Harishma Dayanidhi, Co-founder and Vice President of Engineering for AI, Voxel

Improving Workplace Safety

Harishma Dayanidhi (SCS 2016) started out using her CMU master’s degree in computer science and information technology as a software engineer for Uber and Aurora with a focus on self-driving cars.

All along though, she knew there was more in store for computer vision technologies.

So she and three others, including fellow Tartan on the Rise Anurag Kanungo, spun out to form Voxel, which focuses on making safer workplaces for warehouse employees in manufacturing, retail and other potentially dangerous industrial environments.

“Using computer vision to increase safety was not just a challenging problem,” she says. “It could disrupt an existing industry and bring true, real value to the world.”

Voxel provides companies with visibility into the safety of their large manufacturing plants.

“Existing safety teams tend to be really understaffed, so our platform extends their visibility with computer vision,” Harishma says. “This results in positive contributions to the safety culture and helps identify gaps to improve the conditions that could cause an accident and reduce the human and financial costs of them.”

The engineering feat here is to sync with a factory’s existing security camera system and use computer vision and AI to analyze footage in real time. The software platform pays attention to how employees lift heavy loads; looks for spills or barriers that could cause an accident; ensures vehicles are safely driving; and flags absent personal protective gear like missing gloves or hard hats.

Dozens of companies across numerous industries have adopted the technology, and the impressive results earned Voxel a spot on Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Companies in AI of 2023 list.

“I never knew injuries at the workplace are so common,” Harishma says. “When I first looked at the statistics, I didn't believe it because working as a software engineer, you don't worry about those things at all. But I can use my skills to support places that are really underserved by this kind of technology.”

Story by Elizabeth Speed