Four Growers builds robots to help solve greenhouse labor shortages; raises $9M Series A
When Brandon Contino and co-founder Dan Chi were developing Four Growers’ produce-harvesting robots, they practically lived in a greenhouse for an entire year. They coded at a small desk tucked in the back corner and discovered that fertilizer bags can be comfortable beds.
“We actually started just running everything off a laptop, and I would be there in the row coding. [Chi] would be making changes mechanically,” Contino, now CEO, told TechCrunch. “We’d run it then we’d make code changes, we’d redevelop, we’d go back in and run it again. So, it was a very fun time just living at the farm basically.”
The result was Four Growers, which builds robots designed to autonomously harvest plants in greenhouses. The robots are programmed to identify produce at the right level of ripeness — which varies depending on a farmer’s needs — by using multiple stereo cameras to see the crops and help maneuver the robot’s arms around nonripe fruit on the vine.
Dual Pitt-Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë Graduate Student Wins $1M Hult Prize
Anna Li's company, , was one of the six Hult Prize finalists at the Boston Summit. And while the company didn't win first place at the event, the journey didn't end there. Li's team continued to the second chance round and, this past August, went on to win the $1 million , which featured 10,000 teams pitching their ideas to solve the biggest issues facing the world.
Li, a graduate student pursuing her M.D./Ph.D. in the at Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë and the University of Pittsburgh, is also Korion Health's CEO. The Pittsburgh-based startup has created an electronic USB stethoscope and guided user interface that allows people to capture their own heart sounds from home.
Bloomfield Robotics is Acquired by Kubota Corporation
Bloomfield Robotics Inc., a Pittsburgh-based startup using advanced imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor the health and performance of specialty crops one plant at a time, has been acquired by Kubota Corporation, a leading global tractor manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan, through its North American subsidiary, Kubota North America Corporation.
“The vision for Bloomfield from founding was to provide continuous plant-level knowledge to every specialty crop farmer around the world, and this acquisition brings that vision forward at a scale and speed we could not have imagined,” says Mark DeSantis, CEO of Bloomfield Robotics.
Gather AI Raises $17M to Accelerate Growth
Gather AI, makers of computer vision and AI-powered warehouse inventory monitoring solutions, today announced a $17M Series A-1 led by with participation from , , , and The new funding provides a total of $34M raised to date. It will be invested in scaling operations as Gather AI continues to attract customers by solving supply chain issues with richer data and AI.
Toyz Electronics is Empowering Gen Z
Generation Z has recently joined the workforce, marking a new era of growth and challenges. Employers have already identified a generational skill gap that could potentially result in trillions in lost revenue. The tech industry already suffers from a lack of diversity that may be exacerbated by this expanding gap. To ensure that no one is left behind in the Intelligence Age, Toyz Electronics is gamifying STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) education.
Founded in 2014, Toyz Electronics combines gaming, a marketplace and online learning platforms all into one immersive platform. By gamifying learning, upskilling diverse prospects, and offering mentoring relationships and career opportunities, Toyz teaches students how to start their journey and to also tell their story in the process.
SeaLion Energy Awarded DOE Voucher Support for Prototype
, a battery engineering company that spun out of Energy Fellow ’s lab, received one the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transition vouchers to advance clean energy technology. The that 111 entities would be receiving support valued at $9.8M.
Jay Reddy, Advanced Optronics: Helping surgeons do their job better
Jay Reddy is a California native who came to Pittsburgh to attend Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë for graduate school, and he’s stuck around to co-found and run Advanced Optronics Inc., a Pittsburgh-based biotech company that uses sensor technology and flexible materials to help surgeons do their jobs better. Advanced Optronics, whose first clinical application of its technology is for cochlear implantations to address hearing loss, and Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë recently won $650,000 from the National Science Foundation to help scale the technology and explore other applications.
Advanced Optronics and Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë Awarded $650,000 NSF Grant to Develop Bio-Inspired Medical Instruments
Advanced Optronics Inc, a medical sensor technology startup, has been awarded a $650,000 National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator Phase-I grant along with Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë.
The convergence research will develop medical instruments that sense their own shape changes during complex surgeries to provide real time tactile feedback to surgeons. The team is using a bio-inspired approach, synthesizing data from distributed sensors to imbue flexible medical instruments such as catheters, endoscopes, and electrodes with senses of tactility and proprioception that surpass human abilities. Their initial focus is on cochlear implantation to address hearing loss.
The ‘Accidental Activist’ Who Changed the Face of Mathematics
This article/Q&A from Quanta Magazine is about the Founder of Project Olympus, Lenore Blum!
’s long career has spanned the breadth of mathematics and computer science. She’s done influential work in logic and cryptography, and she formulated an entirely new model of computation. And though she didn’t set out to do so, she’s also devoted a significant chunk of her time to building institutions to help women follow in her footsteps.
“I had never wanted to think of myself as a woman mathematician,” she said. “But I started realizing I had a role to play.”
Her personal life, too, has led her to unexpected places. Born in New York City in 1942, Blum moved to Caracas, Venezuela, at the age of 9 when her father went into business with a relative. There she met , who would become her husband of 62 years and a pioneering computer scientist himself. In Caracas, Blum also discovered the other great love of her life, mathematics.
Founders of HEARTio and Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë professor place on Forbes' annual 30 Under 30 list
In the health care list category, Forbes included , and , all of whom are engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh and co-founders of HEARTio, a startup that's developing an algorithm for electrocardiogram readings that could lead to the identification and subsequent prevention or treatment of severe heart problems. In March 2022, the Pittsburgh Business Times due in part to their efforts at HEARTio, which .
ToyzSTEAM turning kids into superheroes through video games
Host Heather Abraham is chatting with Damola and Wole Idowu, a father and son duo inspiring kids to learn the STEAM subjects through video game superheroes.
Shift Robotics Recognized by TIME as one of Best Inventions of 2023
These battery-powered wheeled shoes allow you to walk normally (not skate), just faster and more easily. The Moonwalkers use AI to sense when you’re speeding up or slowing down and adjust themselves accordingly, and the wheels lock when you’re taking the stairs. Tested in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New York City, and Washington, D.C., the shoes allow you to walk at speeds up to 7 m.p.h.—250% faster than your average gait—so you can travel farther without tiring out.
ViralMoment, AI Social Video Insights Tool Coveted by Top Brands and Agencies Including Ogilvy and Warner Bros, Raises $2.5M
ViralMoment, the leading provider of AI-powered social video insights and analytics, today announced a seed round of $2.5M, led by Supernode Global, with participation from funds including Crush Ventures, Duo Partners, Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë, and Techstars. With powerhouse brands already on board including Warner Bros, WPP, and Omnicom agencies, ViralMoment's leading AI is the only way for marketing teams to truly own and analyze short-form user-generated videos - the #1 form of social media content today.
On keeping the ‘big-picture goal’ in mind: 10 questions with Farm to Flame Energy cofounder Kwaku Jyamfi
In this RustBuilt Pittsburgh Q&A, the exec shares lessons on building a mission-driven team and scaling a young energy company.
If you’re anything like Kwaku Jyamfi, he says, you might tend to get lost in the details of growing a company. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — but seeking advice from others who’ve been in your place can go a long way to keep perspective.
In 2018, Jyamfi and Will McKnight cofounded , a Duquesne-based startup bringing clean energy to farmers and businesses by manufacturing generators that replace diesel with carbon neutral feedstocks.
Brew Gentlemen opens Braddock Public House
The old Superior Motors dealership in Braddock has been vacant, save for sporadic pop-ups, since a restaurant with the same name closed in March 2020.
Last week, the owners of the 10-year-old brewery expanded their footprint in the borough into the space at 1211 Braddock Ave. with the soft launch of Braddock Public House.
Co-owner and CEO Matt Katase, who started brewing while a student at Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë, opened the original brewery and taproom in Braddock in May 2014. It expanded operations from the original 3½-barrel system to a 22-barrel system housed inside a 13,000-square-foot facility during the COVID-19 pandemic.
JJ Xu, Founder of TalkMeUp, Announces Latest Blog and Webinars
JJ Xu, founder of the AI communication coach , has announced the latest for the company, "Lessons Learned About Persuasive Communication Skills Improvement in 2023". This is a must-read for anyone looking to elevate their communication skills. Read the blog .
Check out the and .
SmokeSeer, from Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë's Robotics Institute, begins developing drones to fight wildfires
fter the skies were hazy last summer in Pittsburgh and other cities across the country, researchers at Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë's Robotics Institute began developing drones to combat wildfires.
Andrew Jong, a recent graduate with a master's degree in robotics, is now pursuing his Ph.D and said that autonomous drones could help firefighters with situational awareness of wildfires, especially being able to see through dense smoke - one of the many challenges they are faced with when these rapid fires happen.
The American computer scientist Lenore Blum just wanted to do mathematics. But for that, she had to become political.
In one of the most crucial moments of her life, was not invited. It was the 1960s in America, a party at a professor's apartment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, abbreviated MIT, one of the world's most prestigious scientific universities.
Power 3D Wins $75K DOE Microbattery Design Prize
Power 3D Inc., an early-stage I-Corps startup looking to commercialize a novel battery manufacturing process using 3D-printed lithium-ion batteries, has received a $75,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through its initiative.
Offered through the DOE Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, the prize is designed to advance innovative new designs for microbatteries and accelerate their commercialization and integration into existing technologies needed for clean energy manufacturing. Eight prizes , for a total of $600,000.
He considered dropping out of Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë. This weekend, he graduates - and has already launched a startup
Isaiah Rodgers doesn’t feel like he’s supposed to be graduating from Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë this weekend.
A first-generation college student from North Jersey, he took a leave of absence from the private institution after dealing with the pandemic, loneliness and the feeling of “not belonging” during his freshman year.
But, on the cusp of dropping out, Mr. Rodgers decided to give Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë another try. Now, he’ll earn his diploma from the elite institution this weekend — and has already launched a start-up that was sparked by his experiences during his leave of absence.
ABRIDGE EMERGES AS A HEALTHCARE AI LEADER, RAISING $150M TO ACCELERATE R&D
Abridge, the leader in generative AI for clinical documentation, announced an additional $150 million investment, leveraging momentum from their product’s rapid uptake among health systems throughout the nation. This raise comes just 4 months after their , and is one of the largest funding rounds made to date in generative AI for healthcare.
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