Auticare uses virtual reality-based therapy to help children with autism develop critical skills

Growing up Satyanarayanan AR watched his mother, a Ph.D in Clinical Linguistics, empower many children on the autism spectrum. That motivated him to think of developing innovations that would help children with developmental disorders. A dedication he shares with fellow college friend Bobin Chandra, who he partnered with to develop Auticare.

Auticare, developed by their company Embright Infotech, creates a 3D environment, using images and videos to create a virtual reality which benefits children with autism. Auticare uses a mix of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT) and Mixed Reality (MR).

My mother was working in the disability field and I have seen kids with autism come home when as a child. I knew that there were no real technological advancements to reach out to kids with autism. Though there were many tools, nothing was really implemented practically in real life. After much research, we created Auticare for which we are getting a really good response. – Satyanarayanan AK, Co-founder, Embright Infotech

Assistive tech for autism therapy

Auticare claims to provide solutions to a range of tasks that children with autism typically find hard to carry out.

“Kids with autism need help with self-care, private etiquette and so on’, explains Satyanarayanan. Virtual reality helps them grasp and connect with these tasks more easily. This includes negotiating their way through a crowded shopping mall or crossing a busy street.

Auticare helped Embright land a 50 lakh grant from the central department of science and technology last year. It was officially launched by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last year and is being used in over 10 therapy clinics under the Kerala Social Security Mission.

The Embright team has offices in Trivandrum and Bengaluru and work closely with hospitals, therapists and experts from the field of developmental disorders to find solutions that work best for children. Satyanarayanan and Bobin’s long journey has finally borne fruit.

“We were classmates in college and that is how we know each other. I was involved with an NGO that empowers people with Brittle Bone Disease and hence was determined to do something for the community since a long time. When Satyanarayanan told me about this idea, I was glad to become a part of it because we are doing first of its kind activity in India”, says Bobin.