Boosting entrepreneur projects within Smart mobility

In order to highlight the key technologies and thus respond to the challenges of smart mobility and promote entrepreneurship, the UAB Research Park (PRUAB), the Computer Vision Center and the UAB School of Engineering, have organized a course dedicated to smart mobility and enterpreneurship, the “Intelligent Vehicle and Business Opportunities” program, with the direct support of the Department of Enterprise and Occupation of the Generalitat of Catalonia (Departament d’empresa i ocupació de la Generalitat de Catalunya), through the Catalunya Emprèn Program.

The course’s Demoday took place on the 27th of June, and the whole program counted with the participation of 38 students with different profiles, such as researchers, entrepreneurs, engineering students, designers and various professionals. During six months, the students have received training on emerging technologies in the area of smart transport and business management and new business models. Concurrently, they have worked in their own project, designing new solutions accompanied by technology and business experts, who have been giving them support in order to bring their idea closer to the market. 

Innovative projects for sustainable mobility

The six projects developed throughout the Program were presented on Tuesday 27th  of June at the Eureka building (UAB Research Park) in a Demoday and evaluated by a specialized jury: Felipe Jiménez, Director of the Intelligent System Unit at the Institute of Automobile Research of the Polytechnic University of Madrid; José Manuel Barrios, head of the department of Innovation of the company Applus+ IDIADA; Eduardo Urruticoechea, Director of Innovation at IDNEO, Antoni Espinosa, associate professor at the UAB and researcher in the field of the autonomous vehicle, and Meritxell Bassolas, head of Technological Transfer at the Computer Vision Center.

The selected project and winner of the event was CheckUp, mechanism for the automatic diagnosis of damage in rented cars. Currently, car rental companies stil rely on the visual perception of their staff for the vehicle inspection, registering the damage manually and on paper.  The solution proposed by CheckUp is based on automating and accelerating this process through computer vision in order to maintain the customer’s confidence and the impartiality of the company.

This project has obtained a prize of 1,000 euros, sponsored by the accelerator mVenturesBCN.

The other developed projects are:

Apparka: a web and mobile platform for the management of shared electric bicycles, which allows users to find, rent and unlock a bicycle through a mobile application. Furthermore, the application analyses and manages the data registered in the routes in real time, such as distance, time, consumed calories or the state of the battery of the bicycle, proposing the users the optimal route. This project is born to offer a new concept of mobility, being a great complement for public transport and replacing private transport.

Accsint: a system for helping the driving of electric wheelchairs for people with reduced mobility. The mechanism incorporates sensors and satellite connectivity to detect obstacles, slopes, holes, etc. and notify emergency services in case of an accident.

Urban Charge intends to make private electric vehicle recharging points profitable during the time frames in which they are empty. It is a collaborative platform that connects users seeking for parking and recharging their electric vehicle in available private charge points.

Drivvisor focuses on the driver and proposes a monitoring system in order to evaluate its state during driving. Their idea is to develop a mobile application based on computer vision that detects the tiredness and the distractions of the driver, issuing alerts in real time.

Finally, Smart Clean Technologies proposes to use autonomous vehicles capable of cleaning large surfaces autonomously. Its innovative characteristic is that the robot knows in every moment where is it located and thus reaching all points. Moreover, the system is flexible and non intrusive.

Continuous support

Although the course has reached its end, the projects will continue receiving support from the UAB Research Park in order to effectively reach market. Most of the projects have already developed a fist prototype and have attracted the interest of different institutions.

You’ll find all the Demoday pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pruab/sets/72157685506538076/with/35585348325/

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