If there is one thing California may have more of than swimming pools, it might be programmers and yet the two industries rarely cross paths. Avid swimmer and certified wunderkind, Sai Reddy, sees artificial intelligence technology in the pool industry as not only an inevitability but a matter of life and death.
There are countless drowning deaths each year, deaths that Reddy believes could be prevented by his product, CamerEye, a camera system that uses AI technology to recognize when a person is drowning.
With a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from the University of California San Diego, Reddy seems to know what he is talking about, but he says what has drawn him to the pool industry has been his interest in life away from a computer monitor. “What inspires me about this industry is the fact that it is a ‘people first’ industry, unlike other ones that have too much of outside influence,” Reddy observes.
The fact that consumers invite this industry into their own backyards, Reddy says, speaks to the personal nature of these products. “It’s about the value we’re delivering and the recurring opportunities that we have serving our customers,” Reddy says.
After starting CamerEye in 2019, the company spent two years testing its product to ensure the safety of the customers. CamerEye officially launched in 2021.
“My goal for CamerEye is that I’d like to see each and every new pool built starting this year, to add this AI technology that can help builders with progress monitoring during construction,” Reddy says, “and then be turned over to the homeowner as a safety, plus, smart pool camera.”
Reddy is hoping to develop CamerEye into what he describes as a “complete AI package,” that both monitors and also assists with operational aspects and maintenance.
“I come from a corporate space, where personal connections are never ‘personal,’ ” Reddy explains. “But what I’ve seen in this industry is that it’s always people first. In this industry, it’s always about building trust and then solving a problem with a solution.”
