In Sanskrit, Nimaya means “to create a change,” which is precisely what this Chennai-based startup, Nimaya Improvements, is doing. Based in 2018, the corporate has made it its mission to assist kids with autism and different disabilities change into extra impartial utilizing IoT-based robots. In an interview with EFY, Dr Ramya S Moorthy, CEO of Nimaya Improvements, talks about her patented robots and distinctive coaching methodology.
Q. At Nimaya Improvements, you make interactive robots for youngsters with autism. How did this concept come to you and when did you begin engaged on it?
A. My work on this area began in 2013. I’ve a bachelor’s diploma in electrical engineering, a grasp’s in robotics, and a PhD in social robotics for youngsters with a number of disabilities. Just about each design and idea that you just’re seeing at Nimaya proper now could be one thing that I really did in my PhD. After I completed my MTech and was making use of for a PhD at totally different universities, I occurred to run into lots of people from the autism background – it was both a mom or a baby or a principal of a faculty. That’s once I was launched to this sort of incapacity, and I needed to know a bit of extra about it.
As part of my MTech, I labored with quite a lot of totally different robotic gadgets, and I created a few them as properly. I needed to attempt my robotic kits with just a few kids from a particular faculty. I went over to a college and tried one of many kits with a baby. Coincidently, the day I joined SASTRA College for my PhD, I came upon that my PhD information had been trying into the incapacity sector for the previous 4 years. That felt like a God’s calling for me, and we determined to check out social robotics for youngsters with disabilities.
In the course of the subsequent yr, I went round to greater than 75 totally different particular colleges, making an attempt to determine their methodology, the areas that aren’t concentrated upon, and the way robotics can be utilized there. I came upon that kids with autism are extra interested in robots and robot-like options than human beings. That’s as a result of robots are inclined to have a routine. For any process, robots are going to do the identical factor again and again, 1,000,000 occasions over, utilizing the very same technique. Youngsters reply to that, and this helps them adhere to a selected routine. So that is what sparked all the concept.
Q. Why have you ever significantly targeted on psychomotor expertise?
A. After I went to 75 totally different colleges and labored with lecturers, particular educators, and particular organizations, I discovered quite a lot of research which have been carried out on facial features, social interplay, and communication. However one of many greatest areas that has not been concentrated upon is psychomotor expertise (Motor expertise and cognitive expertise). The idea of psychomotor talent is nothing however your mind telling your physique to do one thing, your physique having the ability to try this, and your mind getting the suggestions. For virtually something and all the things that we do in our day by day life, we’d like psychomotor expertise.
Youngsters with autism and a number of disabilities want quite a lot of assist with daily-life actions. I spotted that this was an space the place research had not been carried out and robotics had not been applied. I went forward and designed about 5 totally different robots as a part of my Ph.D. I additionally labored with a number of hundred kids throughout Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. I went and personally educated these kids.
Q. What distinction are your robots in a position to make in comparison with the standard remedy technique?
A. We found out that utilizing our robotic interventions accelerates the speed of studying by greater than 60 p.c, which isn’t true with every other remedy system proper now. The explanation that it really works is that we use a really distinctive idea referred to as lively studying. Within the standard remedy technique, the instructor teaches the kid an exercise. However because of the lack of audio-visual suggestions, it takes for much longer for the kid to study and perceive. It additionally has a lot decrease retention – kids are inclined to neglect the exercise except they hold doing it in on a regular basis life. However in fact, it’s simply not potential to make use of each talent that we now have in on a regular basis life.
“Within the case of Nimaya, the instructor teaches the kid the exercise. And now, the system offers a audio – visible suggestions / reinforcement because of the, the kid is ready to study it actually, actually quick, and likewise retain it for an extended length of time.”
Most significantly, kids are in a position to generalize an exercise to on a regular basis life, which is normally not the case. For instance, a instructor exhibits kids an apple and says, “That is crimson.” Now, till the youngsters see an apple once more, they gained’t be capable of relate the colour crimson to perhaps a crimson ball or a crimson chair. However on the subject of our gadgets, generalization routinely occurs because of the method we now have designed the robots. A variety of ergonomic design and disability-conscious design has gone into it.
Q. What sort of IoT structure have you ever employed?
A. Our merchandise usually are not simply robotic, however they’re utterly IoT-based gadgets. Each certainly one of our methods is totally interconnected. We now have a talent coaching unit and a coach interface unit, which is sort of a small IoT gateway. The talent coaching unit is the place the kid comes into contact with the robotic to study a set of expertise. The coach interface unit is the place the therapist comes into contact to enter the output of the session . Our gadgets work together with a therapist, and never as a standalone product. These usually are not autonomous robots as a result of for a kid with autism or with a number of disabilities, one of many greatest challenges is social interplay.
“We had been at all times clear that we might by no means take the human out of the equation.”
One of many causes for making these gadgets IoT-enabled was that once I went round speaking to therapists, particular educators, and counselors, I spotted that they don’t have quite a lot of assessments – relatively, they solely examine the kid’s evaluation annually or as soon as each six months. The reason being that they don’t seem to be in a position to deal with the quantity of information that comes with it. So we needed to create a tool the place the system goes to deal with all the information, and the therapist can simply think about the kid.
So with the coach interface unit, which is interactive and has a touchscreen, the quantity of information the therapist has to enter is simply actually 4 touches! The remainder of the information will routinely be dealt with by the system. Between the talent coaching unit and the coach interface unit, there are a number of totally different sensors and electronics, which routinely choose up the information and put it on the cloud. It goes via totally different units of algorithms and offers the output graph or the progress, and all the things that’s required.
Q. Might you discuss just a few of your merchandise?
A. We now have about six totally different gadgets. The second you take a look at these, you’ll be able to already see there’s a explicit method of designing the system. There’s a selected colour scheme. It is because there’s a methodology through which you design a tool for a kid with autism or disabilities. We have to look into the road of sight, we additionally have to look into the colour mixture, depth notion, and peripheral imaginative and prescient. All of those elements must be considered apart from the ergonomic design.
For instance, within the door talent coaching unit, you’ll be able to see there are two knobs, an area, after which there’s a miniature door. I can guess on the truth that if the knobs are positioned in every other method , this method won’t work for a kid as a result of quite a lot of kids have depth notion points. So quite a lot of totally different methodologies and ideas have been used to design each facet of the gadgets.
One other instance could be the joystick system. If you transfer the joystick, it is possible for you to to see the robotic shifting up, down, proper, and left in line with the way in which that you just’re shifting it. What occurs is that the kid is ready to see a three-dimensional model of all of this and is ready to relate to the motion and its response. And because it’s a three-dimensional object, the kid tends to have quite a lot of enjoyable taking part in with it as if it had been a toy. As there’s reinforcement, the kid is getting hooked on it and may be very pleased to play with it. That method, kids find yourself studying the talents which can be required.
Q. What’s your organization’s USP? Is it appropriate to imagine that you’ve little to no competitors on this area, from India and overseas?
A. Proper now, the world over, robotic gadgets haven’t been used for coaching kids with autism of their day by day life expertise. So our USP is the structure, our coaching, and the gadgets, all put collectively. It is because, together with this set of gadgets, we now have a selected methodology that we now have developed referred to as the Suprayoga methodology. We now have already patented just a few of our gadgets and some of them are within the pipeline.
There are quite a lot of universities overseas which have tried comparable issues, however principally not for psychomotor expertise. For instance, there are a few universities in Dubai and the US that use humanoid robots to coach kids with autism. However they’re tremendous costly. In our case, we actually run coaching for every youngster for no more than 350 rupees per session. After I did a survey with just a few therapists, they instructed me for a kid to discover ways to open a door and shut it, it takes about eight months to a yr. However we’re in a position to train them in lower than two months! That’s the distinction we’re in a position to make.
Q. How did you create your first MVP? What sort of {hardware} did you employ in it?
A. Our first MVP was tremendous frugal. For the primary couple of designs, I used random plastic components and common elements like off-the-shelf DC motors. Each college has a kind of storage with a number of additional components. So I actually went there and picked up an enormous plank of the board for the system. I additionally used the small picket bench that you just sit on while you do puja! So that is the type of factor that we began with.
After the primary two gadgets had been successful, I went forward and devised three extra of them from scratch. After which the work in direction of making an attempt to transform it right into a prototype was a really totally different expertise. We needed to do financial designing, and we used quite a lot of 3D printing expertise on this. All the things is indigenous, and that’s one of many the reason why we had been in a position to survive the COVID situation. We don’t depend on imports.
“All of Nimaya’s merchandise are utterly made in India.”
Q. Might you discuss a bit of bit about your app, Gita?
A. Nimaya’s imaginative and prescient is to change into an end-to-end platform for all kids, so we developed merchandise for all kids proper from the day they’re born. We’re growing purposes and gadgets for neurotypical kids, and developing with merchandise for preschool schooling. Relating to kids with disabilities, we would like Nimaya to start out proper from screening, prognosis, evaluation, and coaching to post-training, and reinforcement.
In the course of the COVID pandemic, each particular faculty was closed for 2 years. That’s after we pivoted to an app referred to as GITA. GITA stands for Development and Intelligence Monitoring Software. We needed to handle one of many greatest gaps that we discovered – quite a lot of dad and mom wouldn’t have consciousness of the developmental milestones of youngsters as they develop. Typically this ignorance results in unnoticed disabilities method later into development. Even educated folks are inclined to miss out on such milestones. However early intervention makes quite a lot of distinction. It’s very, essential to determine any type of difficulty at a really younger age.
So we got here up with this app referred to as Gita. It’s out there on Play Retailer as Gita Milestones. It’s an utility that helps dad and mom monitor the milestones of youngsters from beginning till 5 years. The app’s UI has quite a lot of hand-drawn illustrations, so even people who find themselves not in a position to learn or write however do have a smartphone can take a look at the photographs and go forward.
We assess the kid’s development in 5 other ways – psychomotor expertise, social interplay, communication, self-awareness and understanding. As and when the dad or mum enters the information for the kid’s actions, the rating retains altering. So this works because the dashboard. And we don’t cease proper there – we give dad and mom a warning, stating the actions the kid is missing in, and that they should take the kid to a developmental pediatrician.
Q. What would you say is essentially the most distinctive characteristic of Gita?
A. The perfect a part of Gita is that we’re the primary ones to herald Indian conventional ideology. For instance, within the olden days, when folks used to remain in joint households, grandparents used to present the child 10 rupees or a coin or one thing. It was not about giving cash to the child, however really to see if the kid is ready to maintain it or not. These are the sorts of issues that obtained misplaced over a time period. And these are the sorts of issues that we’ve introduced in from working with quite a lot of totally different elders and skilled professionals.
“And the very best half is it’s a very free app!”
We now have adopted each single developmental pediatrician evaluation norm that’s required. Each protocol has been adopted. We’re additionally the primary to have this app in regional languages. Proper now, we have already got it in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi and we’re launching it with the totally different governments. For instance, the Tamil model was launched with the Social Welfare Minister of Pondicherry. We’re in talks with the Karnataka and Telangana authorities as properly. In truth, we now have gained the “Greatest Innovation of the 12 months” award from the Telangana authorities!
Q. What sort of alternatives exist for particular colleges to companion with you?
A. Sure, most of our partnerships are going to be with therapists, colleges, particular colleges, particular educators and even dad and mom. We run our flagship merchandise in two fashions. Any particular faculty can subscribe to the gadgets (or any one of many gadgets). As soon as they’re carried out with the coaching, they may give the system again to us. They’ll then pays the per youngster per session price to us.
The second mannequin is the place colleges should buy the gadgets from us. For instance, a particular faculty in southern Pondicherry is excited about getting our methods utterly. On this case, we promote the methods proper out, however we are going to cost them for the cloud companies that we offer. It’s a really nominal charge. Additionally, dad and mom can at all times convey their kids to our coaching facilities. Ultimately, we’d get right into a franchisee mannequin as properly.
At the moment, we now have an MOU with NIEPMD (Nationwide Institute for Empowerment of Individuals with A number of Disabilities). It’s a central authorities group in Chennai. All of our flagship merchandise are already operating, coaching greater than 200 kids there. Gita goes to be launched in each certainly one of their lecture rooms and early intervention facilities. And it’s going to be launched to the dad and mom as properly. We’re in talks with Air Pressure bases to launch of their particular colleges too.
Q. What are your common investments, hiring and growth traits?
A. Thus far we’ve bootstrapped. We now have grants from an incubator from Hyderabad, IIM Calcutta, and some competitions. Sure, we will certainly be going into funding sooner or later. Talking of hiring, we’re just about working from house, apart from our meeting that’s taking place in-house. Quickly, we shall be trying to increase our advertising and marketing group, and gross sales group as properly.
Speaking about growth plans, we’re already open to all states in India. Anybody can strategy us and we will ship the gadgets to them – logistically it’s not an issue. We’re in talks with a particular faculty in Mumbai, the place we’d increase quickly. We’re additionally being incubated in Australia. So we are going to quickly be exploring Australia, and we’re additionally in talks with Dubai.
Q. What’s subsequent for Nimaya?
A. In the course of the pandemic, dad and mom went via quite a lot of helpless conditions the place they weren’t in a position to prepare their kids. So we now have a tool in our pipeline which oldsters can use at house to coach their kids. It’s in beta testing mode proper now. Aside from this, I take lessons for fogeys about how particular dad and mom can have interaction their kids at house. We’re even developing with a few merchandise for neurotypical kids and for preschool schooling as properly.
