Teachers & Educators

Selected

Livox

Enabling millions of non-verbal disabled people to communicate and learn

Team Lead

Carlos Pereira

Basic Information

Our tagline:

Livox enables millions of non-verbal disabled people to communicate and to learn

Our pitch:

There are over 1 billion people with disabilities on the planet. They are the group with the highest risk of social exclusion. Millions of them can't communicate verbally. For this reason many are considered like a burden for their families. By enabling them to communicate and then get education, we are helping to set them free and we are helping to create a more equitable society.

Livox is a software for Android tablets that enables people with disabilities to communicate and to learn. It has algorithms for motor, cognitive and visual disorders. So, Livox is different for every disabled person since disabilities vary in type and degree. We have different interfaces depending on the user's disability. People who can read, people who can't read, people who can see, people who can't see, people that don't understand abstract concepts, all of them can use Livox.

The creator of Livox, Carlos Pereira, is a father of a 9-year-old girl that has Cerebral Palsy due to a medical mistake. Livox was first tested with his daughter. He was also an owner of a rehab center for 6 years and Livox was tested in this rehab center with a wide range of disabilities. For example: people with Autism hate changes. So we had to create an algorithm to prevent changes while still keeping communication dynamic if a user has Autism.

We have over 20,000 users and we recently begun a study with the help of the Florida Hospital to track the improvement in their lives. We have a questionnaire that tracks improvements in the following areas: Visual, Auditory, Cognitive and Behavior. The Florida Hospital is using Livox in 5 out of 7 locations in Central Florida and is tracking the answers for this questionnaire. Preliminary results are very positive but the full disclosure of data will be done in the next 18 months.

Our software costs up to 4,000% cheaper than current solutions used in the United States. Our software was created to work in inexpensive Android tablets so more people can have access to it.

Livox is being used mainly in schools in Brazil. Without proper communication, it's very hard for a child with disabilities to learn something. They need to be able to say that they didn't understand something and answer correctly questions. This is almost impossible without communication. With Livox you can also create content that suits the needs of each user. Some of them have visual impairment, cognitive disorders, etc. So, we help literacy indirectly first by allowing communication and directly by enabling the creation of any type of content, like Science, Math, History, etc.
Also, teachers may create content in their tablets and if there is any student with a Livox tablet in the classroom, the teacher may send the content to the students tablets automatically.


Watch our elevator pitch:

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Orlando, FL, USA

The dimensions of the Challenge our solution addresses:

  • Educators fostering 21st century skills
  • Personalized teaching, especially in disadvantaged communities
About Your Solution

What makes our solution innovative:

Three things:

- Intelligent algorithms that makes the software adjust itself according to every disability

- User improvement tracking: through our portal, professionals can check the user improvements by using Livox in 5 different categories

- Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing: we use these two technologies to enable people with disabilities to communicate up to 20 times faster.

All the features above are unique to Livox. None of our competitors have similar features

How technology is integral to our solution:

Livox is a software developed to work in Android tablets.  A device that enables people with disabilities to communicate through their eyes costs around $17,000 in the US. We developed a new algorithm that works even front facing cameras of $50 tablets. Besides that, our new features: Livox Natural Conversation and Livox Recommendations use Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to enable people with disabilities to either initiate conversations faster or to answer questions faster than regular alternative communication devices.

Our solution goals over the next 12 months:

Our goal in the next 12 months is to consolidate our position in the American market.

Our vision over the next three to five years to grow and scale our solution to affect the lives of more people:

We are starting partnerships with big players like the Inter-american Development Bank in Washington and UNICEF. Our software is already available in 25 languages and we believe that with Solve's network help and also some other big players, we will be able to make our software available to a wide number of disabled people everywhere.

The simplicity of our software (specially due to the heavy use of technology) along with its affordability will help it impact a great number of people. We do believe that Solve's network can also help us on scaling our solution.

Our promotional video:

The key characteristics of the populations who will benefit from our solution in the next 12 months:

  • Child
  • Male
  • Female
  • Urban
  • Middle

The regions where we will be operating in the next 12 months:

  • Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • US and Canada

How we will reach and retain our customers or beneficiaries:

We sell Livox licenses that can be downloaded in Android tablets. We have partnerships with governments, institutions for people with disabilities, schools, etc.

Families, institutions, governments or hospital acquire Livox licenses and then they deliver it to people with disabilities and learning difficulties.

We have a portal where our users can track the improvements of anyone using Livox. This portal also helps teachers, therapists and families to have access to content for people with disabilities.

How many people we are currently serving with our solution:

We have around 20,000 users right now. They can be either professionals that work with people with disabilities or learning disabilities or actual people with disabilities.

For people with disabilities, Livox enable them to communicate and to learn.

For caregivers it gives them resources to better help people with disabilities.

How many people we will be serving with our solution in the 12 months and the next 3 years:

In the next 12 months we hope double our number of users and in three years we expect to be the number one solution for alternative communication and learning disabilities in the American market and one of the biggest in the world.

We expect to have these numbers due to the work we are already doing the United States and also our partnership with UNICEF (we are in the final considerations to sign a deal with them) and Interamerican Development Bank (IDB). 

About Your Team

How our solution team is organized:

Hybrid of For Profit and Nonprofit

How many people work on our solution team:

5

How many years we have been working on our solution:

5-10 years

The skills our solution team has that will enable us to attract the different resources needed to succeed and make an impact:

We are a small but very effective team. Our founder, Carlos Pereira is a father of a little girl with disability and has an extensive understanding of the needs of people with disabilities. Besides that we have in our team engineers, speech therapist, teacher and all kinds of professionals with a big experience in learning disabilities.

Our revenue model:

We sell licenses that can be installed in tablets. Every year the user must pay 20% of the initial user license price to have access to customer support and new features.

Partnership Potential

Why we are applying to Solve:

Solve is a community focused in solving some of the biggest humanity issues.

There are over 1 billion of people with disabilities on the planet. They are the biggest minority on Earth and they are the group with the highest risk of social exclusion.

We believe that Solve's connections can help us to reach the right channels to distribute our solution to as many people with disabilities as possible.

The key barriers for our solution:

Most people with disabilities don't vote, don't make any money and are considered like burdens in the society.

Although many people think that our work is "beautiful" there is still little work being done to actually change the lives of people with disabilities.

Solve can help us with connections and support to raise awareness for the needs of people with disabilities.

The types of connections and partnerships we would be most interested in if we became Solvers:

  • Connections to the MIT campus
  • Impact Measurement Validation and Support
  • Media Visibility and Exposure
  • Grant Funding
  • Preparation for Investment Discussions

Solution Team

  • Carlos Pereira CEO and Founder, Livox International LLC
 
    Back
to Top