The watch was developed by Prof Siddhartha Panda and Vishwaraj Srivastava from the National Centre for Flexible Electronics at the institute
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur entered into a technology transfer MoU with Ambrane India for mass manufacturing and sales of the ‘haptic smart watch for blind and visually impaired’. The breakthrough innovation of the novel touch sensitive haptic smart watch come with two variants and was developed by Prof Siddhartha Panda and Vishwaraj Srivastava from the National Centre for Flexible Electronics at IIT Kanpur.
The technology licensing agreement was formally signed between IIT Kanpur and Ambrane India on 2 February 2023. The MoU exchange ceremony was graced by Prof Abhay Karandikar, Director IIT Kanpur; Prof AR Harish, Dean R&D, IIT Kanpur; Prof Ankush Sharma (PIC, Innovation & Incubation), Co-inventors Prof Siddhartha Panda and Vishwaraj Srivastava from NCFlexE, IIT Kanpur and Ashok Rajpal (Licensee & Director of Ambrane India).
Watches that are currently available for the blind and the visually impaired can be broadly classified into tactile, talking, vibration and braille-based. These watches have their limitations – if there is a risk of needle breakage in tactile watches, talking watches do not offer a private mode of communication. Similarly, vibration watches are complicated and braille watches are expensive. This haptic watch developed at IIT Kanpur addresses the drawbacks of all the conventional technologies and offers a seamless experience to the wearer.
