From smartifying the idiot box to ensuring quality eye care, these 6 Indian startups are using IoT to improve lives

• A handheld, portable, retinal camera with an in-built telemedicine feature that aims to make ophthalmology more accessible, affordable and reliable.
• An Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) enabled dashcam that provides better data and actionable insights into driving behaviour for fleet owners and drivers.
• A product that could redefine how people interact with their televisions by merging the notion of Linear TV and On Demand TV into one seamless experience.

These are just some of the futuristic ideas that six Indian companies that made it to Cycle 2 of the Qualcomm Design in India - Challenge 2017 (QDI-C 2017) are working on. The second cycle of the challenge launched in August this year saw a flood of applications from Indian product design and development startups working in the areas of Smart Infrastructure, Biometric Devices, Payment Terminals, Agricultural Technology, Medical Technology and Rural IoT. Of these, six made the cut.

Also read: Tagbox Solutions, Steradian Semiconductors win Cycle 1 of Qualcomm’s Design in India - Challenge 2017I

Here’s a quick look at the awesome work that these six shortlisted startups are doing, before you read about their work in detail (coming soon).

iClimb Systems

The startup is among the few Indian companies providing a single-roof solution for IoT products related to wearables, payments, and consumer electronics, and is also working in niche areas such as compliance and certifications in Near Field Communication (NFC). As part of QDIC II, the startup is working on developing a Smart L1 certified device for Aadhaar-based PoS, Aadhaar-based PoV, recording attendance, subsidy and scholarship grants, and public distribution systems.

Intuvision Labs

Founded in 2014, Bengaluru-based Intuvision Labs has quickly established itself as a highly innovative company in the area of ophthalmology. Through their products and by partnering with a network of ophthalmologists, hospitals, clinics and NGOs, their goal is to ensure that quality and affordable eye care is available even at the grassroots level. So far, the startup has launched three flagship, affordable, high-quality and portable fundus cameras – IntuCam 45 for general ophthalmologists, IntuCam Prime for general physicians and diagnostic centres, and IntuCam FFA for teaching and super-specialty hospitals. The startup is now working on launching IntuCAM-Nano – a handheld retinal camera that is tele-medicine enabled.

Gaia Smart Cities Solutions

Gaia is an IoT and automation company providing end-to-end solutions to enable smart transformation of enterprises and cities. Their enterprise solutions bring together sensing, computing, machine learning and analytics technologies to enable businesses to monitor performance, improve operations, manage costs, strengthen loyalty, and increase velocity of business. Their suite of smart city solutions allows businesses and cities to automate and improve processes such as water metering, utilities metering, e-governance, and sentiment management. They are now working on a Smart Waste Management System to­­­­­­­ analyse the amount of garbage in or out of bins, detect foul odours, optimise the pick-up process, etc.

Lightmetrics Technologies

Launched in 2015, Lightmetrics Technologies uses computer vision and machine learning to collect and analyse data on driving quality using mobile devices, while also providing real-time alerts for drivers on parameters such as traffic signs, distance, lane departure, etc. Their flagship Android, iOS, and custom SDK called RideView offers real-time, on-device visual analytics. The startup also offers a cross-platform ADAS-enabled dashcam solution called RideCam, which pairs automatically with mobile devices in the vicinity, streams 720p video in real-time, and brings a host of other advantages for vehicle fleet owners, while making driving more safer.

Sensara Technologies

Through its AI and ML-powered products, this startup is looking at redefining how people interact with television and improving their experience. Its home-grown product, the Sensy TV guide and remote, allows the mobile to command the TV and, in turn, the TV to command the mobile, truly pairing them together. Sensara is also the startup running Adbreaks.in – India's first real time, open, semantic search engine for TV ads. The team is now prototyping a product called Sensy Fusion. This product does everything that the EPG app and remote combination can do. Be it switching to your favourite channel, finding shows or setting reminders, all users need to do is just pick up the remote and talk into the mic. Sensy Fusion also recommends shows and channels based on your viewing habits.

Ayasta Technologies

Ayasta digitises the electrical grid within a facility and focuses on the maintenance of electrical grids using sensors, computer vision, and machine learning. Through its proprietary technology platform called CEGMA (Converged Electrical Grid Monitoring and Analysis), customers are alerted in time to avoid any potential failure of equipment. This helps a company reduce the system downtime, better manage its maintenance process, reduce maintenance cost and increase productivity.