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Data-Driven Solutions for Transportation Infrastructure: The Innovation of Cyvl.ai

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In the summer after his freshman year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an engineering school in Worcester, Massachusetts, Cyvl.ai co-founder and CEO Daniel Pelaez needed a job. And during my time there, I quickly saw firsthand they had no data on anything,” Pelaez told TechCrunch. He saw an opportunity that would eventually become Cyvl.ai, a firm that helps municipalities and civil engineering firms bring a digital layer to tracking the conditions of transportation infrastructure. “Our core vision and why we started the company in the first place is to help the entire world build and maintain better transportation infrastructure,” he said. The $6 million investment was led by Companyon Ventures with participation from Argon Ventures, AeroX Ventures and Alumni Ventures.

“Accelerating America: A Cohort of Founders Uniting in Gundo with Discipulus Ventures”

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Scores of accelerator programs run every year with the aim of identifying and cultivating founders in the earliest stages of building a company. Only a fraction seek out founders who are explicitly aligned with some set of values — let alone classically conservative values like family, patriotism and faith. Discipulus Ventures, which kicked off its first 10-person cohort yesterday, is a singular exception. “You can’t say what matters, you can’t say what you think is true, and that’s obviously not going to be good if you want to solve these problems,” he said. The city’s reputation has grown in recent months as a breeding ground for a new type of hard tech founder, one very much like the type Discipulus is trying to attract.

“Revolutionizing Education: Vertical Farming Comes to K-12 with Babylon Micro-Farms”

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In an e-mail exchange, Babylon Micro-Farms CEO Alexander Olesson tells me “we’ll have these in every school and apartment one day.” It’s a nice vision, and really the level of belief/commitment required to run a startup – particularly in a field as oft-fraught at vertical farming. With a price point of $6,500, howver, the STEM Garden isn’t likely arriving in too many homes in the near term. Virginia-based Babylon Micro-farms has long distinguished itself from much of the vertical farming world with its focus on smaller spaces and the new system further shrinks that footprint. Where previous models were focused on higher ed, the STEM Garden is specifically tackling K-9, which tends not to have as deep pockets. The STEM garden is up for pre-order starting today and will start shipping to classes in Q2.

Revolutionizing Haptic Sensory Technology: Ultraleap’s Integration into Automobiles and VR Devices

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In May 2019, Ultrahaptics and Leap Motion became Ultraleap (not to be confused with Magic Leap, which operates in the same space). “I think it’s a long-term vision for XR,” Carter said of the deal. Founded by a pair of University of Bristol students three years after Leap Motion, Ultrahaptics harnesses ultrasound waves to create tactile feedback. Much like the earlier Leap Motion product, it would be possible to mount a device to the front of the visor, but directionality is important. The Leap Motion tech determines your hands’ orientation in space, while haptics provide tactile feedback when you come into contact with the virtual object.

“Introducing Expanded AI Capabilities for Galaxy Devices by Samsung”

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Samsung is bringing its Galaxy AI features to more devices through a new One UL 6.1 update coming in late March, the company announced today. The features are coming to the Galaxy S23 series, S23 FE, Z Fold5 and Z Flip5, as well as Tab S9 Ultra, Tab S9+ and Tab S9. The AI features were first introduced for the Galaxy S24 series, but will soon be available to even more Samsung users. As nearly every tech company is introducing and expanding their AI-powered features, it makes sense for Samsung to make its features more widely accessible. In addition, a new “Note Assist” feature will let users generate summaries and translate notes, while a “Browsing Assist” feature will provide them with quick summaries of news articles.

“Aniai Introduces Revolutionary $12M Burger-Cooking Robot to Restaurants”

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Aniai, a startup that has built a burger-grilling robot, Alpha Grill, said today it has raised $12 million. “Burger chains hire six to eight kitchen staff per shift to grill burgers,” Aniai CEO Gunpil Hwang said. If the user’s patty does not meet its cooking recipes, specifications and requirements, Alpha Grill promptly notifies the cooking staff to ensure quality control. It has also been testing Alpha Grill with burger chains in the U.S. since last year. Other companies in this space include Miso Robotics, which is behind Flippy, a burger-flipping robot; Botinkit, a cooking robot maker in China; and Chef Robotics in San Francisco.

Volkswagen Introduces ChatGPT Integration for Cars and SUVs

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The German automaker announced Monday at CES 2024 in Las Vegas plans to add an AI-powered chatbot into all Volkswagen models equipped with its IDA voice assistant. The AI-based chatbot, which is based on software company Cerence’s Chat Pro product, will roll out in the second quarter, starting with Europe. For now, Volkswagen models in the United States won’t have the feature. The voice assistant is activated with the “Hello IDA” wake word or by pressing the button on the steering wheel. The response will come through the IDA voice assistant so drivers may not even know when ChatGPT is and is not in use.

Introducing a Revolutionary ‘Voice Frequency Absorber’: The Must-See Product at CES 2024!

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CES has always been the place for weird, out-there gadgets to make their debuts, and this year’s show is no exception. Skyted, a Toulouse, France-based startup founded by former Airbus VP Stéphane Hersen and acoustical engineer Frank Simon, is bringing what look like a pair of human muzzles to CES 2024. The app also calculates the wearer’s “voice level” and shows insights into their “perceptibility” and “intelligibility,” sort of like a Fitbit for speech. The masks muffle 80% of a wearer’s voice, Skyted claims, while enhancing the volume in voice and video calls by isolating outside noise. On its website, Skyted advertises… unusual in-app features like a “voice awareness” mode that lets parents quiet their noisy mask-donning kids while they’re playing video games.