IISc event showcases deep-tech innovation from India

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on October 25 held the second edition of its ‘Meet the Stars’ event as part of the ongoing golden jubilee celebrations of the computer science and automation department.

The event, aimed at showcasing deep-tech innovation in India, featured startups and entrepreneurs working in areas including automation, wireless communication, healthcare and manufacturing.

Bengaluru-based Ati Motors  is developing an autonomous three-wheeled electric vehicle for transporting cargo. The company’s vehicle platform, called Sherpa, relies on onboard sensors, Lidar, radar, ultrasound, wheel encoders and cameras for navigation and is capable of a range of 200km powered by a battery system built in-house. The product is in its final stages of testing and will enter production soon.

Zendrive is a San Francisco and Bengaluru-based vehicle and driver data analytics company focused on improving road safety. The company’s platform uses data from sensors on the driver’s smartphone—accelerometer, gyroscope, and GPS—to detect driving characteristics such as speeding, hard braking, sharp accelerations, and risky phone use. The platform analyses the data using AI to provide actionable insights in the form of notifications of collisions, risk analysis, and a guide to coach drivers to improve their driving.

Niramai Health Analytix is a health startup developing an artificial intelligence (AI)-based software solution to detect early-stage breast cancer. The company uses its patented thermal-image processing and machine-learning algorithms to power solution in the form of a low-cost, non-invasive, automated and portable cancer-screening tool aimed at hospitals and diagnostic centres.

Saankhya Labs is a Bengaluru-based company developing hardware and software solutions for wireless systems and cognitive software defined radio (SDR), TV White Space (TVWS) demodulator and satellite modem chipsets.

In 2018, the company launched its indigenously developed Pruthvi-3 SDR chipset that could power features such as broadcasting video directly to mobile devices via mobile networks. The chipset can also help in separating video content from call data on mobile networks, thereby reducing stress on the network and, in turn, improving call quality and reducing call drops. Just to understand the technology better, SDR is a radio communication system than can be configured or defined by software. This is achieved by replacing conventional hardware circuitry with software modules.

Forus Health is a medical technology startup developing solution for eradicating preventable blindness. The company has developed a series of low-cost, portable hardware devices along with software that is capable of capturing quick hi-resolution images of the human eye. The devices, developed under the 3nethra brand, act as screening devices to detect common eye problems that could lead to blindness. These can be used on neonates as well as adults. The company claims its products considerably reduce examination time.

Drishti is a Palo Alto-based computer vision company, with its engineering office based in Bengaluru. The company has developed a patent-pending action recognition technology for the manufacturing sector that relies on computer vision and AI algorithms to help digitise actions performed by humans on the assembly line.