Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Feel the direction with Lechal

Hyderabad-based startup has developed footwear that tracks and navigates with touch sensors.

Hyderabad: Whenever we think about the wearable market space the first thing that comes to our mind is the fitness tracker either on our hand or on our smartphone. However, one Hyderabad-based company is trying its hands or do we say legs in the wearable and fitness market space. Lechal founded by Krispian Lawrence has been in existence since 2011 and started commercial sales of its product since the last one-and-a-half year.

The inception of the idea was to build footwear to help the visually impaired with the navigation, however Lawrence later realised that it could be used by anyone. The footwear works on a simple technology called Haptic which recreates the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user.

The user just has to download the Lechal app, set a destination and wear the footwear. The sensors in the insoles, shoes or even the buckle will guide the user through vibrations. “For example if the user needs to take right, then the right shoe will vibrate and so on,” Lawrence told Telangana Today.

Now, while this is a good product for the visually impaired, the company soon realised that this could be used by anyone and everyone as most of the tracking devices now either need users to be glued to their phone or listen to the directions. With Lechal, however, it aids the user through vibration. Thus began the prototyping and testing of the product and after three years of intense research, the company was able to launch its flagship product in India in 2016.

“We have shipped our product to over 70 countries and have sold more than 25,000 units of our footwear in the last one year itself. We are confident the same sales run going ahead as well,” the true blue Hyderabadi informs.

Other than just providing directions, the footwear also tracks the number of steps taken and keeps a track of the user’s fitness. And it can also be used by the family to keep track of their loved ones. Other than its own website, the product is available on Amazon and in Croma stores.

Manufacturing

While startups in India and in Hyderabad are mostly about software and apps, Lechal is one of the few product-based startups in the city. What sets it apart from many startups is the ability to manufacture everything in-house. “Starting from our hardware to software to product design to product engineering and manufacturing everything is done in-house. And we have shipped all the products from here itself,” Lawrence informs.

One of the most interesting factor about the manufacturing is that 70 per cent of its workforce in the unit are differently abled. It has a total of 120 people employees. While the major raw materials are sourced from 12 different countries, according to the specifications mentioned by the company, yet all the innovations happen here in Hyderabad.

Expansion and Investment

Going ahead, the startup – that has diversified into other segments – plans to enter into partnerships with reputed brands for not only its footwear product but also the other products. Without specifying details about the future products, Lawrence informed that they are in talks with companies in travel and hospitality space to provide them with connected devices. “In addition, we are also looking at partnering with footwear brands to co-brand with them to sell our product,” he said.

The company has so far invested $3.5 million out of which about $2.5 million was bootstrapped. Going ahead, it plans to raise more funds as it seeks more partnerships and branding.

Thursday, 12 October 2017

LeChal: Hi-tech Shoes That Show the Route

Technology is beautiful, especially when it comes to the aid of the differently abled. For instance, with LeChal, visually impaired people can travel anywhere without guidance from others. LeChal is basically a smart shoe that harnesses the visually challenged’s heightened senses of touch. It enables them to travel by themselves with the help of vibrational patterns on their feet. This haptic-driven smart shoe has been produced by Secunderabad-based Ducere Technologies.

How a thought took shape

Back in 2012, Krispian Lawrence and Anirudh Sharma, two tinkerers with the common objective to help the visually challenged, came up with the idea of a smart shoe. The fact that the visually challenged are gifted with heightened senses of touch and hearing became their basis for designing something that could intuitively guide the user through gentle vibratory feedback by connecting to the directions set on a map. The thought process started in May 2012. In July of the same year, Sharma went ahead for further education, while Lawrence drove the project. The product was ready in 2016 and called ‘LeChal.’

“LeChal as a concept came about as a solution to allowing one’s senses to be utilised in the most efficient way. The thought led to identifying how to help the visually impaired to navigate in a way that their sense of touch (walking stick) or their sense of hearing (audio guidance) are not compromised,” explains Lawrence. The first shipment of the product was made in July 2016. The four years in between were utilised for development, prototyping and upgradations to bring out what LeChal is today.

Against all odds

Being a hardware product start-up, Ducere Technologies faced challenges different from software developers and service providers, in addition to the pressure of venturing into an unexplored field. The hardware ecosystem is not conducive for startups in India. So, putting together a team of people with compatible talent and ready to work for a startup project took much effort. Adding to the troubles was limited funding. The project was bootstrapped until it received angel funds. Despite all these hardships, the company has grown to become 120-employee strong today and drives sales through its own website as well as online and offline retail partners.

How LeChal works

Before getting into the basics of LeChal, let’s first explain in simple words how haptic technologies work. Haptic technologies take data from a source and use tactile (touch-based) sensors to respond to it in the form of vibrations or touch-based sensations on the user. LeChal follows this basic principle to work.
LeChal has three iterations: the complete shoe form, a pair of insoles with a pair of sensor pods, and only the pods. The pods contain the main haptic sensors. These can either be buckled to the existing shoe-laces of the user or inserted into the insoles provided by LeChal that replace the existing insoles of the user’s shoes. The sensors connect to the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth. Users need to download the LeChal mobile application on their smartphone or tablet. The application provides a GPS (map) interface to set the desired destination via touchscreen or even via voice command, powered by the LeChal assist service. It connects to the Bluetooth-linked pods and relays data to generate haptic sensations.
The pods feed the navigation data in real time as the user starts travelling, and send signals in the form of various vibratory patterns to indicate directions of travel. For example, gentle vibrations on the left leg imply left turn and vibrations on the right leg imply right turn. Vibration patterns can be customised as per the convenience of the user.
Most importantly, maps can be downloaded and saved to the phone or tablet before use and the connection is Bluetooth driven (as mentioned before), so there is no problem of poor network connectivity or data unavailability.

Expanding horizons

Initially aimed for the visually challenged, LeChal is finding other consumers as well. Lawrence states, “At this point, along with the visually challenged, our product has proven to be appealing to people who travel a lot. Fitness enthusiasts also show a keen interest in the product because of the extremely accurate measurement of fitness metrics. Last but not the least, we have managed to captivate the imagination of technophiles as well.”
The product has caught the eyes of enterprises also, collaborating with brands like Netherlands-based Hi Tec., and won acclaims and awards at global level. Presently, there are 24 patents on trademark applications for the product. Plans are afoot to improve LeChal in terms of comfort of use, features and functionality.

Where to find it

Priced at ₹ 6999, LeChal can be purchased from the company’s official website. It is also available on e-commerce stores like Amazon and retail stations like Croma. According to the company, over 10,000 units have been sold till now. So, take a break from constantly looking at your phone’s screen to know which way to go. After all, products like LeChal are eyes to your feet.

Footwear that also track and navigate

Indian start-up Lechal is now selling fitness insoles and buckles for footwear that track actual foot movement

Lechal smart insoles and buckles

Rs6,999

Tracking the number of steps walked in a day and calculating the calories burnt in the process has become the favourite pastime of many a fitness enthusiast. There are many fitness bands that help track such activity, and remain paired with your smartphone. But Indian start-up Lechal is now selling fitness insoles and buckles for footwear that may provide a more accurate way of tracking movement because it actually only detects foot movement and not hand movement (fitness bands on wrists approximate distance walked through motion-detection tech and various sensors).

This rather unique wearable works with any footwear and pairs with your smartphone—and apart from fitness tracking, it can also assist in navigation. Globally, a few brands make smart soles for footwear, but we are yet to come across a comparable rival product in India.

What you get is a pair of insoles for your shoes, and buckles that can be laced up with your footwear—you can use either with any footwear, or deploy each on different pairs of shoes.The insoles can be cut to fit your shoe.

The critical part of the entire package are the two pods, which are fitted with sensors that track movement and location. These pods have rechargeable batteries (a dock is provided for charging) and pair with the Lechal app (free for Android and iOS) on your phone. The app also lets you configure each of these pods for the leg it’ll be worn on and the shoe type.

The insoles have a docking mechanism in which you can fit the pods—this is directly under the foot arch. You won’t even realize the pods are there. You’ll need to be careful, however, about the sports shoe you use them in. For they do add some bulk under your foot, pushing the foot itself more towards the top of the shoe. If you are wearing one of the newer-gen sock-like sports shoes (such as the Nike Free 3.0 Flyknit), the soles might not fit well. But if it’s the more conventional designs (such as the Nike Air Zoom series), they do. Alternatively, you can install the buckles with the shoelaces, and dock the pods on those—this works beautifully with almost any shoe.

The biggest advantage of these wearables is that the pods track actual foot movement, unlike fitness bands which sometimes also mistake random hand gestures for walking. Through the app, you can start workouts and set targets—the pods vibrate once you achieve the goal.

Battery life is a strong point (the pods last about 12 days on a single charge). Navigation is quite uniquely handled too. Just punch in the location you’re heading for in the app and keep the phone in your pocket—the pods will vibrate on the right or left foot, to indicate the direction you need to take.
While these unique wearables don’t come cheap, they do have two distinct advantages—they are accurate in tracking movement, and they remain out of the way. The navigation capabilities are a rather nice addition.

The Haptic Smart Shoes That Lead The Way

Great ideas are all around you, and more often than not, your best designs will be born out of necessity. A drive to provide a solution to a problem that exists in your society. For Krispian Lawrence and Anirudh Sharm, they wanted to create smart shoes that would be an improvement on walking and navigation aids for the visually impaired. Through Ducere Technologies, a start-up they founded in 2011, they launched Lechal (pronounced lay-ch-al, which is “take me there” in Hindi). It’s a haptic footwear device, which uses vibrations at your feet to allow users to navigate directions. Their primary target is the visually impaired, which WHO (World Health Organisation) estimates to be approximately 285 million globally and the majority mostly being in India. Nevertheless, they also wanted to make an inclusive device that serves the community at large. It took five years, 15 prototypes, a core team of over a 100, and countless hours of hard work sprinkled with a few eureka moments, to make the Lechal. And this is how they made an all-inclusive product:

Primary Focus
The Indian wearable tech start-up began at reviewing the options available. The white cane, which is the most common, tends to fall short when it comes to orientation, direction and navigation. On the other hand, most assistive devices on the market use audio as their form of feedback. Seeing as the visually challenged rely heavily on their hearing, constant audio feedback may be a distraction to how they acquaint themselves with their surrounding environment. For a more unobtrusive approach, the duo decided to turn to touch; another sense that is highly developed due to their impairment.

Through an interactive, haptic based navigational system, the user can be invisibly but intuitively guided to their destination through gentle vibrations in their shoes.

Through an interactive, haptic based navigational system, the user can be invisibly but intuitively guided to their destination through gentle vibrations in their shoes. The user would set the destination on their phone, and using the phone’s GPS, it calculates the location data to convey directions. Once the shoes are synched to the Lechal app via Bluetooth, haptics are initiated to show the user the way. If the wearer needs to turn left, the left foot would sense vibrations while a right turn would get the right shoe buzzing.

What is in a Lechal Pack?
Lechal comes as black or red shoes that retail at $100-$150. But with the inclusivity element in mind, it also comes as an insole and buckles that you can fit into most closed shoes. The insoles have a docking mechanism that fits pods directly under the foot arch. Alternatively, you can dock the pods on the buckles that attach to the laces; opening up the variety of shoes this can work with. It’s these two pods that track movement and location, as well as, pair with the Lechal app. Through the app, you can configure each pod for the shape type and the leg it’ll be worn on.

The pods also work on offline and outdoor navigation modes, allowing the user to move around without data connectivity. It comes with a rechargeable battery that slide into the very back of the insole or behind the shoe’s heel. The battery lasts 15 days and is referred to as the “world’s first interactive charger” because with a snap of your fingers, it audibly communicates the battery’s charge level. And if the insole is too big for your shoe size, it can easily be trimmed along the marked size guidelines.

Wearable Tech Benefits
Lechal wants you to look up. To really take in the world around you with all your senses, instead of looking at your phone all day. So it’s intentionally designed to be sleek, minimalistic and comfortable to seamlessly blend into your lifestyle. Thus, In addition to directions, Lechal works for users who desire fitness metrics. It keeps track of calories burnt, steps taken, and distance covered. However, Lechal wants to give its users a more holistic workout by providing accurate analytics. Unlike other fitness bands that monitor hand movement and thus approximate distance covered via motion-detection, Lechal only detects foot movement. So, it won’t pick up the random hand gestures as part of your fitness data.

Lechal also dares users to strive for more. Therefore fitness enthusiasts can set goals, such as calories or distance oriented goals, and the pods will vibrate once you’ve hit the goal. The benefit of keeping a log of all your fitness activities and goal wish list, is it can even suggest routes based on your fitness metrics to help you achieve your fitness objectives. Because they want it to be a hands-free experience, there’s the option of setting mini-milestone goals throughout you routine that will vibrate once you’ve achieved one. And if you don’t want to take your phone on your next run, you can switch on the untethered mode, which will store the fitness data in your pods until you get back into proximity with your phone. But if you can’t live without your smartphone you can program your footwear to alert you if you’re leaving the house without it.

Got wanderlust in your bones? This piece of tech is perfect for you. Travellers can spend more time taking in all the new scenery and leave the navigation to their feet. Before setting out, there’s the option of marking places of interest, such as restaurants, ATMs and historical landmarks, on your phone. It’s also helpful to mark multiple stops you’d like to make before your final destination using Lechal’s waypoint reminders. This way, it can send reminders or notifications when you’re close or at these specific vicinities. Going to a place that isn’t Wi-Fi complaint, save your destinations pre-travel and you’ll be able to access them via the offline mode.

And for the real explorers out there, you can discover the road less travelled and record the trail. If you’ve ever had to use Google maps outside of the urban areas, you know how important a feature like this can be. It essentially gives the user the power to create their own travel guide that they can use to find their way back to camp and store for future use. Sharing is caring, and this app enables users to share their locations with other users. So if you’re travelling in a big group you can keep track of all your members. This feature may be of particular interest to parents and families when they’re out and about with their children.

For most, $150 can be a steep order. Ducere Technologies acknowledges this and explains that higher sales of Lechal footwear would considerably lower their cost. This is because they have already dedicated a portion of the sale proceeds to subsidizing pairs for the visually challenged. They’re also thinking about the future of the Lechal app for all consumers. They’re working on a software development kit (SDK) that will make their custom software a platform for other developers to create apps for their product.

Pod placement [Image: Ducere Technologies / Lechal]

That said, Lechal is an impressive addition to the footwear industry. It’s an inclusive design that puts a lot of thought into solving problems and responding to the needs of today’s society. By aiming to be a natural extension of the user, each person can navigate ‘hands-free, hassle-free and with their heads up’! It’s a perfect example of designing with purpose.