Tech News from the Week
This week we have big robots, big money, and big logistics problems
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Amazon’s Prime Air drone made its public debut in the United States during Amazon’s MARS 2017 conference in California. The conference focused on machine-learning, home automation, robotics and space. The drone touched down in a field carrying a box of sunscreen and a pocket of dreams for the future. It also made the terrifying buzzing noise of a thousand angry hornets. Wanna see and hear? Gahead:
Also making a creepy debut at Amazon’s MARS 2017 conference: South Korean company Hankook Mirae Technology designed a big ol’ robot that Bezos sat inside. Bezos moved his arms. The robot moved its arms. And that’s what happened. This robot could ostensibly be used for moving large objects in warehouses or for world domination.
Alexa is now taking your alcohol delivery orders (in participating cities) as well as Prime Now orders for two-hour delivery items. Alexa will also now accept multiple orders at once and will automatically give you the next available two-hour delivery window. This way, you can get tipsy, order more alcohol than you should, get drunk, go on a drunk shopping spree with your pal, Alexa, and get it all delivered before you have time to experience the pangs of regret for all of those decisions.
Moving from Amazon, to its frenemy, Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart is creating a technology-startup incubator in Silicon Valley to identify and invest in retail technologies, such as virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, drone delivery and personalized shopping.
The incubator will partner with startups, venture capitalists and academics to keep its finger on the pulse of the latest tech and to compete with that robot-wielding potential super villain, Jeff Bezos.
An airport out of Amsterdam has launched an API platform so that developers can explore and use airport data available in order to improve the customer experience. Because it’s about darn time.
Adidas exemplifies how the supply chain is moving closer and closer to the customer with its prototype technology that scans an individual’s body for his/her exact measurements and then knits a delightfully warm and perfect-fitting sweater within hours.
At a pop-up Adidas store in Berlin, customers paid $215 to design their own merino wool sweaters. The sweatering machine scans the body and projects potential patterns and color options onto customers that they then gestured to remove, edit or select. Once they completed their custom design, it was knitted by industrial knitting machines in the store, finished by hand, and washed and dried.
MotorK, an Italian company that creates digital products for the automotive industry, has raised $10 million in Series A funding, led by 83North.
MotorK was founded in 2010 in order to help players in the automotive supply chain improve sales through a better and more effective online presence and shopping experience.
Since its founding, the company has been profitable for the last 6 years and this marks the very first time it is taking in outside funding. This increase in capital will likely be used to expand further into other European markets, where it already has a presence in Spain, Germany, France and the UK
India is one heck of a logistics challenge. And it’s going to require some pretty sweet technology and all sorts of money. BlackBuck- a startup that digitizes logistics and cross-country freighting in India- just closed a $70 million Series C round. This is after previously raising $30 million.
What’s all this money trying to do? It’s operating a marketplace that connects those who need to move goods across India with those who have trucks and capacity. I hate to use this phrase because it’s a real bummer, but it’s like an Uber for trucking because it doesn’t own trucks. It’s the tech that helps track trucks and facilitates drivers as they pick up, transport and unload. Currently, BlackBuck states that it works with more than 100,000 trucks across 300 locations- transporting for big deal somebodies such as Coke and Unilever.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies announced that it has begun construction on its first full-scale passenger capsule set to be completed in 2018. That’s next year, y’all. This capsule will be approximately 100 feet long, 9-feet in diameter and weighing in at 20 tons in order to accommodate 28–40 passengers. This heavy hunk of metal full of people will zoom at the absurd speeds of up to 760 mph.
Vinsight is a new startup that is using that thing called data-analytics in order to help farmers more accurately predict how the year’s crop will be. Vinsight doesn’t have any proprietary sensors or weather stations. Rather, it’s using data collected from growers, government agencies and elsewhere to analyze data points daily as well as historical data to create meaningful insights for farmers.
Ebay still exists. And to ensure it keeps existing in the world of Amazon, it announced that it will guarantee three-day shipping on 20 million eligible products. Many of these products will also be shipped for free. This is expected to roll out this summer.
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