Pic: Pal Szilagyi Palko / EyeEm / EyeEm via Getty Images.
Tech
UCLA bioengineers have created a new class of bionic 3D camera systems that can mimic flies’ multiview vision and bats’ sonar sensing.
This means multidimensional imaging with crazy depth range that can also see through blind spots, around corners or behind other items.
3D imaging through occlusion using Compact Light-field Photography (CLIP) allows the camera system to “see” with an extended depth range and around objects.
The researchers also use a type of Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) where a laser scans the surroundings to create a 3D map of the area.
Basically, the combination of CLIP and LiDAR means the system can achieve the bat echolocation effect – so you can sense a hidden object by how long it takes for light to bounce back to the camera.
“If you’re covering one eye and looking at your laptop computer, and there’s a coffee mug just slightly hidden behind it, you might not see it, because the laptop blocks the view,” UCLA Samueli School of Engineering associate professor of bioengineering and study leader Liang Gao said.
“But if you use both eyes, you’ll notice you’ll get a better view of the object. That’s sort of what’s happening here, but now imagine seeing the mug with an insect’s compound eye. Now multiple views of it are possible.”
The researchers say the tech could be incorporated into autonomous vehicles and medical imaging tools.
Metal recycling and electronics recovery player Sims said its sales revenue for FY22 was in the billys – $9.264 billion to be precise – up 56.6% from the prior corresponding period.
The company said investment in metal recovery technology translated to improved recovery rates, especially in its North America Metal division.
“We made significant progress on our business strategy: successfully completed several strategic acquisitions, continued to deploy enhancement technologies in ferrous and non-ferrous, and opened new feeder yards in the metal business,” CEO and MD Alistair Field said.
“In Sims Lifecycle Services, we launched new service offerings and invested in engineering and technology to continue driving innovation and build capacity to scale up operations quickly when the supply chain challenges ease.”
Recruitment platform giant Seek says its Australian and New Zealand revenue is up 53% for FY22, and EBITDA is up 60% vs the previous corresponding period.
“In all our Asia Pacific markets, ongoing economic recovery drove high demand for labour, which in turn led to strong job ad volumes and increased depth adoption,” CEO and MD Ian Narev said.
The company says it’s also launched enhanced Artificial Intelligence capabilities across search and recommendations, expanded Certsy verifications and released new products in ANZ including Company Profiles and Talent Search Connect.
ROOTS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (ASX:ROO)
The agricultural tech player has secured new sales contracts worth $190,000 in United Arab Emirates (UAE) for its Heat Exchange Probes (HEPS) cooling solution as part of a large-scale coffee production project.
The HEPS are designed to cool the root zone temperature of the coffee plants – which is the most critical variable to plant health – at scale and keep them at an optimal range year-round.
The deal follows the recent signing of a free trade agreement between Israel and the UAE, which aims to lift bilateral trade to more than $10bn.
Carbon reporting blockchain tech player TYMLEZ is collaborating with the Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub and Safetytech Accelerator to undertake a feasibility study for the guarantee of origin of green hydrogen and green ammonia in the maritime industry.
The maritime industry is turning to net-zero fuels such as green ammonia to power its next generation of container ships and tankers, which is expected to create a USD$5 trillion (approx. AUD$7.3 trillion) market for green ammonia by 2050.
On completion of the study, TYMLEZ says it will potentially have the opportunity to pilot the outcome with select Lloyd’s Register clients, with a view to creating an industry standard in the certification of green hydrogen and green ammonia for the maritime industry.
“Being selected for this project is a sign of confidence showing that some of the world’s most respected and well-known companies are seeking solutions that only TYMLEZ can offer through the TYMLEZ Platform,” CEO Daniel O’Halloran said.
The project is expected to take two months to complete.
The semiconductor development company has released an update regarding initial internal analysis of the third platform lot, where it was aiming to resolve the etch residue problem that had resulted in the partial failure of the Second Platform Lot last year.
“Testing of the memory cells used in the imec megabit memory array showed unexpected problems with scaling the memory cell to small dimensions suitable for Storage Class Memory potential applications,” the company said.
“These results suggest that the memory stack etch mask modification and further optimisation of the etch process utilising this new mask appears to have created another problem, while having resolved the root cause of the electrical shorting of the memory devices in the Second Platform Lot.”
Until this issue is resolved, the company believes there’ll be long-term delay in achieving its strategic goal of commercialising the technology.
To conserve existing cash reserves, MD Ken Hurley will leave the company effective immediately – since he was engaged for the specific purpose of leading the commercialisation effort – and will reengage when 4DS is ready to start commercialisation.
AVA has secured a further two contracts for the supply and installation of its Fibre Optic Intrusion Detection Systems within the North American energy sector, for a combined order total of US$0.8 million ($1.2 million).
“We are extremely pleased to have won two significant orders in the North American energy market, reflecting the proven reliability and flexibility of our fibre detection system,” CEO Rob Broomfield said.
“We have identified other critical assets in the sector which we believe are well suited to our market leading detection solutions and are aggressively pursuing these opportunities.”
The supply of material for both orders is expected to be fulfilled in Q1 FY23.
Location sharing app Life360 says Q2 22 subscription revenue was up 88% and increased 57% YoY.
“Life360’s significant business momentum continued in the June 2022 quarter, with net subscriber additions of 111,000, the second highest ever quarterly growth and Monthly Active Users continuing to reach new heights,” CEO Chris Hulls said.
“Annualised Monthly Revenue (excluding hardware) of $174 million is a 65% year-on-year uplift.
“We are seeing resilience from our subscribers and users in the face of more challenging global macroeconomic circumstances, with our usual ‘back-to-school’ seasonal uplift underway.
“While we continue to monitor global macroeconomic conditions, in fact we continue to see strong growth in our user and subscriber performance, and maintain confidence in a very promising outlook.”
The company says it expects sustainable positive cash flow in late CY23, and first full year of positive cash flow in CY24.
Earlier this month the cloud tech player got a revised acquisition offer from Atturra (ASX:ATA) of $0.07 per MOQ share comprising $0.055 in cash and $0.015 in Atturra shares.
But today tech solutions and managing IT services provider Brennan has brought out the big guns – upping their original $0.066 offer to $0.075.
It represents a 7.1% premium to Atturra’s most recent proposal, and values MOQ at approximately $23.3 million.
Atturra has confirmed that it will not exercise its matching right in relation to the Superior Proposal from Brennan.
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