NeoSigno

Globally, 750 million people experience visual/hearing impairment, yet this community is extremely underserved, especially among developing countries, where over 90% of all deaf and deafblind individuals live (only 10% is served according to WHO). Deafness and deafblindness lead to significantly lower unemployment, so we developed an affordable robotic glove-like device that not only teaches individuals sign language, which is a tool that has shown to drastically help gain job possibilities, but the glove also provides specific vocational training to any individual (not just deafblind) who wants to gain specific skills for a job, as countries that primarily use a conventional system of training have been more successful, with stronger economies and higher employee pay. The glove does this through guiding the hands and forearms of the individual into various gestures, while an external camera tracks the hand movements and provides personalized feedback.

Our solution aims to solve two problems: initially it was targeted to educate deaf and deafblind individuals, but now we are expanding to the general population. 

WHO spends over $100 billion to provide technological aid for deaf individuals, but only 5-15% of individuals in low and mid income countries who require these devices have access to them. Only 50% of these individuals are employed.

Additionally, in many mid-income and low-income countries, the general population has little incentive to send their children to school, as there is no immediate material gain. For example, in Ghana, only 50% complete Grade 5, and only 25% can read comprehensively. There is a misalignment in what is taught in school and the practical skills needed for a successful job. Although there are 775 million individuals in the world who lack basic literacy skills, by increasing the number of educated individuals, we can give more job opportunities and decrease the wealth gap between nations. Instead of relying on Western methods of teaching, if schools in these countries mixed more practical skills with basic literacy, it would provide a greater incentive to go to school and simultaneously boost the number of skilled workers in the economy.

Our solution teaches various practical skills to educate those looking for a job, one of which is sign language for those who are deaf or deafblind. The touch-based approach our device uses, along with auditory and visual stimulation from a speaker and LCD display on the device, allows for multisensory stimulation, providing a more effective way to learn these gestures.

The implementation of this solution is two-pronged: first, the physical portion of the solution is equipped with servo motors that can move the user’s hands into various positions, and secondly, an AI algorithm takes in data from an external camera to capture the user’s hand movement patterns to build a more personalized learning experience, by rating the accuracy of the gestures the user performs.

The hand-tracking algorithm is not only used to provide a personalized assessment, but also to build the library of skills. For example, an employer looking for a certain skill can record themselves performing the skill and input it into our algorithm, which analyzes the positions of specific keypoints on the hand and arms. It then simulates the same gesture on the robotic device for job candidates to learn, making the device user-led and scalable.

Our target population is the billions of individuals receiving a low-income or unable to find jobs, especially amidst the current pandemic, with a specific focus on women who have traditionally had much less access to education and practical experience. Currently, employing a Western method of teaching in developing countries is ineffective, as many individuals do not go to school as there is little financial benefit. The number of untrained workers is huge, and all that stops them from learning new skills is a teacher, which are limited in the world. We have seen this problem first-hand as both of us have been to the slums, and spoken to those who live there, in India. Additonaly, both of us volunteer at non-profit organizations that work to help either orphans or impoverished students. Through these experiences we realized that what separates those who are in extreme poverty to those who are wealthy is simply access to opportunities. Individuals in the slums work tirelessly sometimes 12-14 hour days, but don't get paid enough because they are not educated. Our glove will improve the lives of those individuals because we provide them the opportunity to learn new skills and better their careers and lives. 

One of the goals of the challenge is to, "Increase the number of girls and young women participating in formal and informal learning and training." We hope to do that by giving girls and women the opportunity to learn new skills that will help them get a job. Oftentimes, girls education in impoverished regions is jeopardized and they are forced to work at home. That is why we invented NeoSigno, a cost effective and easy-to-use solution that can teach girls and women not only skills like writing, but also skills that will get them jobs.

Our product is the only technical solution that relies on a practical system of teaching through directly moving the user’s hands and arms, allowing for a more direct and multisensory system of teaching. There are a few resources aimed to help teachers in low-income areas learn the best way to teach a concept. However, there is a clear lack of teachers in the world, as 28.5 million new teachers are needed for universal education. Our solution avoids this problem altogether by not relying on existing teachers as heavily, so the teacher is still there as a support but educating teachers or finding new teachers is not the problem. Another factor that makes our product unique is the emphasis on practical learning. Current solutions, such as DataWind’s tablet, provide a cheap learning device for schools; however, they simply emphasize the concepts already taught in school. Our solution completely changes the school curriculum to vocational methods that are commonly used in real-world jobs. 

Narrowing down the problem to educating deafblind individuals, our device stands out from the expensive Braille displays currently in use. Braille displays are large, bulky, not portable, but worst of all, range from $2000-$10,000, making them very unaffordable to those in low-income areas (5-15% currently have access to them). Our device is priced at only $250, making it a much more affordable alternative to deafblind communication and education.

Here is a competitive analysis of our solution in relation to its immediate deafblind communication competitors:

There are two technologies that primarily power our solution: Artificial Intelligence (specifically, hand keypoint tracking) and a cord-based system connected to a lightweight servo motor that controls the flexion and extension of the fingers. The first technology we use is the existing Google Mediapipe framework that processes videos and detects shapes to detect the palm of the hand, from which the relative locations of 21 keypoints on the hand are found. Some vector calculations are then used to calculate the various finger flexion (bending) angles, which can then be repeated on the glove. This is also used to provide a personalized assessment, comparing angles on the user’s hand to angles in the glove’s library for that respective gesture, and then ranking the user’s “most missed” gestures. 

The second technology is one that is currently used in some humanoid robots, but we extended this to design our robotic glove with finger flexion and extension in all fingers and abduction, adduction, and opposition in the thumb. We have connected each servo motor to a wheel which pushes and pulls two cords that are responsible for the flexion and extension of each finger. This allows us to only use a single servo motor for each finger, instead of a servo motor for each joint in the finger, drastically reducing the cost of the device to only $150. Since there are only 6 motors for each hand, and each weighs only 15 grams, the device is very light and can be comfortably worn.

To test the first part of the solution (teaching sign language), we have developed 2 prototypes to test the validity of this unique concept. Our first prototype was a non-wearable device that just tested the second technology mentioned above: using servo motors on the wrist of the device to bend and extend the fingers. It was not high in accuracy, but it proved the concept that we would later pursue in the second prototype. 

Our second prototype is a wearable version of the first prototype, with some extra movements added. We have tested this prototype and achieved a 92% mechanical accuracy of gestures, which is high enough for the user to effectively learn the skills.

We have also done extensive testing on the hand tracking technology.

For the second part of the solution (extending to more practical skills that require memorization of gestures), we plan to use a similar method to the one shown in the video, with different gestures instead of ASL signs.

Our solution provides a cost effective and easy way for those who need vocational training. One of the biggest barriers for young girls and women, or anyone for that matter, is that they do not posses the skills necessary to succeed at a job. After interviewing some companies in our city, who hire those who have been incarcerated or faced abuse in the past, we found out that companies often spend the most time teaching these people the necessary skills. We all know that all healthcare professional needs to know complex procedures. For example, a dentist who needs to learn to do root canal could use the glove. The glove would move the dentists hands in the specific places, so that the dentist knows exactly the steps involved in the procedure. 

As a result, adults will learn a lot of new skills that were not taught to them in school, while children who are still in school will learn these new practical skills. Employers will also benefit, as they can find individuals who fit their job offers more easily.

Short-term outcomes include: More incentive for parents to send their children to school, seeing the practical benefit that allows the child to eventually find a better job, and more pay for the individuals who are working.

As a result of these outcomes, more outcomes follow, including more children who are learning in school, more job opportunities for those who have traditionally had less opportunities, such as young women and those with disabling conditions, and less poverty rates for the average working individual.

In the long run, our solution will improve the economy of nations, increasing the number of skilled and educated workers in the economy. As people get out of poverty, their spending will increase, creating a stronger economy. This will eventually reduce the economic inequalities between nations. At the same time, as more women are working, women will become less dependent on men, reducing gender inequality as well.

As of now, due to the current situation with Covid-19, we are not serving anyone, but in the next 3 - 4 months we will be serving 5 - 6 deafblind schools or organizations in our local area. These schools will test out products and give us some feedback, so that we can launch nationally. By the end of 2020, we will have launched our product in the United States targeting the approximately 10 million individuals deafblind who live here. After 1 year, we will expand to serve anyone who wants to learn practical skills. After 5 years, we will launch our product worldwide, serving around  20 million deafblind people, in addition to those who want to learn specific skills, which is another 20 million people. By partnering with deafblind organizations in different countries we can market to those specific populations. Additionally, we recognize that there are many people in rural villages and developing countries who are deafblind and don’t have any access to resources. In order to combat this problem, we will build relationships with non governmental organizations who will help us reach those regions. Our product will directly serve anyone who is affected by deafblindness or even deafness or blindness. Our research uncovered that those who have switched from braille to sign language have noted significant change in their lives. Not only can they communicate with those around them much faster and more efficiently, but they can be more independent.

Within this year we hope to prove our concept, start to find manufacturers and begin the patent process. This year serves mainly to build the foundational work to launch our business. By late 2021, we expect to be profitable and with more investments in the business we will grow exponentially. Within a five year span we will have received a utility patent on the product and we will be selling it around the world. We will also foster partnerships with NGO’s and deaf and/or blind schools. We believe that our product can change the 97.6 million lives out there who struggle daily with deafblindness and many more who face auditory or visual impairments. Additionally, we believe in the concept of social entrepreneurship, so as part of our business we will employ those who suffer from these conditions and also donate our profits to help deafblind individuals. 

There are 2 main barriers that we see with our product:

Firstly, since our product is a new innovation many of our consumers do not know about our product. Also, we will have to educate a lot of people about our product. For most audiences, we expect that our thorough marketing campaign involving booths at various conventions, social media ads, and partnerships with schools will be enough. However, some of the regions where young women have many barriers to entry are in more remote areas where our marketing will not reach. We want our glove to teach as many young women as possible new skills for their respective jobs, so we foresee the remoteness of some of these places as a challenge. 

Another barrier for entry is the customizability of our gloves. The product has a multitude of purposes like teaching people sign language or teaching new employees any skills that they may need to learn, but one barrier is that the glove cannot be used for different hand sizes. We see this as a challenge because it means we need to manufacture different sized gloves in order to serve everyone’s needs. This means that we need an increased amount of cost for our company as well as those who want to buy the unit. 

To solve the above listed problems here are our solutions: 

Some of the regions we are targeting are in more remote areas, so we plan to partner with non governmental organizations who already serve these regions. In this way, we can easily reach those areas and distribute our product. 

For the problem of the customizability of the glove, we hope that within the first 1-2 years we will have a technology that can automatically tighten or loosen the glove. This way one glove can work for any hand size saving both parties money. 

Our team consists of 2 members: Soham Joshi and Raaghav Malik

We are both co-founders of NeoSigno.

We are both high school students who love STEM and helping others, and we are very grateful for the educational opportunities we have had. We understand that our previous accomplishments and success is directly attributed to this education, and we hope to spread educational opportunities to others as much as possible. We are both currently involved in positions where we can spread education, as Soham serves on the board of a major entrepreneurship competition and leads the business club at his school, where he can encourage others to pursue entrepreneurship to both sustain themselves and make a difference in the world, and Raaghav is on the leadership board for a nonprofit organization which provides education to children in need. Below is more information about each of us:

Soham Joshi

Soham has won 1st place in Ecybermission, the Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship competition, and even participated in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. He currently serves on the board of the Blue Ocean competition and loves social entrepreneurship and helping others.

Raaghav Malik

Raaghav loves math and computer science and spends his free time learning new things. He also serves on the leadership board for Interns4Good, a nonprofit organization aimed at providing educational opportunities to children in need.

Currently, we are not working with any specific organizations, but we are in talks to partner with local schools in our area to teach sign language and NGOs in Europe and Asia to help impoverished individuals learn new skills.

Our company is a social enterprise. This means that we aspire to donate as much money as we possibly can to those who need it. The populations we serve are benefited greatly. Firstly, the time that they need to pay someone to train new employees is minimized letting the glove do most of the work. Also, the glove can be used when an employee may just need help completing a task. This impact especially in the current economic climate where, so many jobs have been lost and companies have had to cut costs, the glove can train individuals in a minimal cost. We make money because of our 33% profit margin on the glove. We are yet to test the market, but we definitely foresee customers paying even more premium on our product potentially increasing the profit margin to 50 or even 100%. Our key customers are small business and vocational training facilities or programs. These places usually need a lot of human hours to teach people, but with an influx of participants after the Covid-19 crisis and moving forward these facilities would benefit from out device. Our business model also accounts for those in impoverished regions. We try to donate as many units as wen can, but it we are not able to cover a unit then the organization or individual could pay in monthly installments. This is helpful for customers who buy multiple units, so they do not need to spend too much money at once.

We have been working with Rev1 ventures, a venture capitalist in our city. We are soon going to attend their customer learning lab program to understand funding and various other aspects of a business. As far as our expected revunue streams, we plan to need funding until the end of 2021, because that is when we are projected to become profitable. With those dates in mind, we have researched ways to bring in funding. Our approach is three-pronged. 

1) We can apply to grants through the government. The State of Ohio as well as the United States Government have set aside money to encourage deafblind education. We plan to apply to these grants and secure some funding through them. 

2) We also will apply to grants through governmental organizations or non-profits. Many organizations like the national federation of the deafblind have grants that we are eligible for.  

3) We will contact venture capitalists and investors to invest in our business. This is our final option as we value our stake in the company, so we would not seek investors until we would not have any grant options remaining. 

We already have finished our prototype, but need some advice on marketing and bringing our solution to the market. We are planning a thorough marketing campaign, but since we are only high schoolers, there is a lot for us to still learn. Using the funding and the mentorship given by this challenge, we hope to advance our product to the next level and launch our social enterprise.

We would like support in distributing our product to a larger audience. Currently, we are ready to start pilots of our device, but marketing to a large population and selling in larger numbers is something we would like to accomplish soon, and support in this area would be very beneficial. 

We would like to finalize our funding and revenue model. As we are both juniors in high school, we don’t have too much experience with the costs of a business, so the estimates we have created so far are just rough estimates, but some confirmation or feedback on this aspect of our company would be helpful.

Our primary reason for choosing Solve, however, is the motivation it provided to learn about entrepreneurship and create our company. By participating in this program, we learned a lot, from how to brainstorm ideas, evaluate them by talking to experts and potential users, modify them, create prototypes, and pitch our solution.

We have spoken to many venture capitalist and business experts and we feel like we have a solid business plan, marketing campaign, and funding and revenue model in pace. However, through our partnership with MIT we would most need help in the following areas:

As we are both high schoolers we do not know the legal or regulatory matters involved with our business. Being a biomedical product we assume that there will be a legal procedure, but we have designed out glove in a way so that it cannot injure a human hand to any extent.

We would also need guidance for our product distribution. We recognize that sending our products across world would definitely be costly, so we have thought about setting up smaller manufacturing plants in the regions that need our device most and employing people who are impoverished. Although, we still need guidance in this aspect.

The root cause of gender inequality is the imbalance of education between men and women worldwide. Because women are generally less educated, they have less opportunities to find jobs and earn money. Our device is a robotic glove that aims to teach practical skills to women, at a low-cost, helping them find jobs and be self-sustaining. This will not only improve quality of life for women, but reduce the gender gap and increase equity. If we were to receive this prize, we would use it primarily for marketing, so that we can connect with more women worldwide and educate users on how to use the device. Our product improves the quality of life for women and girls because through our product they can learn new skills that otherwise they would not be able to learn. Since many of these individuals don't receive any education our glove can fill some of that void by teaching them how to write and many more skills. By teaching them these skills, we are placing them in a better position to receive a job. If our glove helps women get jobs, that would fulfill our goal because not only have we improved their lives, but also all the generations underneath them. With funding of approximately $10,000 we could manufacture the first 50+ devices. We would sell these devices to people in the United States or organizations like the Women at Risk International Vocational Training program.