Kalaburagi start-up uses neural tech to measure students' attention levels

Kalaburagi start-up uses neural tech to measure students' attention levels

N V Vijayakumar

Bengaluru, dhns: BTH Technologies, a Kalaburagi-based startup, has developed a solution with headgear which assesses the attention level of students in the classroom based on mind-wave technology.

Exhibiting their product as part of the Maker Fair held on the second day of Bengaluru Tech Summit on Friday, BHT Technologies co-founder Ravi Poojari said the company has developed an algorithm based on neural technology to assess the focusing capability of students.

"We use headgear called MindWave which is attached to the forehead and ear lobes. It assesses eye focus, change in head movement and other neural movements. The data is then transmitted to a personal computer via a cluster-based box developed by our company," he said.

The company, launched by Poojari and Shrishail Pattar, started their company in the printed circuit board (PCB) design and fabrication space. They source the headgear from the open electronics hardware market, from a vendor called NeuroSky.

The neural algorithm assesses the meditation, attention and blinks of the student. "It measures attention from zero to 100 points displayed by a vertical light which turns white when the attention is poor, blue if it is below 40%, green below 70%. Once attention crosses 80% the light glows red,"he said.

Pattar said the device can find applications in assessing meditation levels and in patient management. "We are in the initial stages of fine tuning the hardware and software of the product to make it useful in multiple applications," said Pattar.

The company, which is registered in Kalburgi and has branch office in Bengaluru, employs a total of eight employees including its founders. "We started our company actually after the diploma course and then continued in our engineering degree. Now we are exploring the market so that its use cases can be further expanded," Pattar said.