This Entrepreneur-Duo Builds Drones & Uses AI To Assist Construction Labourers

“There are 47.5% of people who die due to building collapse, and people don’t take it as an issue.” Prayushi Mathur, the co-founder at Ajnhawk, tells SheThePeople, raising concerns about the lack of safety due to improper inspection and maintenance of buildings, STPs, and panels. Mathur co-founded the company with Kajal Sanklecha in a bid to provide fast-track solutions to long-pertaining issues.

In this conversation with SheThePeople, Prayushi Mathur talks about the motive behind her company Ajnhawk, how they build drones to assist construction labourers, the role AI plays in civil, and what it takes to bridge the gender gap in the field.

Excerpts from the interview

What is Ajnhawk about? 

Ajnhawk is a combination of two words, Ajn, i.e., Shiva’s third eye, and Hawk, i.e., a bird. Imagine a bird flying high over a building, checking the necessary details, capturing it, and coming back. That’s what our startup is about. At Ajnhawk, we make drones that can assist labourers in building construction,” Prayushi explains about her startup. 

We have three verticals: building inspections in exteriors, construction and monitoring, and creating energy domains for solar and windmills.

Take us back to the origin of your company.

I have a degree in graphics and robotics, and my partner, Kajal, is doing a PhD in the same field. We saw this as a major concern and got the idea—that for a startup in India where we could use AI to inspect buildings. It is easy to inspect a building from the inside by having a look around, but from the outside, and during ongoing construction, it becomes problematic and unsafe. That’s how we blended the two technologies and came forward with the vision of AI for Civil.

We bootstrapped our company and incubated at WeHub as engineers with the vision of the product and company in mind but did not know the logistics, finances, etc. With time we learned every bit of it, including networking. Because of good networking, we got our first client, and gradually our idea to inspect buildings, STPs, and panels and to identify issues and maintain them without a physical visit stands out.

What challenges did you face?

We indeed faced challenges from society. People from the younger generation were more open to understanding us, but people from the older generations laughed away at us. Sometimes because of our age, people would not take us seriously, and civils is a majorly male-dominated sector; seeing two young women in the sector was unusual.

We went to a meeting, and someone asked, “Where is the boss?” We both laughed and said, “We are the boss.” For people, it is pretty easy to assume that if there are two young women, the boss might be someone else. Initially, we would overthink, but with time, we moved on, and though there are many stories like these, now they are a part of our funny memories.

What does your end goal look like?

Our main goal is to build end-to-end AI assistance for civil. In India, we do not have a problem with labour because we have them. But we need to make them smart. We need to help them with AI assistance. AI has become jargon, and there will be no jobs anymore, so I don’t say AI now. I do the job first and then tell them, This is what AI does.

A recent incident in Delhi led to the collapse of a portion of IGI Airport. There was a small corrosion at a particular point, and people could not reach there because the structure was very complex and people were using traditional methods that were no longer sufficient. That’s why we need AI to inspect, check, and record details that are out of human intervention.

What message do you want to pass on to all women aspiring for a startup?

My message for women would be just one word: have patience and just do it. It will take time, but you will gradually move higher and attract the right people and opportunities for you. One more thing is that we women have capabilities but no networking. So, women should not shy away from it and build their network.