Watch Cure with Cyclops!

Artificial intelligence and Cyclops algorithms show their effectiveness four times faster than traditional methods (long-term closing of eyes, use of medical patches and atropine eye drops). This case, along with the attractiveness of interaction and entertainment, has caused this startup to achieve various successes, such as the first place in Tehran’s Innotex Pitch 2020 event.

To learn more about Cyclops, which has recently managed to attract a valuable three-way investment, follow Ecomotive’s interview with engineer Ariana Soltani, its co-founder and twenty-five-year-old development manager.

What made you enter the startup space?

Since I was very interested in inventing since I was a child, the idea of ​​starting a business (which was later named “startup”) was in my head. On the other hand, the family members were already in the entrepreneurial space, and I started doing a lot of research-production work from the beginning of entering the university.

In general, however, my entry into this space began at the age of 18 when I participated in the second “Makathon” event at Sharif University with three of my friends; In that event, we had a very good performance and I also got acquainted with startup terms and our activity took a more serious form.

In your opinion, what characteristics should a startup founder have?

According to the 4 years that I have been active in this field, in my opinion, having two components of patience and a lot of effort is necessary to start a business; As we also faced many difficulties until today.

What is Cyclops and what problem does it solve?

Cyclops is a virtual reality clinic for the treatment of diseases such as lazy eye, autism, specific phobias and other types of psychological diseases that have a difficult treatment process and currently there is no specific treatment for them; But Cyclops has treated them with game therapy and occupational therapy in the virtual reality environment; In this regard, we created a number of games and exercises in the virtual reality environment, and patients can go through their treatment process by playing for one hour a day.

Do patients have a time limit in their occupational therapy process?

No; But one hour is a good time that we got good results so far, but there were also those who used it for a longer time; We often leave it to the patients’ own choice.

You started Cyclops by treating lazy eye disease. How is your approach different from the traditional process?

Cyclops creates value for three groups in the treatment of lazy eye: the first group is children who make the treatment easier and more attractive for them so that they do not leave their treatment half-finished; Because these types of diseases have a difficult treatment process. The second group is families; For families, psychological and health educations are planned to teach them how to deal with their children in difficult days, and the third group are doctors who can easily follow and manage the results of patients’ treatment. have better than them.

Traditional treatments are such that children close their lazy eyes with eye pads for 4 to 6 hours a day, which is very annoying for children and they often do not undergo treatment.

On the other hand, these eye pads cause allergies for children, or sometimes, by closing one eye, the other eye becomes watery and deviates. In order for the healthy eye not to be damaged, the doctor prescribes atropine drops for the healthy eye. prescribes; This drop makes the child’s eye cloudy for a day, which makes the child’s healthy eye unable to see clearly during the treatment.

But with Cyclops, children play for only one hour a day and there is no need to close their eyes, and on the other hand, this process is fascinating for them.

Are children okay with wearing glasses?

By the way, it is very attractive for them; They especially like the gamepad they hold and play with, and we haven’t had any problems so far; But for children under 3 years old, we have considered a different solution such as lighter glasses.

Please explain a little about the process of conducting Cyclops clinical tests.

Because the Cyclops product was so new, investors did not have a clear view of its results; Because VR, as well as virtual treatments, had not yet taken place in Iran, and we had to prove that our product would work.

From April 1998, we started clinical tests; First, we implemented our product in “Negah” specialized eye hospital for the head of the hospital, and one of the hospital’s doctors, Dr. Jaleh Rajabi, who is one of the best children’s eye specialists and a member of the faculty of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, became very interested in this discussion and for They volunteered to help us. We also conducted experiments on two groups of 25 people for 8 months under his supervision. One group used our device for 1 and a half months, one hour a day, and the second group used only the eye pad, and the results showed that the group that used the Cyclops device had a 4 times higher treatment speed; With this account, both the duration of the treatment was halved and the number of Snellen chart letters – the reference for diagnosing lazy eye – was doubled.

When we received the official certificate from the hospital, we wrote a scientific article that is currently being published in an American journal.

AOr is there a specific age to suffer from lazy eye?

Often, children under 7 years of age face this problem, but because they do not follow up and the problem is not solved, they may be involved with these issues until they are older.

What percentage of children get this disease?

According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, 3 to 5% of children in all societies suffer from lazy eye and in Iran, according to the latest statistics that we got from Farabi Hospital, we have about one million people of different ages suffering from lazy eye. Increase in birth, this statistic increases day by day and is not constant.

What made you decide to tackle this issue?

In 1997, with one of the co-founders of Cyclops, we encountered a strange scene in an eye clinic, and it was a parent running after his child to put the pad on his child’s eye, and this question came to me. Why does the child run away from it?

We talked a little with the family of that child, and then we thought of starting a business to facilitate this process, and when we focused on this, we realized that there are other diseases that require special treatment. Ha, it is not, and the person should be exposed to treatment, but the situation does not occur to him; For example, someone is afraid of heights, he should be exposed to them to gradually overcome his fear.

At the same time, virtual reality creates good spaces in this field and we can solve a wide range of problems with its help; For these reasons, we moved in this direction.

How was the Cyclops team formed?

I have been friends with one of the co-founders since I was 6 years old and we were together throughout my education, from kindergarten to university; We met the other co-founder in the university and in fact, the research we were doing together from the 2nd semester connected us.

At first, we started this work with 3 friends, but after a while, a number of other friends from the same university were added to us, and now, a team of 8 people is working full-time; Of course, in the field of product development, several more people will be added to our team this year.

What are the strengths of the Cyclops team?

In my opinion, the first strength of the team is its agility, which overcomes challenges with effort and patience. When we encounter a challenge, we first consult with people and as soon as we find a solution, we quickly go to solve it and devote less time to product development. In the development of Cyclops in the last year and a half, we did things that were strange for us; Because we achieved a long way in a very short period of time; For example, Cyclops was only one year old when it introduced its product to the Ministry of Health of Oman and the Ministry of Health of the UAE; We also participated in the two main competitions of GITEX Dubai and found an Emirati partner. We are currently working with an African company.

What happened to you from Oman and Dubai?

In 1998, our first investor, Barkat Institute, sent a number of its teams to Jitex exhibition for business development, and we were the first team eager to participate in this exhibition to observe the atmosphere of this market on a global scale.

And we also participated in two GITEX competitions from the very beginning; In the first match, we made it to the semi-finals, and in the second match, we were among the top teams of the exhibition and made it to the finals.

Many investors from different countries were present at the exhibition, our product also had special attractions for investors, and from that time, Cyclops was known in the Persian Gulf countries, and two months after the competition, it was sent to the Ministry of Health of Oman and then to the Ministry of Health. Health of the Emirates, we were invited.

Last year, we launched our servers in Oman and it was well received. Currently, the sales fields in the UAE are being formed, and because our business partner in the UAE moved the work faster; Last year, we also signed the product sales contract.

Why did you choose Oman?

Because Oman has a smaller population and it is easier to start a business in a small country. On the other hand, the population of children with lazy eye there is significant. Also, due to the difference in currency, it can help in the development of the market.

Does Cyclops have an external example?

Yes; In the field of lazy eye, there are two external examples. An American sample and an Israeli-American sample. Of course, in the field of research and development, they are not very famous startups, and the interesting thing is that of these two active startups, one only uses animation and the other only uses games; Whereas, we use both of them.

How many users has Cyclops attracted so far?

We had more than 300 users so far; However, most of the time we have spent so far has been in the field of research and development, and we have only worked in a limited way in 4-5 clinics in Tehran, but in the new year, we will probably focus on wholesale sales and market development.

What vision do you have for the production and commercialization of Cyclops?

Our most important plan for the future is to expand the virtual reality clinic to find solutions for other diseases as well; Especially considering the situation of Corona where people are expected to enter crowded clinics less, we will focus on the aspect of telemedicine. The next goal is to make more comfortable and lighter glasses, especially for children.

Is there any hope that Cyclops will be covered by insurance?

In this regard, we have had discussions with the Ministry of Health of Iran, but we have not yet reached a conclusion, but in the UAE, insurance supports this type of business, and our effort and focus now is to receive this support from the UAE.

What were the most important challenges you faced?

Our most important challenge is in cooperation with other companies; Because in 1999, we made a lot of requests to make glasses, but our contract was delayed 3-4 months due to the bad reputation of the companies. Another challenge was dealing with customs; Because some of our parts are imported, and even after 6 months, our parts are still in the customs; Unfortunately, due to the fact that we are knowledge-based, and despite many attempts, we have not yet succeeded in obtaining a product license, and I think that the biggest challenge for this type of business is in the field of product import.

Do you have a special moment or memory from Cyclops product development?

The best moments, which were not few, were related to the time when the families came to do the tests after two months and saw that their child’s eyes had improved by two lines; That feeling was very sweet for us too.