There are currently an estimated 15 million blind people in India and another 135 million people with some form of visual impairment. Recently, Bengaluru-based startup SHG Technologies along with Vision Aid and Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital launched the third generation of Smart Vision Glasses.
This wearable device incorporates artificial intelligence, machine vision, and machine learning to create a more interactive, interesting, and independent world for those with visual impairments.
Financial Express.com talked to Ramu Muthangi, CEO and CO-Founder, SHG Technologies and he highlighted the scope and potential of this devices, upcoming launches, and usage among others. Excerpts:
What is the life expectancy of this device? What is the maintenance cost?
Life is like any other electronic. This can be used definitely upto 6-7 years and even more. There is no maintenance cost as such because we give free updates. I haven’t thought of a model where I want to charge…so right now its all free updates.
When we use a product in a real-time situation there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Will this device detect ambiance and unknown obstruction immediately?
It can tell, of course. But it is really not advisable for blind people to be in a too-crowded place and they need to have their cane with them. The device will help them in knowing there is a person or a shop in front of them or there is a pothole or a roadblock or a divider.
There are various categories of blindness. So, is this product feasible for all sorts of blindness or is this specific to certain kinds of blindness?
This particular device is suitable for complete blindness because you are getting only audio responses. We also have a low-vision glasses. In low vision glasses, it depends on how much damage is there on the retina.
What makes this device better than other market competitors?
There is only one market competitor, OrCam Technologies. Our device supports Indian languages. Our device has walking assistance. Most importantly, it is affordable. We want to sell it not to make money, we want to distribute it to all countries. We are talking to G20, we are talking to C20. Our aim is these smart vision glasses should become the brand of India.
Right now, you are approaching patients through Vision Aid or Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital. Are you planning to expand this product to a D2C model?
It hasn’t come to a stage where it can be a B2C model. If I have a visual impairment and I am not able to see it properly, I still go to an ophthalmologist. It’s better they prescribe this product to the needy, then directly available to the people.
What are the key features that differentiate the third generation from the second generation? What new can be there for the fourth generation?
The biggest change is the third generation is lighter than the second generation. We made it lighter because the image processor we use is very fast. Earlier when we use connect it to the smartphones it use to take almost a minute for it to boot up. Now, it take less than 2 seconds and says ‘Ramu, your smart vision glasses is ready’. This version also has less power consumption. It also does the streaming of data. In the fourth generation, we are using an entirely different technology. It will have bone conduction technology.
What are your upcoming plans with respect to this particular market? Are you planning to explore other products in the vision impairment segment?
The Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 3 and Gen 4 are for total blindness and it has an auditory response. When it comes to low vision, the auditory response is there, but they can also see better. Its a different spectrum of impairment. For every blind person, there are five low vision people.
Colour blindness is also a big challenge. Are you planning to launch a device for them also?
No. It would need a different technology altogether.
