShieldMyCommunity campaign for gated communities. The startup provides selected, dedicated on-campus delivery executives for gated communities. The second service launched by the startup is Exprs Essentials, an intra-city delivery service of essentials. Those with emergency and essential requirements choose the pickup and delivery points within the city, and the service fulfils the orders. Six large gated communities with around 5000 flats have opted for this service. So far, Exprs has fulfilled more than 100 emergency and essential requirements in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The following metrics have been fulfilled by the startup so far:
- Over 1000 pieces of medical equipment supplied
- Over 5000 work essentials delivered
- Over 10000 food deliveries
Master PCB – With a strong electronics manufacturing background, this startup has developed a disinfectant sprayer with motion detection auto-spray capabilities. The disinfectant chamber is equipped with temperature scanning and early warning, UV surface disinfectant and finally controlled spraying in the areas required. It can be used in hospitals, shopping malls, offices, schools, colleges, parks, gardens, apartments, etc. It is an automatic chamber with human detection capabilities, which enables the necessary monitoring, alarms and disinfection mechanisms. The unit has been provided with IR thermal scanners, UV-based disinfection and chemical-based disinfection. The UV-based disinfection is suitable for disinfecting humans, objects and any equipment that is being exposed to the risk of COVID-19.
Marut Drones – provides end-to-end drone solutions. It is pioneering the introduction of emerging technology like IoT, AI, data analytics and machine learning to the nascent drone industry in India. To combat COVID-19, the startup has deployed drone technology for the following purposes:
- Spraying of disinfectant through drones for the sanitisation of large areas. These drones can carry up to 10 litres of disinfectant and cover about 20 kilometres. It has successfully disinfected 1900 km with 9800 litres of chemical in eight districts of Telangana.
- Tracking of movements for crowd control and issuance of public health warnings.
- Identifying human body temperature in crowded places through thermal analysis drones. The drones are retrofitted with thermal cameras to detect high body temperatures in people from a distance. Hence, eliminating the risk of contamination from potential vectors.
- Delivering critical medical supplies via drones. These drones are equipped with a weather-proof box that can carry essential goods and medical supplies.
- Conducting real-time drone surveillance.
Marut has successfully deployed its services in collaboration with the state government in Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Kamareddy, Sangareddy and the border districts of Telangana with Trichy Municipal Corporation and the Andhra Pradesh government.
Tericsoft – Launched an AI-based computer vision product with the following modules to combat COVID-19 on a CCTV.
- Detecting persons coughing
- Detecting persons without a mask
- Detecting crowd assembly
- Tracking the number of people in and out of the premises
- Monitoring of individuals’ body temperature in a crowd
