Youth Incorporated Magazine

Bold attempt at transforming education with the applications of machine learning and wearable technologies

As a first Indian original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and Internet of Things (IoT) brand, Smartron is collaborating with University of Southern California’s (USC) Center for Human Applied Reasoning & the Internet of Things (CHARIOT) to conduct research on personalized education using wearables and machine learning technologies. The CHARIOT-Smartron initiative focuses on building the framework for creating an effective, classroom-based system for measuring the cognitive and affective influences on learning using smartphones and a range of sensors.

CHARIOT is a collaboration between the USC Rossier School of Education and USC Viterbi School of Engineering to combine cutting-edge cognitive science and education research with emerging IoT technologies to revolutionize personalized learning. Applying IoT as an element of the active learning and real-time feedback is the next step in the evolution of education. CHARIOT visualizes that shifting the focus of instruction to incorporate IoT will result in a paradigm shift in understanding the cognitive and emotional processes in the learning sciences and create products that are practical, accessible and scalable.

Smartron, India’s first global technology OEM and IoT brand, recently unveiled tronX^TM, a first of its kind in the world, an intelligent ecosystem that connects a range of devices, sensors & systems to tronX™ core, offering highly intelligent, always evolving experiences and services targeting verticals such as health, home, education, infra and agriculture verticals. This intuitive and assistive platform sits at the centre of the entire product ecosystem at Smartron which includes the soon to be launched tBand. With tronX™ integration, the tBand can be used to manage health, education and things around you smartly. Smartron’s tBand will be able to log the user’s BP, stress levels, daily activity metrics as well as ECG and Heart Rate and present it in the form of an easy-to-understand Health Dashboard on a smartphone or any tronX™ device screen. Analyzing this data can add to a teacher’s contextual understanding of students’ cognitive processes to ensure that the appropriate instructional methods are implemented.

“We are extremely pleased to be the first Indian product brand to partner with USC’s CHARIOT to collaborate on creating this new and hugely immersive and personalized learning program based on IoT,” said Smartron founder Mahesh Lingareddy. “Real personalized learning is about understanding the students’ cognitive readiness to learn combined with environmental factors. With our wearables powered by tronX™, we will be able to gather and analyze the data to help create the most effective learning interventions for students who may need it, but may not necessarily ask for it. Hardware and software innovation spurred by IoT and AI is the next big wave in technology and with tronX™, we are ready to ride this wave and create highly intelligent and customized experiences in the field of education.”

“Incorporating wearable devices and artificial intelligence into the daily curriculum and teaching methodologies could help teachers to effectively map students’ learning curve and administer tailored interventions at the right time”, added CHARIOT Co-Director, Kenneth Yates. “Over the course of the next 2 years, we anticipate the collaboration of CHARIOT and Smartron will result in cutting edge, innovative solutions for education.”