2020 in Review
For better or worse, 2020 has been a memorable year – with many people saying it has been largely for the worse. But we’ve learned how to adapt and change – it’s been a year of “rolling with the punches”.
New Ventures
While COVID-19 presented many unexpected challenges, it has also created new opportunities. Before the pandemic hit, E-Motion was working on launching the FareShare project to help rideshare drivers make more money by being their own boss. But as the amount of travel diminished and companies looked for ways to return to work safely, we decided to put the FareShare project on-hold and pivoted our efforts to the ViroGuard project.
The ViroGuard solution helps to track the virus and ensure safety measures are followed to reduce the risk of spread. We developed a prototype solution for social distance enforcement and contact tracing that included the following functionality:
- Face recognition kiosk that measures temperature and detects the presence of a face mask
- A mobile app that detects and records social distancing violation
- Cloud service that records instances of social contacts for automatic tracing
The prototype is now being productized with additional engineering resources and is expected to complete in 1Q2021.
Technology Consulting
In spite of the pandemic, we have also attracted great partners and clients on the consulting side of our business. We are particularly proud of our work on these projects:
- Smart Elevator Project – our client required a solution that detects passengers approaching an elevator so that the elevator doors do not close on them. We developed an advanced algorithm that detects oncoming passengers and verified the algorithm on an elevator mockup. The solution helps our client meet the new elevator safety code.
- Smart Gate Project – this project required the development of an access gate solution that detects customers entering and leaving the gated area. The gate needed to react to humans, but not to other animals and any inanimate objects.
Mentorship
In 2020, E-Motion continued to invest in STEM education and entrepreneurship of local students through the E-Motion Robot Lab where students develop solutions for in-demand applications under the tutelage of experienced engineers and scientists. This unique model harnesses the energy of smart students as they work on exciting projects while learning new technical skills years ahead of their academic training. In 2020 we worked on several projects:
- People counter using 3D time-of-flight sensor
- Beacon pendant for social distancing enforcement and contact tracing
- COVID-19 news and trends web site built from React.
Onward to 2021
As disruptive as 2020 has been, E-Motion has grown. For the startup side of our business, we pivoted from FareShare to ViroGuard, and have made significant progress. We are excited to see how the consulting side of our business has helped our clients in 2020, and are looking forward to growing our business even more. We welcome inquiries from investors, clients, and collaborators. Please send your inquiries to larry@e-motion.ai.