A yellow construction helmet lies on a table, next to a red warning light connected to a sensor. The scene is completed by two miniature Lego forklifts and an equally small replica Euro pallet. If the helmet is moved and comes too close to the forklifts, an alarm is triggered and the red warning light starts flashing and spinning. The reason: the helmet is connected to the light via a sensor.
Sharon Nisha has set up this small test rig, which replicates real life, in her office at Startup Port in Harburg's inland port. In the real world, this means that if a person in a warehouse comes too close to a forklift truck, a helmet sensor triggers an alarm as a safety measure and the forklift truck is stopped. This test setup represents the basic business idea behind Sharon Nisha's startup. She has moved into an office at Startup Port and can now get started building her startup, Ploviti.
Sharon Nisha completed her master's degree in electrical engineering at the Institute of High-Frequency Technology (IHT) under Prof. Kölpin before adding a master's degree in business administration at the Northern Institute of Technology (NIT), thus laying the foundation for her engineering and programming skills and for starting her own company. She already knew during her studies that she wanted to start her own business. The 27-year-old has now achieved this with Ploviti. “Ploviti is a kind of Google Maps within rooms that navigates people via an app. People often look for products in airports and supermarkets, but they don't have much time. That was my business idea, which I now want to implement with the business management knowledge I gained during my studies at NIT.”
Providing orientation
As with any navigation system, it's all about the principle of location. How far apart are things? When a certain distance is exceeded, a signal is triggered. This can be helpful in dangerous situations, such as in the example described above, to prevent people and forklifts from getting too close to each other. However, the principle can also be used very effectively via an app, for example to show potential customers a specific range of products in front of a store: Contact is established and customers can see the products in the app.
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Read the entire article in the current issue of spektrum (in German)
