When Sathyanarayanan A.R. and Bobin Chandra first brainstormed for startup idea, they didn’t have to look far. It was the work of Sathya’s mother, a post-doctoral in clinical linguistics, involved with rehabilitation activities of disabled children, which set them thinking. At that time Sathya was working in virtual reality as an innovation specialist at an MNC in Bangalore. His exposure to disabled and autistic children inspired Sathya to start a venture that develops virtual reality healthcare solutions along with his schoolmate Bobin.
According to the Centre of Autism Disease Control and Prevention survey, the ratio of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) all around the world is 1:59. Diagnosing ASD is difficult as there is no medical test to detect it.
The only way it can be diagnosed at present is when the doctors observe the patient over a generalised parameter. Since patients are not able to give much feedback, the doctors are also unable to fully find out the in-depth details of the problem.
It was to address this problem with tech solutions that Mr. Sathyanarayanan and Mr. Chandra founded Embright Infotech in 2017.
A BTech graduate, Sathya had worked for over nine years at the MNC before starting up. Bobin is an MBA graduate with over eight years of experience working with MNCs in India and overseas. Embright Infotech got off the ground with a team of four people, and has today grown into an 18-member team. The Trivandrum-based company also has an office in Bangalore. Mr. Sathyanarayanan is the Chief Executive Officer of the startup while Mr. Chandra is the Co-founder.
The startup’s main product, Auticare, is an Extended Reality (XR), AI-based assistive technology for ASD, which is also helping young doctors, apart from patients, with a look and feel of real medical procedures. It helps in new methods of treatment for rare diseases and helps doctors gain familiarity. “Our main focus area is the content development of 3D environments in virtual reality and augmented reality. The sector is just starting to come up in India, and we are one of the very few VR/AR companies in Kerala. We create customer specific environments to customers based on the requirements specified by them,” according to the CEO. The startup brings VR as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool for doctors to study and understand the various medical procedures and patient diagnosis in detail. Once the patient (child) puts on the Auticare device, they are transported to a virtual world, and are taught real life skills.
The company has created special scenarios such as road crossing and traffic light signals to help the child imbibe and behave accordingly in such situations. It tracks the heat map of the patient’s eye and also the emotional changes happening during the exercise. This data is then recorded and stored for reference by other doctors so that a general diagnosis pattern result can be obtained.
“The customer segment of autism therapy starts from hospitals and public health centres that provide cheap and affordable treatment to masses. Autistic children can visit such centres and take therapy sessions under the supervision of doctors. The next level of the product adopters will be special schools and health centres that monitor and cater to the needs of disabled children. Parents can also buy the product directly and get the benefits of therapy that is prescribed by a certified doctor,” according to Sathya.
A standard Auticare costs over Rs.10 lakh. The startup provides services to hospitals, clinics, and special education schools. It has over 10 customers in private and public sectors in India, and is also in talks with various clinics and hospitals in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). It had also tied up with Kerala Social Security Mission, Government of Kerala, CEFEE (Central for Empowerment and Enrichment).
The company’s primary market sector includes healthcare and well-being using Assistive technology Products by developing therapy Modules in Virtual Reality for patients with Autism and related disabilities. Using their immersive experience, the patients can undergo training and therapy session that helps in improving their Social, Selfcare and Motor skills. The AI-XR platform of the company provides prediction and diagnosis reports.
