Benefits of connectivity: Students win Marconi awards for innovative apps

The government mandated an SOS or panic button on all mobile phones sold in India after the horrific Nirbhaya gang rape incident. While the Indian handset makers have put an actual button on the phones (especially feature phones), international brands have included an app that allows users to download a soft key on the screen.

Now in a real situation, none of these are of much use. If a woman is attacked, will she grope for the phone in her bag, find the key and press – or fend off the attack? That is why the Rakshak app is a real innovation. It requires no action on the part of the victim. The phone is “listening”, when the app is on. If the audio microphone hears words such as “help” or “bachao”, it uses the machine learning algorithm to judge the emotional state from sound, pitch, etc., and triggers an alarm. The app generates SOS alerts, identifies user location and sends them to emergency contacts specified by the user.