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Indian wearable device raises $200k online
Bangalore: A wearable device developed by a 23-year-old Indian based in
Kerala has just concluded an overwhelmingly successful campaign on
crowd-funding platform Indiegogo. Fin, a tiny hardware product that you can
wear on your thumb as a ring and which converts your whole palm into a
gesture interface, has raised about $200,000 from some 1,600 people around
the world who have pre-ordered the product.
Fin’s initial target was to raise $100,000. But in
mid-February, when it found its target could be achieved faster than
anticipated, it extended the campaign’s deadline to March 9, resulting in a
doubling of its collections.
This is the second Indian hardware-cum-software
startup to have had a great innings on a crowd-funding platform in recent
times. Late last year, Gecko, a coin-sized electronic device with a
multitude of uses and developed and marketed by a Bangalore startup, raised
orders worth $135,485 — more than double the initially targeted $50,000.
Fin has been developed by Rohildev N, who grew up
in Malappuram in Kerala and who graduated from Kathir College of
Engineering in Coimbatore in 2012.
Eight months ago, he established RHL Vision Technologies at the Startup
Village in Kochi to work on touchless technologies, aproject he started
during his final year of engineering.
Fin, worn as a ring on your thumb, has sensors that
can uniquely recognize each segment (phalange) of the fingers. It also has
Bluetooth that can be used to link Fin to other devices like your
smartphone, TV or another wearable device. So you can assign different
functions to each finger segment, and you can perform a function by just
making your thumb touch the relevant segment. The possibilities this
creates are phenomenal. The simple touch of your thumb on a finger segment
can send an emergency alert, silence your phone, move to the next track on
your playlist, pick up a call — all without taking the phone out of your
pocket or bag. Your fingers can be your numeric keypad. You can switch on
or off or change the channel on your TV by just using your palm. If you
have home automation devices, your palm can operate those.
“There’s no effort, no stress. Unlike other
touchless technologies, you don’t have to raise your hand, wave your arms,
nothing that tires you,” says Rohildev. Fin will be priced at $120 each,
but that cost could come down with mass manufacturing. The first shipments
are expected in September.
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