Nagpur startup to make smart camera traps for forest departments

NAGPUR: A startup from the city — Technology Engineering Research for Nature (TERN) — has qualified for the semifinal round of Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge, organized by Union government’s ministry of electronics & information technology (MeitY).
The TERN team is now working on a minimum viable prototype (MVP) of smart camera trap, which will reduce burden on the forest staff and play an important role in securing data captured from the forest.
The TERN team has five members — Srushti Mehatkar, Rohit Hazare, Omkar Kekre, Madhulika Dolke and Abhinav Chikhalkar. While Chikhalkar is from IIT Bombay, other members are alumni of Ramdeobaba College of Engineering & Management. TERN works primarily on technological solutions for forests.
“The startup team stood in the top 100 from among 8,000 participants from across the country registered for the competition. We are working on a smart camera trap that will be able to send data without mobile network or Wi-Fi connection,” said Mehatkar.
Of the 100 semifinalists, 25 will be shortlisted in the upcoming rounds followed by 10 and then top 3. Though all will get funding to prepare prototypes, the top three will get government funds to start production on commercial scale.
“If approved, our innovation can be a major boon to forest departments, both in terms of technology and wildlife and environmental conservation. The Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge organizer has provided all semifinalists Rs1 lakh for the execution of the MVP,” she said.
Under Atmanirbhar Bharat project, there is growing need for Swadeshi computer hardware that shall be part of every smart device deployed in different domains. Under the Microprocessor Development Programme spearheaded by MeitY at Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), IIT Madras and IIT Bombay, not only the family of industry-grade microprocessors has been designed from the scratch but also computer ecosystem around them has been evolved as a step towards meeting India’s future requirements.
Hazare said to provide further impetus to a strong ecosystem of startups, innovators, and researchers in the country, MeitY had announced Swadeshi Microprocessor Challenge in September last. “We will be using Shakti microprocessors made available by IIT Madras to develop the camera trap prototype,” he said.
MVP smart camera trap will enhance the capabilities of the existing ones being used by the forest departments. The MVP is designed to reduce problems like manual retrieval of data. The manual method delays acquiring the data with an added risk to the life of forest guards. Since camera traps are not frequently monitored, chances of the data being stolen are high.
“The MVP camera trap is designed to create a self-formed network that can work irrespective of availability of the cellular network. One camera trap at the headquarters will get the data through this network. Some other features will include detection of theft or failure, quick SOS alerts to headquarters in case forest guards face any emergencies,” says Nihal Reddy, a member of TERN who played crucial role in the initial ideation.
“The idea behind the competition is to promote culture of innovation and entrepreneurship by taking up complex designs in the country and innovate frugal solutions around home-grown processor ecosystem, catering to both global and domestic requirements,” says Kekre.