This week Matthew and I look back at TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin to discuss 4 start-ups. The question we answer is will the technology fly, or die. For example, Wandlebots introduces a simple way to program robots. Surprisingly (to me, at least), we have different view points on almost each company’s technology. The companies and their descriptions are below.
Photo by Ahmed Saffu on Unsplash
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Fly or Die Show Notes
Wandelbots wants to reinvent the way we program robots by Darrell Etherington
“Its first product is a sensor-laden suit that a person can wear to demonstrate actions so that a robot can then replicate what they do. Basically, it’s a system through which robots can “learn” what they need to without requiring that the person “teaching” them be an experienced robotics programmer.”
AISpotter uses computer vision to make coaches’ jobs easier by Anthony Ha
“Watching video playback of a game’s key moments is an important part of coaching — but according to the team at AISpotter, it can also be tedious and time-consuming… it can digest footage and automatically create a timeline for the coach that allows them to jump to the most relevant moments in a game (and they get to specify what’s relevant to them). In the future, a coach might be able to share all the clips featuring a single player with that player.”
Reason8 is an AI assistant for managers and meetings by Natasha Lomas
“making an audio recording of a meeting is a trivially easy task these days. While speech to text services can help tackle the tedium of transcription, this just invites a slew of new problems: The need to clean up and confirm transcripts. To verify who said what. Not to mention having to ensure everyone consented to being recorded — and gets a timely copy of the meeting minutes afterwards. On the value-add side, a manager might also wish for an easy way to generate a summary of key points after a meeting. And a tool that can automatically list any tasks so they don’t have to go back and pick them out of their notes. Analytics around meeting productivity could also be useful — helping answer questions like: Are my meetings running to time? Which speakers tend to dominate? How many decisions are being made and actioned? These are the sorts of assistance capabilities that US-incorporated startup Reason8 has in the works for its AI-powered transcription service, which is launching out of beta today from the TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin stage. Down the line the team reckons the tech will also be able to offer users linguistic and voice analysis — with the potential to act like a coach and offer individual guidance on improving in-meeting performance.”
Joy raises $7M for a smart photo album that will cost you $499 by Katie Roof
“He says that he realized “family photo-sharing is broken” after his daughter was born two years ago. “Printing photo books is very laborious and time-consuming.” So Chan has raised $7 million to build a better photo product. The round is led by Obvious Ventures and consumer investor David Heller. This brings the total funding to $9.5 million. Chan believes Joy is better than the digital photo frames or the viewing experience of an Apple TV. It has a 13.3″ full HD touchscreen and can sync photos from a range of services, including Google, Facebook and Instagram.”