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So far Doug Neal has created 184 blog entries.

Voxel51 technology helps retailers and shoppers maintain social distancing

The restart is underway, and as stores reopen, retailers must ensure customers and employees maintain adequate social distancing. To help track and manage those efforts, startup Voxel51’s platform can monitor in-store traffic and identify when locations are busy. The company’s metric, referred to as the physical distancing index, uses video feeds and computer vision modeling to [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:50-05:00July 29th, 2020|

Refraction Sees Demand For Autonomous Delivery Robots Rises As Pandemic Continues

From Michigan to Tokyo, the coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge in demand for contactless delivery robots. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, lunch orders for Refraction AI’s last-mile REV-1 autonomous delivery robot have jumped by up to four-fold since the health crisis began. The company, which started operations in July 2019, created the robot for [...]

By |2020-07-29T11:57:40-05:00July 29th, 2020|

Strata Oncology Announces Partnership with BioMed Valley Discoveries to Accelerate Enrollment in ERK Inhibitor Study

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Strata Oncology, Inc. , a precision oncology company advancing molecular indications for cancer therapies, today announced it has signed an agreement with BioMed Valley Discoveries Inc.. to accelerate patient identification and enrollment for BioMed Valley's Phase 2 study of BVD-523 (ulixertinib) for patients with advanced malignancies harboring MEK or atypical BRAF alterations [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:51-05:00July 29th, 2020|

Cobalt helps Organizations Conduct App Penetration Tests More Frequently – and Broadly

In an encouraging sign for application security, enterprise organizations are conducting penetration tests more frequently and more broadly than before, data from a new Cobalt.io study suggests. Unlike in the past where regulatory and other compliance mandates used to be the primary driver for these tests, organizations are now conducting them more to proactively detect [...]

By |2020-07-29T11:49:03-05:00July 29th, 2020|

Clinc, Visa Partner Over Virtual Assistant, Conversational AI Banking Experience

Ann Arbor, Michigan based Clinc, a provider of conversational artificial intelligence technologies, formally announced a partnership with Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), extending its AI banking experience to financial institutions and banking customers around the world. “Our goal has always remained the same - to create technology that makes people’s lives easier,” said Lingjia Tang, Clinc co-founder and interim [...]

By |2020-07-29T11:46:25-05:00July 29th, 2020|

Akadeum Is Joining the Fight Against COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted a need for fast and accurate methods for identifying RNA viruses through nucleic acid capture and detection. Akadeum Life Sciences is up to the challenge. In a relatively short time, the coronavirus pandemic has spread across the globe. This novel virus was first noted in Wuhan, China in December 2019 [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:51-05:00July 29th, 2020|

Blue Medora Launches observIQ

New Strategy Provides Disruptive Open Source Observability Solutions for DevOps and ITOps GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., July 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- observIQ, a global leader of open source observability solutions for DevOps and ITOps, is being unveiled today. Blue Medora is launching this new brand after VMware’s acquisition of its True Visibility Suite team and [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:51-05:00July 22nd, 2020|

Sight Machine Named to the 2020 Global Cleantech 100

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2020—Sight Machine Inc., which revolutionizes manufacturing operations to achieve continuous breakthroughs in productivity, profitability and sustainability, was named a 2020 Global Cleantech 100 company by Cleantech Group. The 2020 Global Cleantech 100 is the 11th edition of the annual guide to the leading companies and themes in sustainable innovation. It features the private, independent and [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:51-05:00April 30th, 2020|

Rachio Wants You To Ditch The Fertilizer To Build A Better Lawn

First, Rachio set out to help your lawn, and the planet, by creating a sprinkler controller that uses weather data to keep you from watering when you don't need to. Now they're back to apply that same "think globally, act locally" attitude towards keeping your lawn greener with Lawn Champion, the first product in the [...]

By |2020-04-30T11:14:37-05:00April 30th, 2020|

Cobalt Delivers Fast Application Security Pentesting as a Service for Actionable Results in Real Time

Security pentesting can be a slow, often expensive process for software companies. And the results often show where a product stands at a moment in time, not as a dynamic entity. Companies traditionally approach pentesting in two ways. The first is to hire in-house pentesters, an option large banks often choose. But that can be [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:51-05:00April 30th, 2020|

Aperia Help Fleets Move Toward Predictive Maintenance to Prevent Breakdowns, Reduce Expenses

...Predictive maintenance is even starting to appear for tires. Aperia’s wheel-mounted Halo tire inflation system automatically adds air when a tire drops below the recommended pressure. About six years ago, Aperia added sensors to demonstrate the product was working, which led to its telematics product, Halo Connect. Judith Monte, Aperia’s vice president of marketing and [...]

By |2020-04-30T11:09:42-05:00April 30th, 2020|

Voxel51 Releases COVID-19 Physical Distancing Impact Trend Analysis Tool

Ann Arbor’s Voxel51, which offers advanced machine learning tools to analyze video, has just released a tool that looks at the social impact of physical distancing from the COVID-19 epidemic. They’re calling it PDI, or Physical Distancing Index. The data can be used in a number of ways to look at the results of social distancing orders [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:52-05:00April 15th, 2020|

Robot Deliveries Might End Up Being Common, Post-Coronavirus Pandemic

While the Wuhan district in China was under quarantine, news surfaced of robots delivering food and, later, medical supplies. Meanwhile, in the United States, the French company NAVYA configured its autonomous passenger shuttles in Florida to transport COVID-19 tests to the Mayo Clinic from off-site test locations. As the weeks of stay-at-home orders and recommendations slip into months, the [...]

By |2020-04-15T12:11:45-05:00April 15th, 2020|

Cobalt.io pentesting service brings wizard-like setup to platform

Cobalt.io wants to change the way companies purchase and pay for pentesting services, which test an application for vulnerabilities before it goes live. Today, the company announced a number of enhancements to the platform. Jacob Hansen, CEO and co-founder at Cobalt, says the pentesting business typically involves an expensive and time-consuming exercise, which culminates with the [...]

By |2020-03-12T08:14:43-05:00March 12th, 2020|

Inside Voxel51: AI video analytics startup founded by U-M professor, student

Voxel51 CEO Jason Corso teaches computer vision at the University of Michigan. CTO Brian Moore was his student when he was doing his Ph.D. in machine learning, and after some brainstorming, the two decided to combine their skills and build an AI video analytics platform. "We're focused on the next frontier, which is video where [...]

By |2019-12-27T13:26:39-05:00December 27th, 2019|

The 2019 State of Pentesting: Cobalt.io Shares Critical Lessons from 1400+ Pentests

SAN FRANCISCO, July 11, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Security thought leaders Caroline Wong and Joe Sechman released a new report this week, The State of Pentesting. Data for this report was gathered from over 150 survey respondents as well as 1400+ pentests performed over the past three years on Cobalt.io's Pentest as a Service platform. From this research, Wong and Sechman noticed [...]

By |2019-12-27T13:23:31-05:00December 27th, 2019|

BlueMedora Partnership with New Relic Logs Expands Observability with BindPlane

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. – Oct 14, 2019 – IT monitoring integration innovator, Blue Medora, today announced early access availability of over 50 log source integrations, dramatically simplified deployment options, fully-managed log agent, and 24/7 customer support for New Relic customers through BindPlane, its Monitoring Integration as a Service (MIaaS) solution. Helping New Relic customers properly configure and [...]

By |2019-12-27T13:18:33-05:00December 27th, 2019|

Aperia Announces Enhancement to Halo Product

ATLANTA — The expansion of Halo Connect, an analytics platform focusing on predictive tire maintenance, was announced by Aperia Technologies Inc. at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show. The platform features precise vehicle location and service insights, along with tire tread depth and replacement tracking. “Following a successful limited-quantity release with some of the industry’s [...]

By |2019-12-27T13:15:30-05:00December 27th, 2019|

Akadeum Announces First Closing of Series A Financing Round

Akadeum Life Sciences, Inc. announced an initial close of its Series A financing. The company is pursuing additional investment before final close during Q1 2020. These funds will enable Akadeum to focus its commercial adoption on how to solve longstanding problems in sample preparation. The investment includes several Michigan-based angel groups in addition to venture [...]

By |2019-12-27T13:06:53-05:00December 27th, 2019|

Last Mile Robot Launches Snowy Pilot In Quest To Own Food Delivery Market

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. The postal creed dates back to Ancient Greece and perhaps foretells the next chapter of ecommerce as Refraction AI robots take to the snowy streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan to pilot their online food delivery service.  [...]

By |2019-12-18T10:56:47-05:00December 18th, 2019|

Refraction AI tests new Delivery Robots in Ann Arbor

Refraction AI tests new Delivery Robots in Ann ArborOne of the autonomous delivery robots created and currently being tested by Refraction AI sits downtown Ann Arbor, Wednesday Oct. 30, 2019. Refraction AI tests new Delivery Robots in Ann ArborMatthew Johnson-Roberson cofounder and CEO at Refraction AI sits next to one of the autonomous delivery robots [...]

By |2019-11-04T12:47:28-05:00November 4th, 2019|

Akadeum and Agilent Team Up to Explore New Testing Workflow

Akadeum Life Sciences, Inc., an Ann Arbor-based biotechnology company, announced today that it has entered into a collaboration with Agilent Technologies, Inc. to work toward a new method of isolating target molecules for detection. Akadeum aims to disrupt the status quo in isolation technology with their buoyant microbubbles. Notably, Akadeum is the first company to [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:52-05:00October 31st, 2019|

Alexa, You’re Fired: Why Conversational AI Startup Clinc Is Bulldozing The Competition

Just a few months ago, industry-disrupting conversational AI startup Clinc, which is rolling out an automotive application of their voice-interface software in 2021, was filling the top floor of tech and startup co-working space Cahoots and filling an office in Kerrytown. Now the conversational AI research startup is expanding into a third location in Ann [...]

By |2019-10-07T11:40:28-05:00October 7th, 2019|

MemryX develops first programmable memristor computer which aims to bring AI processing down from the cloud

ANN ARBOR—The first programmable memristor computer—not just a memristor array operated through an external computer—has been developed at the University of Michigan. It could lead to the processing of artificial intelligence directly on small, energy-constrained devices such as smartphones and sensors. A smartphone AI processor would mean that voice commands would no longer have to [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:52-05:00August 9th, 2019|

Voxel51 raises $2 million for its video-native identification of people, cars and more

Many companies and municipalities are saddled with hundreds or thousands of hours of video and limited ways to turn it into usable data. Voxel51 offers a machine learning-based option that chews through video and labels it, not just with simple image recognition but with an understanding of motions and objects over time. Annotating video is an important [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:52-05:00August 9th, 2019|

Aperia Helps Fleets Choose Tire Inflation, Monitoring Systems That Work Best for Their Operations, Industry Representatives Say

Blown-out, flat or damaged tires are considered by fleets to be at least a leading cause of roadside maintenance calls for commercial trucks, while underinflated tires are the single-biggest source of tire issues in general. To help prevent these tire-related maintenance and safety problems, technology suppliers have introduced a variety of automatic tire inflation systems, [...]

By |2019-08-02T10:12:23-05:00August 2nd, 2019|

The Refraction Rev-1 delivery robot is fast enough to hit the bike lane

As many folks continue to look skyward in expectation of drone delivery services, they’re missing the development of an increasingly popular delivery technology back on terra firma. Wheel-based delivery robots may not be quite as sexy as their flying counterparts, but with fewer regulatory hoops to jump through than drone services, the technology is likely to [...]

By |2019-07-26T12:44:20-05:00July 26th, 2019|

Aperia brings machine learning to tires

ATLANTA, Ga. – Aperia Technologies’ new Halo Connect is using the power of machine learning to help fleets “virtually eliminate” unplanned tire-related downtime. The system builds on the company’s Halo tire inflator, incorporating a retrofittable sensor that feeds data into Aperia’s analytics platform. “The hardware, the sensors are not where the secret sauce is,” CEO Josh [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:52-05:00July 25th, 2019|

Aperia Technologies Paves the Way for Predictive Tire Maintenance with Debut of Halo Connect

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aperia Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of tire management technologies that improve the safety and efficiency of commercial vehicle tractors and trailers, has announced the initial rollout of Halo Connect, a proprietary connectivity platform that leverages machine learning to enable fleets to virtually eliminate unplanned tire-related downtime. Aperia Technologies announces limited rollout of Halo [...]

By |2019-07-25T13:05:33-05:00July 25th, 2019|

Refraction Launches from Stealth with Autonomous B2C Last-Mile Delivery Service; Low-cost, Lightweight Robots Navigate in the Bike Lane

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 10, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Refraction AI (https://refraction.ai), creator of the REV-1, a low-cost, lightweight autonomous delivery robot that can operate in both the bike lane and on the roadway, today launches at TechCrunch Mobility. Founded by University of Michigan professors Matthew Johnson-Roberson and Ram Vasudevan, the company has developed a safer, more cost-effective solution for last mile [...]

By |2019-07-25T13:04:23-05:00July 11th, 2019|

Voxel51: Advancing AI for video

Prof. Jason Corso's startup launches powerful video processing platform ANN ARBOR—Voxel51, a University of Michigan startup, today launched its flagship product—a software platform designed to make it easier, faster and more affordable to access the untapped potential of video data. The software is aimed at companies that work with video but struggle to extract the [...]

By |2019-07-25T13:04:52-05:00July 5th, 2019|

Strata Oncology to Present Interim Data from the Strata Trial at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Strata Oncology, Inc., a precision oncology company, today announced that data from its Strata Trial, a nationwide observational NGS screening protocol providing no-cost tumor sequencing and clinical trial matching for 100,000 advanced cancer patients, will be presented in a poster at the upcoming 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) [...]

By |2019-05-24T10:21:42-05:00May 24th, 2019|

Akadeum Launches Seven New Products at Immunology 2019 Conference in San Diego

Ann Arbor-based biotech company, Akadeum Life Sciences, announced the release of seven new products based on its proprietary microbubble technology. Akadeum Life Sciences today announced at Immunology 2019 the introduction of its first suite of products based on its microbubble technology. Unlike magnetic-based products, microbubbles use buoyancy to gently separate cells of interest within the [...]

By |2019-05-24T10:17:04-05:00May 24th, 2019|

Aperia Technologies Secures $36 million Funding to Accelerate Growth

Aperia Technologies Inc., the leading supplier of tire management technologies that improve the safety and efficiency of commercial vehicles, today announced a $36 million Series C1 investment led by new investors Blackhorn Ventures and Tenfore Holdings, with significant participation from existing investors. “Aperia is better positioned now more than ever before to continue its mission [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:52-05:00May 24th, 2019|

Blue Medora Partners with Google Cloud to improve enterprise observability

Partnership simplifies data collection for enterprise IT resources via Google Stackdriver GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. + LONDON, UK – October 11, 2018 – Reflecting the increasing importance of hybrid and multi-cloud visibility among enterprises, IT monitoring integration innovator Blue Medora announces a new collaboration with Google Cloud to integrate Blue Medora’s Dimensional Data stream into Google Stackdriver. This partnership, which includes [...]

By |2019-05-24T10:06:57-05:00May 24th, 2019|

Akadeum Launches Seven New Products at Immunology 2019 Conference in San Diego

Ann Arbor-based biotech company, Akadeum Life Sciences, announced the release of seven new products based on its proprietary microbubble technology. Akadeum Life Sciences today announced at Immunology 2019 the introduction of its first suite of products based on its microbubble technology. Unlike magnetic-based products, microbubbles use buoyancy to gently separate cells of interest within the [...]

By |2019-05-21T11:27:56-05:00May 21st, 2019|

Clinc closes $52 million Series B round

Clinc Inc., an Ann Arbor-based company that uses artificial intelligence to allow companies to more easily interact with their customers, has closed on a venture capital funding round of $52 million, the company said Monday. It's the latest in a string of large investments in growing technology companies in Michigan. The series B funding round [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:53-05:00May 20th, 2019|

Sight Machine Raises $29M to Connect Dots of Manufacturing Enterprises

When it comes to manufacturing, production and quality is everything. Systems to monitor manufacturing have been around for decades, but they aren’t always complete, sometimes only overseeing specific machines or locations. That’s a problem that Sight Machine aims to address with its software that analyzes the manufacturing process. Its technology uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, [...]

By |2019-05-02T14:02:40-05:00May 2nd, 2019|

Strata Oncology Launches Expanded StrataNGS for Patients with Advanced Cancer

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Strata OncologyTM, a leading precision oncology company, today announced the launch of version 3.0 of StrataNGSTM, its pan-cancer assay for solid tumors. The updated 500-gene assay utilizes DNA and RNA from tumor samples to detect all clinically actionable biomarkers — including microsatellite instability (MSI), tumor mutational burden (TMB), and PD-L1 [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:53-05:00March 22nd, 2019|

Sight Machine highlighted in Industry 4.0: Ten AI innovators in manufacturing tech

How it’s using AI in manufacturing: Manufacturers useSight Machine’s analytics platform to gain real-time insights into every part of their manufacturing process and optimize operations as a result. The Sight Machine platform culls information from multiple sources, analyzes it, creates a digital “twin” of a company's infrastructure and then highlights areas where operations can be improved. Industry Impact: GE, [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:53-05:00March 22nd, 2019|

Aperia’s new Halo Connect prioritizes tire health

Knowing tire air pressure is one thing. Being able to prioritize tire health is next level. With Aperia Technologies’ new Halo Connect, fleets will get more critical feedback on tires that will help them address real problems before they lead to costly downtime events. “Something we’ve long envisioned before releasing Halo was to bring a connectivity [...]

By |2019-03-22T09:54:02-05:00March 22nd, 2019|

Rachio Wireless Flow Meter review: A watchful eye for irrigation leaks

Irrigation systems don’t have the best reputation for being user friendly. Adding a smart controller like Rachio’s to the mix goes a long way toward improving the user experience. Now Rachio is extending the intelligence of its top-notch controller one step further with its Wireless Flow Meter accessory. The Wireless Flow Meter is a device [...]

By |2019-03-22T09:50:51-05:00March 22nd, 2019|

Jason Mars, co-founder and CEO of Clinc, said conversational AI is just at the frontier of its potential

Getting computers to talk finance with banking customers by voice or text is a big challenge, as anyone who has encountered a bank chatbot knows. Called conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) it requires skills outside the usual developer’s portfolio and changes to the typical IT organization, said Don McInnes, who has been working in the field [...]

By |2019-03-22T09:51:32-05:00March 15th, 2019|

MemryX Positioned Well as AI Needs Memory for AI Edge Computing

This presents a totally different way of doing AI because it’s not dependent on the massive training capacity in the cloud if an unexpected event occurs that needs quick decision making, such as a traffic scenario where safety is a concern, Dubois said. Enabling more machine learning at the edge jives with the Forrester Research [...]

By |2019-03-15T11:43:29-05:00March 15th, 2019|

Sight Machine Partners with Macnica Networks to Grow and Serve Customers in Japan

SAN FRANCISCO and TOKYO, Sept. 5, 2018—Sight Machine Inc., the category leader for digital manufacturing, today announced a strategic partnershipwith Macnica Networks Corp., one of Japan’s leading value-added distributors for advanced network products and information technology, expanding Sight Machine’s presence in the Japan market. Demand for Sight Machine’s technology has surged in Japan as the [...]

By |2018-11-30T13:23:36-05:00November 30th, 2018|

Aperia Technologies Hits 2 Billion Miles and Introduces Long-Term Halo Performance Studies with Fleets

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aperia Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of tire inflation technologies that improve the safety and efficiency of commercial vehicle tractors and trailers, today released two long-term client case studies to commemorate the Halo’s 2 billionth cumulative mile on the road. “At this year’s MCE meeting, we will be showing how effective tire management [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:53-05:00November 30th, 2018|

Clinc expands to automotive, releases SaaS platform for its voice AI assistant

Clinc co-founder and CEO Jason Mars just announced the company is expanding to a third vertical: Automotive. The company, which started in fintech and recently unveiled a product for drive-thru restaurants, is aiming its voice AI service at the automotive industry. The idea is to give automakers a platform that they can integrate into their [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:53-05:00November 30th, 2018|

eLab Managing Director Bob Stefanski Speaks about A.I. in Marquette

MARQUETTE — Mention the letters “A.I.” to Bob Stefanski, and he becomes really excited. Stefanski, an entrepreneur and venture capital investor in Silicon Valley, talked about artificial intelligence Monday before the Economic Club of Marquette County at the Ramada Inn in Marquette. He is co-founder of eLab Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund focused [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:53-05:00November 20th, 2018|

Rachio named The Best Smart Sprinkler Controller by WireCutter

A smart sprinkler controller can automatically regulate—and likely reduce—the water use of your in-ground lawn sprinkler or irrigation system, as well as let you more easily control schedules, remotely manage your system, and integrate irrigation with other smart-home tasks. After spending three months testing 11 models, we think the Rachio 3 Smart Sprinkler Controller is [...]

By |2018-11-16T11:00:00-05:00November 16th, 2018|

Strata Oncology Announces Participation in the NCI-MATCH Clinical Trial

Ann Arbor, Mich.  September 5, 2018—Strata Oncology, Inc. today announced it is participating as a CLIA-certified/accredited laboratory for the precision medicine cancer trial, NCI-Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (NCI-MATCH or EAY131). The objective of this ongoing phase II trial, co-led by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the ECOG-ACRIN [...]

By |2021-02-06T14:48:53-05:00November 4th, 2018|
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