Kochi: Nitin Vasanth, a student of Cochin University of Science and Technology, who has developed an earphone that can sense a person’s brainwaves and register the mental state of the user, will commercially launch the product that was recently showcased in Silicon Valley, California. Named NeuroBuds, the pioneering product has found sponsors and partnerships with companies like Intel and Bosch. It also brought for Vasanth, an engineering student, the Rajeev Circle (RC) Fellowship and an all-expense-paid ticket to Silicon Valley in May.
“It’s a smart earphone that tracks various biometrics like brain activity and heart rate. The data generated is used to understand the stress level of users and help them relax efficiently. At a time when a majority of the working population suffers from stress-related illness, the product can work as a mental fitness wearable,” said Vasanth, who has founded NeuroTech Labs, a company based in Kochi. The product, slated to cost almost the price of a smartwatch now available in the market, will have better accuracy and features. Vasanth’s company was earlier part of the Intel-DST accelerator programme in Hyderabad. “The engineering expertise and week-long business workshops there greatly helped us build our product better. We are currently partnering with Bosch as part of the Bosch DNA Accelerator in Bengaluru to take the product to the market,” he pointed out.
“The device is aimed to work as a personal trainer helping to meditate and relax in a much more efficient way. But the larger goal of the product is to preemptively detect and monitor brain disorders like epilepsy,” he said.
Vasanth was among the 10 young Indians selected for the RC Fellowship from a host of products and devices that were displayed at the fourth edition of Maker Fest India, held in Ahmedabad earlier this year.
The fellowship was started in 2013 by Asha Jadeja Motwani, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and serial angel investor, in memory of her late husband Prof. Rajeev Motwani, an acclaimed computer science professor at Stanford University. “The fellowship helped me develop strong ties with other leading startups and research labs in the valley. It also opened doors to a vast network of investors and VC firms besides giving me an insight into the ‘cafe culture’ and working of the valley. We got to visit the R&D labs of Google and Facebook and see some groundbreaking technologies first hand,” Vasanth said.
