Israel Active

Israeli startup Guardian Optical Technologies develops sensors that monitor the safety devices inside automobiles. Its new automatic sensor system combines video image recognition, 3D depth-mapping, and motion detection. It can also prevent small children and pets being forgotten in vehicles.

The Rooster is a new robot from Israeli startup RoboTiCan that can help reach injured victims of natural disasters where it’s not safe to send a human rescue worker.  Like its biological namesake, the Rooster mostly walks, but when necessary it can hover and fly over obstacles.  

Israeli startup Inuitive specializes in vision processing and sensing technologies. It uses deep learning algorithms to develop chips and processors that support 3D imaging for uses in robots, drones, augmented reality and virtual reality. Japan’s Softbank is to integrate Inuitive’s chips into its IoT products.

Israeli startup Muvix says it is the first in the world to provide movies on-demand in a public space. The Muvix “living lab” in South Tel Aviv had partitioned-off spaces, each with a large TV screen. Viewers watched their chosen film in their chosen language without disturbing others.

International Space Station astronaut Paolo Nespoli is making a National Geographic documentary “One Strange Rock” using a virtual reality (VR) camera developed by Israeli startup Human Eyes. The camera will take 3D, 360-degree shots of life and work aboard the ISS.

Israel was the only Middle East country mentioned in Reuters’ annual list of the World’s 100 most innovative universities. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was 82nd, up 12 spots from last year. Tel Aviv University was ranked at 88 and the Technion Institute of Technology was at 89.

Assaf Natanzon, Vice President of advanced technology and investment evaluation for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Dell EMC, is the top Israeli on Wikipedia’s list of Prolific Inventors. He has 205 registered patents as at the time of writing (up from 202 in the Israel21c article).

Israel’s Freshub has already developed a voice-activated smart kitchen device that allows you to order groceries, search recipes, setup cooking timers and play music. Freshub has now partnered with China’s TCL to integrate Freshub’s software into TCL’s Xess mini tablet kitchen assistant.

I’ve previously reported on Israeli companies that try to reduce the numbers of customers who abandon on-line purchases at the checkout.  Now Israeli startup Datacrushers uses algorithms, data and analytics to help Internet vendors correct problems with their site and boost sales by up to 40%.

Israel’s experimental Deep-Sea Research Station (Deeplev) has now been made permanent. The station is moored in the Mediterranean Sea, 50km west of Haifa.  Its team of scientists are from Bar-Ilan University and the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute.