California teen Adarsh Ambati uses AI to save water
Compiled by: Darshana Ramdev
(November 19, 2022) In 2018, then 13-year-old Adarsh Ambati’s life came temporarily to a standstill when his mum suffered a third-degree heart block. Adarsh recalls seeing her connected to wires that were meant to monitor health but didn’t allow her to move around. So, Adarsh Ambati, now the founder of the Green Initiatives Movement, decided to develop a portable, cost-effective device that could monitor vital signs without hampering mobility.
Nine months later, the prototype for the vital signs monitor was ready. By the time he won the prestigious Gloria Barron Prize in 2021, Adarsh had also devised the Community Sprinkler and started an Amphibian Biodiversity Protection Initiative.
Adarsh Ambati
The Contactless Monitor
Now a freshman at Stanford University, Adarsh’s first project, the Contactless Monitor, was ready nine months after his mother’s illness. Fortunately, her mobility had been restored, so Adarsh ran over 1000 tests on his protype, as part of a 40-participant pilot study. “It took me around nine months to develop the device and build an app with notifications so doctors could use it, but also regular people,” he told The Guardian. “Because it’s contactless and relatively portable, it could even be used to detect infectious diseases like Covid-19.”
Even as a teenager, the young Global Indian was especially perceptive of the world around him, alive to its problems and eager to find solutions, which he does using his deep interest in technology and coding. Growing up in California, he noticed his neighbours using automatic sprinklers, using vast amounts of precious water on landscaping.
A low-cost community sprinkler alert system
“While going to school in the rain one day, I saw one of my neighbours with their sprinklers on, creating run-offs,” he told Vintage Billboard. “Through research, I found that 25 percent of the water used in an average American household is wasted each day due to overwatering and inefficient watering methods.”
In 2016, Adarsh began work on a prototype for a smart, low-cost, community sprinkler alert system. When he conducted a two-month pilot with 10 neighbouring homes, he found they had the potential to save some 50,000 gallons of water in a couple of months. “The sprinkler system is compliant with water regulations, to cost-effectively save water for entire neighbourhoods using a Raspberry Pi, moisture sensors, PyOWM (weather database) and by utilising free social media networks like Twitter,” he added.
The idea was to save the excess water that is wasted during general-purpose irrigation. The device can detect and integrate real-time weather forecast data to provide the optimum levels of water. It doesn’t stop there. The sprinkler alert system is also connected to social media and can publish information on when to turn on sprinklers and for how long.
The prototype cost about $50, which, incidentally, is less expensive than the higher-end smart sprinklers. By Adarsh’s estimate, it can be brought down to about five cents or less per household, since the device can serve an entire community.
A scalable model
Some 83 percent of water used in outdoor landscaping can be saved, a huge deal in Northern California, 100 gallons of water is used for outdoor landscaping everyday, in an average household. The sprinkler alert system was also presented to the San Jose City Council, who even considered installing the system in their public grass areas.
Recognition found Adarsh in 2019, when he won MagPi Magazine’s Coolest Projects USA competition. Phil Colligan, the CEO of Raspberry Pi, also expressed his support. In 2021, he received the prestigious Gloria Barron Prize. Adarsh is also the founder of Gro-STEMS, which sells succulents to support technology training at San Jose’s LifeMoves Homeless Shelter and Aarti Girls School for abandoned children in Kadapa, India.
(November 28, 2022) Laiba Abdul Basit remembers the very first book she ever read. "It was 101 Stories for Girls," she tells me. A prolific reader by the time she began school, the now eleven-year-old Laiba Abdul Basit entered the Guinness World Records in 2022, as the youngest female author to publish a book series in English, having brought out her second book at the age of 10 years and 164 days. The author of the Order of the Galaxy trilogy, Laiba broke the record held by Saudi Arabian author Ritaj Hussain Alhazmi, who was 12 years old when she published her series. Laiba is a girl of few words, pausing to write in her book from time to time as she speaks with Global Indian. She appears stoic even about her Guinness achievement, admitting later, "I don't know if I like being famous, really. I'm scared of cameras." The family was away on a trip in Calicut when they received the news. - "We went back home, to my father's ancestral home in Kerala and everyone was so happy. It was a very joyous night." Media attention was plentiful, thanks in part to Laiba's grandfather, who worked as a journalist
when they received the news. - "We went back home, to my father's ancestral home in Kerala and everyone was so happy. It was a very joyous night." Media attention was plentiful, thanks in part to Laiba's grandfather, who worked as a journalist in Qatar and talked about his granddaughter online.
[caption id="attachment_24767" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Laiba Abdul Basit, Guinness World Record holder[/caption]
A born wordsmith
Born in Kerala, Laiba grew up in Doha, Qatar, where her father, Abdul Basit, works in the oil sector and her mother, Thasneem Mohammed, runs a business. "I started writing through reading," she says. "My mother taught me the alphabet and how to read before I joined school." She's still a prolific reader, listing Enid Blyton, JK Rowling and Roald Dahl as her favourite authors. Her grandfathers, KM Abdur Raheem and Mohammed Parakkadavu were cultural and social activists in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
By the time she was in the first grade, she began writing herself, scribbling short stories, ideas and phrases in a notebook, and even on pieces of paper that she stuck to the walls of her house. "I was in first or second grade when I decided to write my own stories," Laiba says. "I showed my teacher some of the short stories and she told my parents about it. After that, my parents started taking an interest."
Penning her success
When the first lockdown was imposed in 2020, Laiba switched to typing instead and finished her first book, 'The War for the Stolen Boy'. It took her about a year and a half to write. The series tells the story of four siblings who go out on intergalactic adventures. "I was inspired by writers like Morgan Rice and JK Rowling to do my own thing," Laiba remarks. "I had also developed an interest in astronomy at that time. Since I didn't know much about space, I thought I would go with fantasy.
When The War for the Stolen Boy was complete, Laiba and her father approached a university press in Doha. Unfortunately, the publishing process had slowed down due to the pandemic. "I found out about Kindle direct publishing and three hours later, the book was ready." The second book was taken up by Dr Sabrina Lei, Director of the Rome-based Tawasul Europe Centre for Research and Dialogue. "It took me about six months to write. I remember finishing it at 4 am and rushing to wake my father to tell him. He thought he was having a dream," she laughs. The third book in the series, The Book of Legends, was published by Lipi Publications.
Looking ahead
[caption id="attachment_24769" align="aligncenter" width="744"] Laiba was recognized by the Indian Embassy in Doha[/caption]
The Guinness World Record holder is already working on her fourth book, an epistolic novel about two friends who live sixteen hours from each other. The story is told entirely through their letters and she is looking for international publishers. All this is made possible by her parents, who have been extremely supportive of their daughter. "They deal with all the documentation and everything required for publishing. They help me edit my novel as well," Laiba says.
In her free time, she enjoys roller skating, these days inside the apartment as FIFA fever grips Doha. What does she want to be when she grows up? "Math is my favourite subject," she says, thoughtfully in response. "I want to keep writing but I would also like to try something new." Breaking into a grin and finally giving me a glimpse of the child within, she adds, "I want to be a leader when I grow up. I want to be President."
(January 28, 2023) The fundus camera, an instrument used in opthalmology for to capture colour images of the inner surface of the eye, can set one back by anywhere between INR 1.5 lakh and INR 5.25 lakh. In low-income countries, the prohibitive cost of devices used in diagnostic and rehabilitative care makes access a challenge. According to the World Vision Report, prepared by WHO, over 2.2 billion people worldwide are visually impaired and nearly half that number live with treatable or preventable conditions because they cannot get the care they need. The second-leading cause of blindness is glaucoma, with an estimated 57.5 million people around the world affected by primary open-angle glaucoma. In 2020, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, this number rose to 76 million. Among those tackling the problem head-on is Ontario teen Hardit Singh whose innovation is a step towards better healthcare for all. Speculor: A Comprehensive Teleopthalmology Platform for People Centered Eyecare fetched seventeen-year-old Hardit the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in 2021. Using a portable imager and AI algorithms to screen for disease, Speculor, which has been field-tested in India, can detect glaucoma for the very-affordable sum of $300. The Global
the Canada-Wide Science Fair in 2021. Using a portable imager and AI algorithms to screen for disease, Speculor, which has been field-tested in India, can detect glaucoma for the very-affordable sum of $300. The Global Indian, who also won second place at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, intends for the device to be used by international NGOs working to bring equality in eyecare.
[caption id="attachment_26981" align="aligncenter" width="488"] Source: World Vision Report[/caption]
The vision
Born and raised in Waterloo, the idea took root around three years ago, when a friend from the Cameron Heights Collegiate in Kitchener, where Hardik studied, suffered from retinal detachment, where the retina begins to peel off the eye. "He went to three different opthalmologists and experts and was misdiagnosed all three times for different reasons. He went almost blind because of it," Hardit said in an interview for the Canada-Wide Science Fair. Luckily, doctors managed to detect it before the damage became irreversible. It made Hardit wonder - if such misdiagnoses can happen in a place like Waterloo, what could conditions possibly be in rural or low-income areas, where there is little proximity to healthcare facilities?
By this time, the then 13-year-old Hardit was already building classification algorithms and had a basic understanding of AI from previous projects. He hit the books, learning from YouTube, books and just "trying things out, playing around until it works. That works for hardware, you tinker until you understand what happens. It's the same with optics. I learned until I had enough to build what I wanted."
He began cold-emailing professors, eventually hearing back from the University of Waterloo's Department of Optometry. Hardit began working with a group of grad students, going to them with questions or when he was struggling. The hardware had to be built, the software coded and the two integrated. He worked in the lab, testing the device on a model eye in controlled conditions.
Speculor worked smoothly in the lab and Hardit decided to roll out his prototype. When he tested it on the field, however, "everything failed," he admits. He had made one fundamental mistake - he hadn't geared the device for less than optimal conditions. "I had designed the prototype to work in perfect condtions but in poor lighting, when the patient is moving around, the device wsn't working at all. The AI had the same problem." The AI sensor was used to very high-quality images, taken by devices, Hardit says, that cost USD 25,000 and up. "My device can't produce such images and it was throwing the AI off."
"I was frustrated. I had put in so much effort and the device didn't work at all. But my mind was already working on how to fix it." With the hardware, his moment of revelation came through integrating cross-polarisation, a technique used in more expensive fundus cameras but rarely in more affordable devices. "It worked really well to ensure there was no glare on the fundus images," he said. He tried a number of solutions with the AI, but nothing worked, until he developed his own training method. The AI was trained to study low quality images, account for poor lighting and movement and detect anomalies under these parameters.
Hardit Singh sent the device for testing once more, this time to an opthalmologist in India. The feedback was far more promising. "The second time, the images turned out really good. It was amazing because I still wasn't expecting it to work, I only had acess to a model eye. This was a Hail mary move for me, sending a protype to India blindly without a test."
[caption id="attachment_26983" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Source: The Record[/caption]
Always a work-in-progress
Hardit's eventual goal is to commercialise the device, pricing it within reach of international NGOs and organisations, to improve healthcare in rural and underserved areas around the world. The cost is currently dominated by the lens, which is about $250. He is also working to improve the design, after a judge from the CWSF remarked that it was "too boxy."
Hardit Singh also wants to expand the scope of his device, which is now mainly used in glaucoma detetion. "I can reapply the same model over different diseases by changing the paramters," he says. He also wants to make it easy to understand, to aid doctors as they make a diagnosis.
Hardit has also published a paper on AI in the Journal of the Optical Society of India. His other interests include computer science, AI, optics, medicine and sports.
(May 7, 2024) Growing up in Toronto, Alishba Imran carved a space for herself in the world of machine learning, robotics, and blockchain at the very young age of 18. About four years back, Alishba, who had zero knowledge about programming or coding back then, enrolled herself to join her school’s robotics team. While she faced several issues, her focus on learning, earned her the position of the lead programmer on the team. And there has been no turning back since then. A few years after this incident, while on a service trip in India, the entrepreneur learned about the lack of medication in various rural parts of the country. To come up with a solution for this, Alishba taught herself blockchain coding and launched Honestblocks, a platform that tracks counterfeit medicine in the supply chain. Her codebase for the initiative has since been integrated into IBM and used globally. She then co-founded Voltx to accelerate the development of renewable energy storage devices using machine learning and physics models to accelerate the lab to commercialisation process for electrochemical devices. “The biggest thing you can optimise for in life is people. Spend time exploring your interests, what you’re good at, and
“The biggest thing you can optimise for in life is people. Spend time exploring your interests, what you’re good at, and what brings you energy. I think the best things to work on are at the intersection of what you're good at, what you enjoy, and are a way for you to create value for the world," explained the Global Indian, who was recently named among Teen Vogue’s annual 21 Under 21 list of “changemakers, influencers, activists, and artists who have made a substantial impact in both their communities and the world.”
Making a difference
Born in a desi family, Alishba has always been connected to her roots. A brilliant student, the entrepreneur launched an app that uses blockchain to improve supply chain transparency to end counterfeit medication in developing countries when she was just 14. "As a child, I was always very curious and asked a lot of questions about how things work. From appliances around the house to vehicles and computers. At a young age, I found engineering and computer science very interesting because of how it technically challenged me and the vast applications to solve tangible problems," the entrepreneur shared, "In middle school, I learned how to code and was one of the first girls to join the robotics team. That was really my first glimpse into learning about building something real. I was really excited because I would travel to global competitions to meet other people from different countries who were just as interested in technology and engineering as me."
There are a lot of people in the tech industry trying to build the next big social media or note-taking app that will attract millions of dollars from big investors and bolster their company’s value," said the entrepreneur, adding, "But I don’t think the end goal of any company should be based on its monetary value, but rather the value it brings to society."
Addressing several major issues plaguing third-world countries, Alishba believes in using her skills to make a difference in society. "There are many urgent problems that need to be addressed in the world. The greatest challenges of our time — climate change, health care reform and finding ways to create sustainable energy sources. As young students and innovators, I think we have to continually ask ourselves: How do we put our talents and passions toward working on these hard problems?," she said, "Finding the answer to that question, personally, has been a great motivation for me to dive deeper into my interests. And that has been a journey that has taken me around the world."
Creating a better world
When she was just 17, Alishba founded her first company, Voltx, before which she worked with Tesla on research that could speed up the time it takes to manufacture battery cells using machine learning and physics models. "I moved to San Francisco to work full-time with my co-founder to find ways to scale the storage of batteries for solar panels and other applications, like electric vehicles (EV). I raised a pre-seed round of over $1 million for Voltx through venture capital investors. I am still continuing to build on this technology and research as a second-year student at Berkeley," said the entrepreneur, who was also named among the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, in 2023.
[caption id="attachment_37640" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recognised Alishba for her work[/caption]
Speaking about her current projects, the entrepreneur said, "I’m currently co-authoring a textbook for O’Reilly Media, Machine Learning for Robotics with my colleague PG Keerthana Gopalakrishnan. Our aim is to make more accessible the processes of using deep language learning models to build robotics that can change the way we live."
(May 20, 2023) When he was living in Lisbon, Portugal, Neel Ghose, co-founder of the Robin Hood Army, came across an organisation named Re-Food. They took surplus food from restaurants and distributed it among the homeless every night. Ghose was struck by the simplicity of the idea - it brought compassion to capitalism, minimised food wastage and addressed the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger. Global Indian looks at how Ghose and a team of co-founders, including Aarushi Batra, began the Robin Hood Army, which now operates in four countries including Inda and Pakistan, has served over 68 million means to date. According to UN data, nearly 8.9 percent of the world's population, or 690 million people are hungry (as measured by the prevalence of under-nourishment). The World Food Programme records show that 135 million people suffer from acute hunger due to man-made conflicts, climate change and economic downturns. In essence, a quarter of a billion people are at the potential brink of starvation. The startup model Ghose was so taken by the idea, as well as the success of its execution, he wondered why he couldn't try the same thing in India. "I arranged for a few
Ghose was so taken by the idea, as well as the success of its execution, he wondered why he couldn't try the same thing in India. "I arranged for a few meetings with the founders and decided to replicate it in India. Once I returned, a few friends and I served 150 people in south Delhi on our first night of distribution," said Ghose, who went on to do his masters in business administration from Harvard University.
In August 2014, the Robin Hood Army (RHA) began with a Facebook, inviting everybody they knew. The response was instant and requests came pouring in. "I will never forget that night," Ghose said, at a TedXGateway event. That first night in August, Ghose and a few friends stopped under a flyover in Hauz Khas. They saw a family of six huddled together, sharing a leftover pizza. Further down the road, an old couple, the woman was blind, foraged through a trash can for something to eat. "I have been brought up in India, we have all seen poverty," Ghose said. "But what was overwhelming was that these are our neighbours. We have no idea of the sheer scale of hunger and neglect a few minutes from where we live."
Logistics is key
Hunger, Ghose believes, is not a problem that can be solved by the UN or the governments. "Logistics," he proclaims, "Can and will provide the solution." The Robin Hood Army is not an NGO, nor is it a largescale civic movement. "Ours is a simple model. We function like a startup and our job is to match demand with supply through simple logistics solutions." Young professionals, who work during the day, volunteer their time to a hyperlocal model.
Food is collected from restaurants, weddings and parties and distributed to homeless people in the area. "We distribute it among the homeless, who don't know their next meal is coming from, or if it will come at all," says co-founder Aarushi Batra, in a TedX talk. Responses came pouring in from across the country, with people volunteering their time. The press showed its support and the Facebook page went viral. "Restaurants were so generous," said Ghose, "That many gave freshly-cooked food instead of leftovers." Three years after they began, the RHA had established its presence in 58 cities, with 13,000 Robins and nearly 50 lakh meals served. In 2019, the Delhi Capitals got in touch, asking them to distribute the leftover meals from Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Not long after, the team invited around 15 kids who had been served food from the RHA to watch a match.
[caption id="attachment_22580" align="aligncenter" width="622"] Neel Ghose. Photo: Harvard Business School[/caption]
Pandemic... and scaling up
When the pandemic hit, the team had to come up with a new strategy overnight. Again, working with their decentralised model, volunteers came up with their own safety protocols. They were on call as busloads of migrant workers exited the big cities and started the 'senior patrol'. "During the daily phases of the pandemic, we had people writing to us and saying their parents were stuck at home without access to essentials," said Batra.
The team circulated a basic Google Form and circulated it everywhere. Volunteers addressed thousands of requests - those who weren't living with parents or other senior citizens would go out to pick up medicines, fresh produce and whatever else was needed, which they distributed.
The Robin Hood Army learned to apply their model to tackle a number of other problems. In 2016, when Maharashtra reeled under severe drought, the RHA volunteers mobilised schools, colleges and offices in their neighbourhoods. They began sending 75,000 litres of water to rural areas, on a special train, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As the organisation grew stronger locally, they decided it was time to expand and first on the list was Pakistan, which faces very similar problems.
[caption id="attachment_22581" align="aligncenter" width="591"] With co-founder Aarushi Batra[/caption]
Serving up compassion
"It's not merely about handing out food," Ghose said. "I would like to believe that we have a baseline of compassion in what we do." A team of lawyers who visited a girl's orphanage in South Delhi, would spend time with the kids, talking to them about the importance of school and of knowing politics. "Eight of those girls decided to pursue law as a career," he explained.
(February 4, 2022) How many 13-year-olds are comfortable addressing large crowds and delivering motivational speeches? Or for that matter, how many of them host YouTube channels celebrating other young achievers? Chennai-based Hasini Lakshmi Narayanan does. The class eight student began her tryst with public speaking after she attended one that changed her life. Ever since, she began hosting her YouTube channel – The First Step that has so far highlighted the journeys of over 90 child achievers. She also launched the First Step organisation where she employs over 20 students to create motivational content. More recently, Hasini was appointed by the Tamil Nadu government as its young nutrition ambassador. The girl whose father inspired her Born in Chennai in 2008, the Chettinad Vidyashram student grew up watching her entrepreneur father Lakshmi Narayanan travel to various schools and colleges for public speaking assignments. And that inspired TN's young nutrition ambassador. “I’m following in his footsteps,” smiles Hasini. She developed a passion for public speaking at age five, and found that her parents always encouraged her. “I never had any stage fright, nor did I feel shy. I’ve always found it easy to connect with others and my parents have been a
onnect with others and my parents have been a huge support system,” she says.
[caption id="attachment_10386" align="aligncenter" width="668"] Hasini Lakshmi Narayanan with her father.[/caption]
When the idea struck
The turning point came when Hasini attended a talk by Sujith Kumar of Maatram Foundation. “I’ve always been a very hyperactive kid and usually find it hard to sit in one place. As I heard him talk about his journey, and what children can achieve, I was transfixed. That was the first time I sat through a speech. I was nine then,” says the teen, who was inspired by the speech to explore public speaking. “Since then, I began participating in school debates and inter school competitions,” adds TN's young nutrition ambassador.
But then the lockdowns began, and the bubbly girl was forced to stay home, and hanker down her enthusiasm. “I was bored out of my wits and wanted to use my time productively. That is when my father asked if I wanted to work on a project with him for Father’s Day and interview some children,” she reveals. That’s how in June 2020, TN's young nutrition ambassador began interviewing children on their achievements and journeys on YouTube.
While she started out interviewing friends and cousins, she soon found achievers like Nihal Tamanna (founder Recyclemybattery), the Great Australian Spelling Bee twins Harpith and Harpitha Pandian, Kush Malpani, Manas Bam, Anya Pandit, Vinisha Umashankar (who spoke at Cop26) among others to share their journeys and achievements on the First Step, which has nearly 2,000 followers. “Through these interviews, we speak to prodigies across the world – we have so far featured children from 12 countries – on their journeys, talents and achievements,” says Hasini, for whom it was a learning experience and hugely inspirational.
Going beyond interviews
By July 2020, Hasini had established The First Step organisation which currently has 20 youngsters working with her to create motivational content targeted at youth empowerment. “Our brainstorming sessions are fun. All of us bring our ideas to the table and decide the theme for each month. We also have over 100 youth ambassadors,” says TN's young nutrition ambassador, who also frequently contributes articles to The Hindu school edition.
Hasini was also invited to deliver her maiden TEDx talk in April 2021 where she spoke about - The First Step to Conquer. In January 2022, she gave her second TED talk on climate change. “Becoming a TEDx speaker was a dream come true. I’d always watch TED videos and dreamt of becoming one myself. So, when I got the opportunity, I was thrilled,” says the teen, who hopes to follow in her father’s footsteps as an entrepreneur and public speaker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzIdZ9-_cHM
Appointed by the TN government as its young nutrition ambassador in December 2021, she is thrilled. “It is my responsibility to create awareness about the importance of nutrition in adolescent girls. I do this through video clips and events, and have even tied up with Dr Koushalya Nathan, a leading nutritionist in Chennai,” adds the teen, who is also an avid painter and holds two graduations from Global Art by SIC Academy.
While she has a lot going on to keep her on her toes, TN's young nutrition ambassador admits sheepishly that she is not the most organised. “My father helps me organise myself so I give academics my first priority. Everything goes on parallelly. What I try to do to ease the process is to schedule my interviews for the last week of the month, and then work on transcribing them,” she smiles, adding, “I try to stick to my to-do lists without burdening myself with deadlines.”