Smart Shoe that Tracks Staff Presence at Workplace Wins First Prize at Coopathon

KOZHIKODE:
A device that can track the location of employees at workplaces and manage the attendance with clinical precision has won the first prize in the competition conducted as part of the country’s first-ever Coopathon held at the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIMK).
The solution, which can ensure the presence of employees at workplaces, has been put together by Team Invento comprising Nandakishore and Sayanth from Government Engineering College, Kannur. The event, which saw experts and academics from the country and abroad making presentations and sharing their experiences on a wide array of topics, was hosted by IIMK from April 29 to 30 with the support of Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Ltd (ULCCS Ltd).
While VASH, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solution for environment detection that empowers visually-disabled, bagged the second prize ,Coopon, a Uber model application for taxi hailing got the third prize at the event held in IIMK campus. The first, second and third winners got cash prizes of Rs 30,000, 20,000 and 10,000 respectively, besides being provided with state-of-the-art facilities for training free of cost.
Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIMK) hosted country’s first-ever Coopathon from April 29 to 30 held with the support of Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Ltd (ULCCS Ltd). Team Invento who put together a solution that can track the location of employees at workplace, has won the competition. In addition to managing the attendance with clinical precision, this solution allows tracking of the positions of employees working in hazardous jobs and will also be very useful in disaster management teams.
The co-operative hackathon was held on the sidelines of the International Conference on “Co-operatives in the Changing World of Work,” organised by Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Ltd (ULCCS) in association with International Co-operative Alliance, International Labour Organization, IIMK and Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), from April 29 to May 1.
The conclave was co-funded by the ICA-EU Partnership on Co-operatives in Development: People Centered Businesses in Action, and supported by the ICA Domus Trust. From 83 applicants, 24 teams consisting of 90 participants from across India enrolled in the #Coopathon 2018. The participants included 36 girls and six teams were from outside Kerala.
With the aid of the sensor attached to a shoe, Invento can unfailingly track if the employees are at their workplace and handle the attendance register with precision. VASH, which gives description about the surroundings, is designed by Abith. T and Vishnu from College of Engineering, Aranmula. Functioning with cost-effective battery, this gizmo can be attached to the body and communication is possible with VASH.
A team led by student Ganesh designed the cooperative online taxi app ‘Coopon’, which functions with free software. The app can detect the position of the vehicle apart from providing facilities like map. More than 200 delegates, including academics, cooperators, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, students and researchers from across the world attended the event.
The winners will receive support from the KSUM for developing their ideas and solutions into startups. The participants at various sessions of the event included Minister for Labour, Skills and Excise T.P. Ramakrishnan and Finance Minister Dr. T.M Thomas Isaac.
Prof. Trebor Scholz, New School, United States; Dr. Yashvantha Dongre of the Third Sector Research Resource Centre, University of Mysore and Dr. V. K. Ramachandran, Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Planning Board also addressed different segments of the meet.
Others who made presentations included Reema Nanavaty, Social Activist and Head of Self-Employed Women’s Association of India; Rangan Dutta IAS (Retd.); Dr. Mridul Eapen, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram; Dr. Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM; Dr. Kulbhushan Balooni, Director, IIMK; Dr. Simel Esim, Head of the ILO Co-operatives Unit, Geneva; Balu Iyer, Regional Director at International Co-operative Alliance (Asia-Pacific); and Rameshan Paleri, Lead Organiser, Uralungal Labour Contractor’s Co-operative Society Ltd. participated in various sessions.
Dr. Saji Gopinath, CEO, KSUM said that the event was organised in view of the drastic changes taking place in the investment sector, including the cooperative segment. The event concluded with a book release on Kerala’s path-breaking co-operative giant Uralungal Labour Contractor’s Co-operative Society Ltd, authored by S. K. Sharma.