0:00:00.691,0:00:01.969
I was only nine

0:00:01.993,0:00:06.916
when my grandfather first described to me[br]the horrors he witnessed six years earlier

0:00:06.940,0:00:09.844
when human stampedes killed 39 people

0:00:09.868,0:00:11.884
in our hometown of Nashik, India.

0:00:12.461,0:00:15.750
It was during the 2003 Nashik Kumbh Mela,

0:00:15.774,0:00:18.746
one of the world's largest[br]religious gatherings.

0:00:19.213,0:00:22.943
Every 12 years,[br]over 30 million Hindu worshippers

0:00:22.967,0:00:24.546
descend upon our city --

0:00:24.570,0:00:27.410
which is built[br]only for 1.5 million people --

0:00:27.434,0:00:29.077
and stay for 45 days.

0:00:29.601,0:00:32.672
The main purpose[br]is to wash away all their sins

0:00:32.696,0:00:35.021
by bathing in the river Godavari.

0:00:35.807,0:00:38.045
And stampedes may easily happen

0:00:38.069,0:00:41.346
because a high-density crowd[br]moves at a slow pace.

0:00:42.002,0:00:46.311
Apart from Nashik, this event happens[br]in three other places in India,

0:00:46.335,0:00:48.054
with varying frequency,

0:00:48.078,0:00:50.847
and between 2001 and 2014,

0:00:50.871,0:00:56.369
over 2,400 lives have been lost[br]in stampedes at these events.

0:00:57.362,0:00:59.219
What saddened me the most

0:00:59.243,0:01:03.758
is seeing people around me[br]resigning to the city's fate

0:01:03.782,0:01:07.607
in witnessing the seemingly[br]inevitable deaths of dozens

0:01:07.631,0:01:08.908
at every Kumbh Mela.

0:01:09.448,0:01:10.878
I sought to change this,

0:01:10.902,0:01:13.877
and I thought, why can't I try[br]to find a solution to this?

0:01:13.901,0:01:15.389
Because I knew it is wrong.

0:01:15.701,0:01:19.153
Having learned coding at an early age[br]and being a maker,

0:01:19.177,0:01:20.845
I considered the wild idea --

0:01:20.869,0:01:22.057
(Laughter)

0:01:22.081,0:01:23.466
[Makers always find a way]

0:01:23.490,0:01:26.555
I considered the wild idea[br]of building a system

0:01:26.579,0:01:29.041
that would help regulate[br]the flow of people

0:01:29.065,0:01:32.054
and use it in the next Kumbh Mela in 2015,

0:01:32.078,0:01:35.683
to have fewer stampedes[br]and, hopefully, fewer deaths.

0:01:36.177,0:01:38.648
It seemed like a mission impossible,

0:01:38.672,0:01:40.440
a dream too big,

0:01:40.464,0:01:42.645
especially for a 15-year-old,

0:01:42.669,0:01:46.208
yet that dream came through in 2015,

0:01:46.232,0:01:49.925
when not only did we succeed

0:01:49.949,0:01:52.901
in reducing the stampedes[br]and their intensity,

0:01:52.925,0:01:55.102
but we marked 2015

0:01:55.126,0:01:59.133
as the first Nashik Kumbh Mela[br]to have zero stampedes.

0:01:59.596,0:02:04.934
(Applause)

0:02:04.958,0:02:07.444
It was the first time in recorded history

0:02:07.468,0:02:10.214
that this event[br]passed without any casualties.

0:02:10.888,0:02:12.038
How did we do it?

0:02:12.623,0:02:15.654
It all started when I joined[br]an innovation workshop

0:02:15.678,0:02:18.354
by MIT Media Lab in 2014

0:02:18.378,0:02:20.347
called the Kumbhathon

0:02:20.371,0:02:24.775
that aimed at solving challenges[br]faced at the grand scale of Kumbh Mela.

0:02:25.784,0:02:30.292
Now, we figured out to solve[br]the stampede problem,

0:02:30.316,0:02:32.480
we wanted to know only three things:

0:02:32.504,0:02:35.243
the number of people, the location,

0:02:35.267,0:02:38.726
and the rate of the flow[br]of people per minute.

0:02:39.241,0:02:43.370
So we started to look for technologies[br]that would help us get these three things.

0:02:44.091,0:02:48.345
Can we distribute radio-frequency tokens[br]to identify people?

0:02:48.369,0:02:51.782
We figured out that it would[br]be too expensive and impractical

0:02:51.806,0:02:53.742
to distribute 30 million tags.

0:02:54.545,0:02:57.926
Can you use CCTV cameras[br]with image-processing techniques?

0:02:57.950,0:02:59.997
Again, too expensive for that scale,

0:03:00.021,0:03:02.899
along with the disadvantages[br]of being non-portable

0:03:02.923,0:03:05.741
and being completely useless[br]in the case of rain,

0:03:05.765,0:03:08.147
which is a common thing[br]to happen in Kumbh Mela.

0:03:09.120,0:03:11.445
Can we use cell phone tower data?

0:03:11.806,0:03:14.273
It sounds like the perfect solution,

0:03:14.297,0:03:16.070
but the funny part is,

0:03:16.094,0:03:18.839
most of the people[br]do not carry cell phones

0:03:18.863,0:03:20.347
in events like Kumbh Mela.

0:03:20.887,0:03:24.601
Also, the data wouldn't have been[br]granular enough for us.

0:03:24.625,0:03:27.078
So we wanted something that was real-time,

0:03:27.102,0:03:30.419
low-cost, sturdy and waterproof,

0:03:30.443,0:03:32.854
and it was easy to get[br]the data for processing.

0:03:33.672,0:03:36.028
So we built Ashioto,

0:03:36.052,0:03:38.137
meaning "footstep" in Japanese,

0:03:38.161,0:03:42.346
as it consists of a portable mat[br]which has pressure sensors

0:03:42.370,0:03:44.861
which can count the number[br]of people walking on it,

0:03:44.885,0:03:47.317
and sends the data over the internet

0:03:47.341,0:03:49.888
to the advanced data analysis[br]software we created.

0:03:50.483,0:03:53.771
The possible errors,[br]like overcounting or double-stepping,

0:03:53.795,0:03:56.445
were overcome using design interventions.

0:03:56.803,0:04:00.329
The optimum breadth of the mat[br]was determined to be 18 inches,

0:04:00.353,0:04:02.592
after we tested many different versions

0:04:02.616,0:04:05.203
and observed the average[br]stride length of a person.

0:04:06.111,0:04:09.016
Otherwise, people might step[br]over the sensor.

0:04:09.040,0:04:11.612
We started with a proof of concept[br]built in three days,

0:04:11.636,0:04:14.510
made out of cardboard and aluminum foil.

0:04:14.534,0:04:15.535
(Laughter)

0:04:15.559,0:04:17.933
It worked, for real.

0:04:17.957,0:04:20.647
We built another one[br]with aluminum composite panels

0:04:20.671,0:04:22.309
and piezoelectric plates,

0:04:22.333,0:04:25.904
which are plates that generate a small[br]pulse of electricity under pressure.

0:04:26.959,0:04:30.228
We tested this at 30 different[br]pilots in public,

0:04:30.252,0:04:33.974
in crowded restaurants,[br]in malls, in temples, etc.,

0:04:33.998,0:04:35.632
to see how people reacted.

0:04:36.720,0:04:38.743
And people let us run these pilots

0:04:38.767,0:04:45.243
because they were excited to see localites[br]work on problems for the city.

0:04:45.680,0:04:48.799
I was 15 and my team members[br]were in their early 20s.

0:04:49.736,0:04:54.227
When the sensors were colored,

0:04:54.251,0:04:57.092
people would get scared[br]and would ask us questions like,

0:04:57.116,0:04:59.323
"Will I get electrocuted[br]if I step on this?"

0:04:59.347,0:05:00.348
(Laughter)

0:05:00.372,0:05:04.744
Or, if it was very obvious that it was[br]an electronic sensor on the ground,

0:05:04.768,0:05:06.261
they would just jump over it.

0:05:06.285,0:05:07.361
(Laughter)

0:05:07.385,0:05:10.449
So we decided to design[br]a cover for the sensor

0:05:10.473,0:05:13.530
so that people don't have to worry[br]what it is on the ground.

0:05:13.554,0:05:15.530
So after some experimentation,

0:05:15.554,0:05:18.364
we decided to use an industrial sensor,

0:05:18.388,0:05:21.357
used as a safety trigger[br]in hazardous areas

0:05:21.381,0:05:22.532
as the sensor,

0:05:22.556,0:05:24.637
and a black neoprene rubber sheet

0:05:24.661,0:05:25.903
as the cover.

0:05:26.374,0:05:29.191
Now, another added benefit[br]of using black rubber

0:05:29.215,0:05:32.842
was that dust naturally[br]accumulates over the surface,

0:05:32.866,0:05:35.516
eventually camouflaging it[br]with the ground.

0:05:35.540,0:05:40.652
We also had to make sure that the sensor[br]is no higher than 12 millimeters.

0:05:41.206,0:05:43.435
Otherwise, people might trip over it,

0:05:43.459,0:05:45.364
which in itself would cause stampedes.

0:05:45.792,0:05:49.579
(Laughter)

0:05:49.603,0:05:50.965
We don't want that.

0:05:50.989,0:05:52.778
(Laughter)

0:05:52.802,0:05:56.881
So we were able to design a sensor[br]which was only 10 millimeters thick.

0:05:57.469,0:05:59.709
Now the data is sent[br]to the server in real time,

0:05:59.733,0:06:01.381
and a heat map is plotted,

0:06:01.405,0:06:04.748
taking into account[br]all the active devices on the ground.

0:06:04.772,0:06:09.057
The authorities could be alerted[br]if the crowd movement slowed down

0:06:09.081,0:06:12.216
or if the crowd density[br]moved beyond a desired threshold.

0:06:12.992,0:06:17.984
We installed five of these mats[br]in the Nashik Kumbh Mela 2015,

0:06:18.008,0:06:20.398
and counted over half a million people

0:06:20.422,0:06:22.104
in 18 hours,

0:06:22.128,0:06:26.505
ensuring that the data was available[br]in real time at various checkpoints,

0:06:26.529,0:06:28.405
ensuring a safe flow of people.

0:06:28.429,0:06:31.874
Now, this system, eventually,[br]with other innovations,

0:06:31.898,0:06:35.050
is what helped prevent stampedes[br]altogether at that festival.

0:06:35.585,0:06:38.458
The code used by Ashioto during Kumbh Mela

0:06:38.482,0:06:41.894
will soon be made publicly available,[br]free to use for anyone.

0:06:41.918,0:06:43.895
I would be glad if someone used this code

0:06:43.919,0:06:46.131
to make many more gatherings safer.

0:06:46.878,0:06:48.804
Having succeeded at Kumbh Mela

0:06:48.828,0:06:52.740
has inspired me to help others[br]who may also suffer from stampedes.

0:06:52.764,0:06:55.573
The design of the system[br]makes it adaptable

0:06:55.597,0:06:57.591
to pretty much any event

0:06:57.615,0:07:01.411
that involves an organized[br]gathering of people,

0:07:01.435,0:07:05.745
and my new dream is to improve,[br]adapt, and deploy the system

0:07:05.769,0:07:11.238
all over the world to prevent loss of life[br]and ensure a safe flow of people,

0:07:11.262,0:07:14.049
because every human soul is precious,

0:07:14.073,0:07:16.451
whether at concerts or sporting events,

0:07:16.475,0:07:18.362
the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad,

0:07:18.386,0:07:19.837
the Hajj in Mecca,

0:07:19.861,0:07:21.758
the Shia procession to Karbala,

0:07:21.782,0:07:23.266
or at the Vatican City.

0:07:23.893,0:07:25.770
So what do you all think, can we do it?

0:07:25.794,0:07:26.945
(Audience) Yes!

0:07:26.969,0:07:28.120
Thank you.

0:07:28.144,0:07:29.145
(Cheers)

0:07:29.169,0:07:32.439
(Applause)