Scuudu is Making Big Tech Look Like Quick Math
In the past 20 years, world technology has constantly been on a quest to outdo itself. I mean, everything is getting smaller, faster, and easier. Now we are talking about self-driving cars, smart homes and cities, robots, virtual currencies, and more.
When we ask about the tech behind these concepts, we hear terms like Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain technology, or Virtual and Augmented Reality. Like me, when the average person hears these terms, he/she looks a bit like this guy:
It looks like a truck load of very complex technical stuff meant for hardcore code ninjas only. At least this is what I thought, until I found out about Scuudu; a not so regular team of young people using big tech to solve real problems.
When these four guys got together in January 2020, they had no idea that they’d have 8 products at the end of the year. Each of these 8 products are leveraging big tech and spanning across several industries, solving relevant problems. It’s hard to tell how this small team was able to make this happen.
The Beginning
Scuudu’s first-ever project; Origins was in the Virtual Reality space. It is an adventure game designed to help its players experience Igbo mythology. When you play Origins, you get to play the character ‘Eri’ who sets out on a journey to carry out some tasks which will eventually lead to the creation of the world as it was.
Interestingly, Origins was built by 6 months of constant 3d modeling, backed up with C# coding using the free Unity game development engine. Of course, the team had to get the Oculus Rift to test the game while in development. You could check out Origins on this link.
Fintech
Nigeria’s fintech space has experienced exponential growth in the last 2 decades. It’s a space where we can say we are doing well. However, while we are experiencing the thrills that come with using solutions like Paystack and Carbon, we’re also learning to live with the high numbers of credit card-related fraud.
This is why Scuudu created Wyrewolf, a watchdog that provides some sort of extra layer of security to help you identify and stop any fraudulent transaction on your account using Artificial Intelligence. This is the textbook definition.
Here is a simpler explanation for you. If you got signed up, Wyrewolf would study and keep track of all the transactions that happen on your bank account. This way, even if a fraudster gets your card details and is trying to take out cash from your account, Wyrewolf would notify you and ask for an extra level of authentication before the transaction can be authorized.
TGIF…. Literally
Enough about the fintech, let’s talk about the Internet of Things, and my personal favorite; Friday. Scuudu set out to build a virtual assistant that can help you manage your home appliances from any location on the globe. Yes, they actually went ahead and did it.
While it is still a work in progress, Friday can currently help you control your lighting, check the level of water in your tank(s), and turn on and off appliances like your air conditioner. Friday also comes with an added feature which lets you watch what’s going on in your house using CCTV surveillance.
I had a one-on-one with Frank and he explained the tech behind Friday; the virtual assistant. When I saw what Friday could do, I really had to try it for myself. It felt exciting talking to my phone and switching the lights, I could honestly spend the whole day there.
Basically, all the appliances we use are dumb, and Scuudu found a way to communicate to them using micro controllers. This communication would happen over Bluetooth/WI-FI connections from the appliance, to your phone, making it possible to control them. Sounds easy right? 2 + 3 = 4 and that’s quick mafs.
Personally, Scuudu has served as a huge inspiration to me. The Scuudu story tells me that I don’t exactly need to have everything figured out to achieve my goals. I just need to set those goals, start the journey towards achieving them, and never stop. I hope you get something similar too. Thank you for making it here, I don’t like long articles either.
