Coimbatore: At Kovai.co, we have always aimed to be a destination for passionate, innovative individuals to learn and grow. Recently, one of our interns made us proud by being part of the winning team in the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) in the fitness category.
Charulatha Ravichandran, a final-year Computer Science student at Sri Krishna College of Technology, joined Kovai.co as a technical document writing intern in mid-July. With a love for technology and a desire to create impactful solutions, Charulatha was determined to apply her college knowledge to make a real difference.
Guided by her college professors, Charulatha and her peers initially attempted to enter the Smart India Hackathon in 2021 but did not succeed. Refusing to give up, she and a group of classmates formed a new team and decided to participate again in 2023.
Five of us from our batch got together, and we invited a friend from Electrical and Electronics Engineering – Charulatha said.
The Smart India Hackathon invites students nationwide to innovate and build software, hardware, or present research papers based on core themes. The themes range from Fitness and Sports to Smart Vehicles, Robotics, Renewable Energy, and more. Each theme also provides a set of problem statements for participants to tackle.
“We chose the Fitness and Sports category and decided to focus on mental fitness,” Charulatha explained. “We started by analyzing the problem statements, the tools we would need, and how we could solve the issues using our ideas.”
After careful deliberation, Charulatha’s team decided to build an integration for an EEG (Electroencephalogram), a test used to evaluate the electrical activity in the brain. The team’s goal was to create an app that would help people analyze their mental fitness through EEG results.
“We wanted to build a tool or app that allows users to conduct a self-analysis of their mental state,” she said. “The brain primarily functions through three types of waves—alpha, beta, and gamma. Alpha waves relate to creativity and daydreaming, beta waves reflect deep thinking, and gamma waves are linked to problem-solving, happiness, and compassion.”
To enhance their solution, which they named Mind AI—Nurturing Minds, the team collaborated with psychologists and psychiatrists. They used Natural Language Processing (NLP) to translate medical readings from the EEG into personalized, layman-friendly language. The app, which works in 50-60 languages, provides users with a clear understanding of their mental state without complex medical jargon.
“We aimed to make the EEG results accessible to everyone. By wearing the band on their forehead and electrolyte strips that stick to the forehead and below the back of the ear, users can quickly receive a reading of their mental fitness through the app,” Charulatha said.
With more than 500 teams competing in the fitness category, Charulatha’s team had to clear four rounds of qualifiers before presenting their hardware at MIT World Peace University in Pune. Although they were declared winners in late 2023, the awards and certificates were presented to them last month at their college.
“We’re now working on developing the product in real-time. It’s still in the development stage, and we’re eagerly waiting to see our creation make an impact in the market,” Charulatha added.
Conclusion
At Kovai.co, we encourage our people to pursue their passions and innovations outside of work, especially in tech, by participating in community events and hackathons. Exposure to such events brings fresh ideas and perspectives to the table, contributing to individual growth and the company’s success. We are incredibly proud of Charulatha and our star interns.
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