Tech powered slum | Fusion - WeRIndia

It is amazing what technology can do to entire areas.

This is proven by what students at IIT-Bombay has achieved. Dharavi is famous for being one of the largest slums in the world.

The slum has become technologically advanced.

These students have implemented a pilot Internet of Things (IoT) project in the slum.

Using that, the shop owners in the slum can now connect with their customers through Internet and smart phones.

IoT is now a very popular trend all over the world.

It is useful to connect everyday objects like refrigerator, cars, etc to the Internet.

Using that connection, users and the objects can communicate with one another.

 

This kind of technology is now helping a slum become better.

Students of Industrial Design Centre (IDC) at IIT-B collaborated with Swansea University in the UK for this project. They installed devices called beacons at several shops.

Using these beacons, communication between smartphones that have internet data, GPS, and Bluetooth is possible.

These devices were given by a grant from Google which is helping this project.

People with smartphones in this area will get notified about the nearby shops and products on sale. As a result, the many shoppers who come here get a more technology oriented experience.

There is faster connection between shoppers and owners.

The shopping experience has improved because of this technology.

The relation between customer and owner also improves due to it.

The shops which are part of this program even put up signs asking customers to turn on their Bluetooth.

As this is in pilot stage, it is expected to expand further soon.

The report on this pilot stage will be given by the students to Google.

The company is then likely to provide more grants for this project.

This will likely turn the whole slum into a technology powered shopping hub.

Image Reference: Thebetterindia, ElectronicsHub, Mygola