3 practical uses of IoT

MUMBAI, INDIA: IOT which has remained an enigma so far, a concept or a new technology whose impact is largely discussed at symposiums, is now entering our everyday lives.

“Combined with big data, wearables and analytics, IOT can play a critical role in our everyday lives. Our aim is to touch lives with these technologies,” remarks Madhavan Satagopan, CTO, Altimetrik, a Bengaluru-based start-up.

We present three real-life applications below:

Healthcare: For a children's hospital in Florida, Altimetrik used mobile analytics to provide preventive care to asthmatic children from 5 to 12 years.

Explains Satagopan, “We used wearables to capture eating habits and lifestyle of children; and collated the data along with air quality and other events that could cause asthma attacks to on weekly and monthly basis. Therefore, with real-time analysis, the state was not only able to reduce the number of asthma attacks, but the governor was able to save significant cost on healthcare.”

Similarly in the APAC, the company is working with Gates foundation backed NGO in India and Africa for prevention of infant mortality and nutrition of mothers after child birth.

Altimetrik is currently at advanced level discussions with the one of the largest private hospital chain in India, for diagnostics and preventive healthcare of critical illnesses.

Government: For the 20,000 debt driven farmers who borrowed money from local landlords at exorbitant interest rates and fell into the never ending vicious trap, Altimetrik has come as a God send.

In an initiative supported by the the largest public sector bank in India, the start-up has connected these villagers via a device thereby enabling cardless and mobile SMS-based payments by integrating the backend of the device with the CBS of the banks. While the villagers are paying debts to the money lenders, they have started going to the banks for fresh borrowings. As a result, the company has succeeded in bringing the unbanked population into the main stream as a part of governments’ Jan Dhan Yojna initiative.

Agriculture: Although in the initial stages, the company with the aid of students from the BMS College of engineering is using IoT to measure yield and soil fertility. The students have developed drones that go near trees, the impact of insects on trees and changing the way pesticides are administered.