Spreading wings using deep tech
Top officials at Robert Bosch Engineering Solutions (RBEI) took an instant liking to a unique software tool developed by SimYog Technologies, a deep tech start-up incubated at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The firm promised to reduce the time taken to develop electronic controllers that are used in passenger vehicles and goods carriers.
Encouraged by the initial response and the interest among other component makers, Dipanjan Gope, CEO, Simyog, and his team are now also developing a solution for automakers. Besides automotive electronics, the Ideaspring and RBEI-backed start-up’s software will venture into other industry verticals, including aerospace, consumer electronics and medical electronics, in a year, said Gope. “While agile processes in the software industry are being used for several years, it is still to be used in a big way in the hardware framework, which has simulation at its core,” said Gope.
So, what made Bosch back SimYog? “We realised that they can do it faster as compared to the standard way followed by Bosch,” said R K Shenoy, senior vicepresident at RBEI. An increasing number of electronics in automobile and the need for a shorter time-to-market swung the deal in SimYog’s favour. If anything, stricter legislation on safety, emission and fuel efficiency are set to further add to the use of electronic contents in automobiles and make solutions such as the one developed by SimYog popular, said Shenoy. This is RBEI’s first India venture investment.
Its deep learning-based software solution called the compliance score allows hardware developers to test electronic components’ resistance to electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the design stage itself. Auto component manufacturers end up developing multiple prototypes and test for EMI before mass production. The tool helps component makers reduce the number of iterations and thereby shorten the development cycle. Gope and his team are also working on a solution for the full vehicles for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers).
It is able to reduce the time a developer takes to get feedback in terms of identifying where the hot-stops are and where the failure happens in terms of EMI. The tool allows one to do the testing through simulation instead in a laboratory. On average, a lab requires $4-5 million of investment and with the huge number of electronics being built, there’s also a significant wait time to use the lab, said Shenoy. The beta version of the tool “looks very promising” and Bosch will be able to depend on it fully in a few months.