Word: imagen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...represented in digital form these days--not just text, movies and music but poison gas, human faces, packs of razor blades--you name it. Once information is digitized, it can be tracked, monitored and analyzed. The potential is evident in Lipson's vision of how people will use Imagen's algorithm-laden software. "Any data that can be represented as an image is amenable to analysis by Imagen's technology," says Lipson. "It is one of the very few technologies that can transcend different domains, from natural scenes to human faces to trademarks...
...Imagen has not been chasing terrorists or advising Hollywood starlets on their makeovers but concentrating on the far less glamorous--but more commercially viable--task of spotting defects on electronics boards before they end up in faulty cell phones or computers. Imagen's software is programmed to recognize patterns in much the same way the human brain learns to distinguish classes of objects (say, faces) as well as specific objects in that class--like your best friend's face. That's done by teaching the software, through trial and error, the common patterns that all faces share plus the specific...
What works for faces works for circuit boards too. Imagen licenses its software to Teradyne, a maker of automated test equipment based in North Reading, Mass. (The companies are close; indeed, Imagen has an office based at Teradyne's headquarters.) Teradyne delivers Imagen technology to manufacturing companies in Asia and the U.S. by integrating it into Teradyne test equipment that scans circuit boards for flaws. Simply stated, a Teradyne machine takes pictures of the circuit board and hands over the image to Imagen software, which scours the snapshot for imperfections. This business allows Imagen to make a profit, though...
Although Lipson won't reveal financial details, she says Imagen is making a profit--an impressive result for a company started with just $30,000 in prize money that Lipson won in 1997 as a doctoral student at M.I.T.'S Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Imagen has not raised any venture capital either; indeed, Lipson claims to have spurned offers because, she says, working as a lone wolf, Imagen is free to develop its technology at its own pace and in several markets simultaneously. The company's only funding other than the M.I.T. prize and fees from Teradyne has been...
...While Imagen zeroes in on one market, Alien and Nanomix have learned a few hard lessons about focusing. Although Alien once concentrated on flexible computer screens, it is now putting all its efforts behind radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tags. The key to both flexible screens and RFID tags is Alien's patented manufacturing process, which allows chips to be generously sprinkled onto thin plastic sheets that can be easily attached to almost any type of product. Once fastened to a pack of razor blades, for example, a RFID chip emits a radio signal that allows the manufacturer or retailer...