‘About TorchIt’
TorchIt is a social enterprise focused towards enabling the empowering of the Peoples with Disabilities through developing & distributing impactful, utilitarian & affordable assistive devices to the beneficiaries across the world. The aim of this venture is to develop an Efficient and Economical Device for Persons with Disabilities, so they can go about their lives with more confidence and Independent.
TorchIt is a team of dedicated and passionate individuals majorly focused towards understanding the needs of the disability community and then developing products centred around their needs and thereby creating impactful differential in the lives of the beneficiaries through affordable & utilitarian assistive devices.
TorchIt is the world’s only company “By the Differently Abled & For the Differently Abled” i.e. all our product assembly and operations including training is led by Peoples with Disabilities from understanding the need & providing feedback on developed products to assembling of the devices to training being provided to the new users. Our motto is to not only empower the Differently Abled community through the devices but also make efforts to have a framework where they can find employment to build sustainability in their lives financially as well.
Our assistive mobility devices includes:
- ‘Saarthi – New Smart Cane’ – A effective & world’s most affordable assistive navigation device for the blind to walk in any kind of setup with comfort & independence.
- ‘Smart Eye-Glasses’ – Smart glasses for the blind to identify objects and enable guided navigation, reading, currency recognition and contextual information to help a blind person lead an independent & empowered life.
- ‘Assistive mobility device for people with lower limb disability’ – providing hassle free mobility access to people with lower limb disability thereby reducing effort and drawing comfort in their indoor navigation.
- ‘Smart gloves for the deaf & mute’ – is an assistive communication device for the deaf & mute community thereby providing the power of AI & ML to interpret conversations through converting other person’s words into text through a smart watch and thereby enabling responses through finger gesture enabled gloves.
- ‘Smart Crutches’ – Basic axillary crutches for comfortable mobility for people with fractures, limb impairment and any other lower body misfunctioning requiring assistance.
- ‘e-Braille’ – e-Braille being a revolutionary device to support education & employment accessibility for the blind & visually impaired community by making content accessibile for the users.
Our product “Saarthi”, provides 99.7% Obstacle Detection Accuracy in all possible setups including closed rooms (within 2 feet), lobbies (within 4 feet) and streets & open areas (within 8 feet). Saarthi is ergonomically designed, battery efficient device that can be used standalone or can be attached to any white cane.
Saarthi is an innovative product which can be used to sense the surroundings by the visually impaired people, which will help them in navigate into their dark world. Saarthi can be attached to the white cane and the user will be able to sense the obstacles through feedback in the form of a buzzing sound and vibrating sensations. A powerful battery and microcontroller have been used to make it more effective and long lasting with the availability of three accurate ranges. The user can use the device with a cane to find directions & obstacles in unfamiliar territories, whilst the device can be used independently in familiar regions for obstacle detection. Saarthi comes with built-in detection sensors which help the user easily and accurately identify the surroundings for the person using the device. Owing to our mission of empowering visually challenged, this product has been made quite economical when it comes to the price of the product, so that maximum people could derive its benefits.
Innovation in the Product:
- Accuracy and Advance: Device having 99.7% precision to find obstacles and 98.2% precision in angle accuracy
- Battery Backup: Our battery lasts for 30 days which saves the inconvenience of charging again and again.
- Product Design: Unique and ergonomically Designed, it can be attached with the normal white cane and can be used in the areas which are unfamiliar or new to the user. While in familiar areas Torch-It can be detached from the white cane and be used as a torch.
- The product is extremely simple to use after a training of mere 5minutes.
Product Utility:
- Reduction in Collision Rate
- The increase in Obstacle Awareness
- The increase in the confidence of the user
- Employment through “TorchIt – Build with us” program
‘Smart gloves for the deaf & mute’
Our smart gloves help the deaf & mute communicate with anyone & everyone with complete ease. With a build in smart translation engine the device is able to interpret everything that a person is intending to speak to the deaf user and converts that into text so that it can be read, for the response the mute user can choose to select pre-set phrases/sentences from that available through finger gestures or write an entire sentence by their own with ease.
The gloves solve the intense problem of the deaf & mute community to not be able to interact with the world thereby not being able to communicate & contribute. The gloves allow them to interpret & communicate with ease and in language of their choice.
Innovation in the Product:
- Providing ease of communication for the hearing impaired: – The device enables seamless communication between a hearing & speech impaired user and any other person thereby providing accessible opportunities of learning & employment.
- Product Design: – Unique and ergonomically designed in such a way, so that person can use the device for a long time with ease. Its detachable feature makes it easy to wash smart electronic device.
- Portability: – Since it’s a wearable device that make it highly portable and hassle-free device among all the available AAC (Augmented and Alternative Communication) devices.
- Rechargeable Battery: Battery lasts to provide for full 2 days of communication.
- Service: – The device has a Personal Interpreter 24*7 which will help them in communicating with other normal people.
Benefits:
Hearing and Speech impaired people will be able to talk with normal people using our device. This will help them in expressing themselves, getting proper education and job opportunities. Affordable price point and support for almost all the popular languages will make this world truly accessible for millions of hearing impaired people.
‘Assistive mobility device for lower limb disability’
People suffering from lower limb disability suffer intense pain and embarrassment to walk in confined or conjusted setups as wheelchair availability & accessibility in these areas is a major challenge. Understanding that pain, we invented our device which allows the user to walk with complete ease and comfort without having any push from any body part. The product works on simple manoeuvring mechanics where there are handle bars, that can be wiggled right or left such that the front wheels can be manoeuvred for easier indoor mobility. This leads to less friction between the bigger wheels and the ground thereby enabling navigation with least amount of effort. This main motive for inventing the device was to provide ease of transportation for indoor as well as soft outdoor purpose for people suffering from severe lower limb disability. The design of the vehicle is made in such a way that it is portable and can be carried anywhere. Moreover, this vehicle can be used for indoor purpose where the other vehicles like wheelchair cannot be used. The basic advantage of this device is that it can be used at narrow places also like washroom and bedroom where other devices cannot reach due to their size.
Innovation in the Product:
- Self-dependent: Our product enables the user to become self-dependent to move freely anywhere and everywhere without assistance from others and without any body part interaction with the ground.
- Maintains user hygiene and comfort: Person using our product do not require to drag their hands on the floor and thereby it provides hygiene for them and prevents their hands to getting dirty or injured.
- Durable: Device is having a weight capacity up to 120 kg and requires nearly zero maintenance.
- Portable: It is so handy that it can be carried anywhere even when in a journey which becomes difficult in case of normal wheelchair.
- Product Design: Unique and ergonomically designed such that even a person having a single hand can drive it. And the front small wheel provides high stability to the user and prevents from falling even if the surface is uneven.
Benefits:
- Easy and safe to use.
- Person becomes self-dependent.
- Cheaper than almost all the mobility devices available in the market.
- Easy to carry and requires zero maintenance
‘Smart Eyeglasses’
Our product ‘Smart Eyeglasses’ is smart eyewear with artificial intelligence capabilities for the visually challenged. It aims to bring visually challenged to the mainstream society thus uplifting them to lead an independent and digitally connected life. Using Camera, Audio Module, On Chip Processor, AI, and Cloud Infrastructure, The smart eyewear captures the image using in-built camera which is then deconstructed and processed using on-board specialized low power processor tailored for computer vision and deep learning. The processed information is conveyed to the user using an audio module. In addition, the information is relayed to the cloud for further artificial intelligence-based processing.
From the initial design stages, we wanted to create a user centric product that was packed with features and yet simplistic in its design that was able to provide a hardware in a user-friendly lightweight form-factor. It needed to be a natural addition to the user in order to achieve its vision of being a trusted companion. We explored a number of possibilities, carried out a market validation exercise and finalized the current design. The current hardware prototype will undergo various iterations as we start pilot testing and gather more user feedback.
Innovation in the Product:
- Facial Recognition Capabilities, Scene Recognition & Description
- Money Reading: Currency Bills,
- AI Read: Mobile Phone Text, Books or Newspaper, Sign Boards
- Navigate: Indoor & Outdoor Environment Independently
Benefits:
- Complete Independence
- Digital Empowerment
- Self-learning & User-friendly platform
- Ecosystem creation through data sharing
‘Smart Crutches’
Our smart crutches are a modern and multi terrain utility crutch, one of its kind designed to enhance the mobility of the users by enhanced stability, grip and less fatigue while walking and designed for all-terrain performance and tested at AIIMS Delhi, Military Hospital Kirkee, International Committee for Red Cross. These crutches enable the user to walk for longer durations with complete ease and without having to get stuck in muddy or slippery areas whilst also having the comfort to have your body supported through leg like crutches bringing more sustainability and comfort to the user. The crutch tip wears out in 1- 2months, Long term usage leads to back pain, injuries due to slippage. A new design of crutches designed specifically for durability, stability in all terrains and ease of use. Proper rehabilitation plan with compulsory training executed by the NGO involved in the distribution. This innovative crutches draws inspiration from the human foot. When taking a step, the heel part grips the surface and absorbs the shock. The toe part provides you extra grip while you are in the air and gives you a soft landing. This heel-toe combination gives rise to ultra-stability and zero-slippage for a user. The crutches are equipped with shock absorbers to prevent pain due to bumps. We have developed crutches according to anthropometric data of people with disabilities because their bodies have different anthropometric measurements
Innovation in the Product:
- Self-Standing Crutches: Inspired by the human foot, these crutches offer longer duration of usage with least amount of pain
- Comfortable Hand Grip: Less pressure on the body thereby leading to prolonged hours of comfortable usage
- Single Tube design: Aircraft grade aluminium, strong & light weight for high end user comfort
- Patented: Flex tips, does not slip on any terrains, Easy to replace
Benefits:
- Doesn’t slip on wet surfaces and muddy surfaces
- Worlds first Self-standing crutch
- Low pain on hands and shoulder
- Comfortable hand grip for less Callus formation
- Durable and Low maintenance grip
- Lesser effort needed to move
- Flexmo reduces your Energy expenditure to up to 30%.
‘e-Braille’
- e-Braille’ being a revolutionary device to support education & employment accessibility for the blind & visually impaired community by making content mobility & accessibility for the users. The device is BLE braille keyboard for all smart phones and also has a on device file management system to support taking, editing & publishing notes on the go without the use of any other computing device, with added capability of converting any document in text to speech to make any and every content available & accessible whilst also supporting audio content through on device audio player also with added capability of wireless keyboard to support interaction with any computing device with ease.
Potential Launch – April 2020 Innovation in the Product:
- On device File Management System: The device supports end to end note taking, editing & publishing capabilities through the on device file management support.
- Making every content accessible: Through the Text to Speech capability, any content may it be printed, textbook or any other document can be converted into audio and consumed easily.
- Wireless Keyboard: The functionality allows the user to type any content across any computing device with complete ease and perform complex functions comfortably.
- Affordability: Usually note taking devices are priced at $5,000 and upwards, we would be providing our device at a price point of $150, thereby providing accessibility impact in the low income household.
Benefits:
- Making education & learning accessible for all
- Targeting affordability for accessibility in low income households
- Wireless keyboard providing ease & convenience in mobile & computing operations
- Audio conversion capability to support any document accessibility
- Taking, editing & publishing notes on the go supporting students & professionals with utmost utility
Contact Details – Further details / demo / pricing – Website – Torchit
TorchIt Electronics A.: 205, ABC 1 building, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, India +91 722799 4043 | +91 79 40396805 | hello@mytorchit.com
