Physical Sciences News

Burro, formerly Augean Robotics, Raises a Nearly $11M Series A to Scale its Autonomous Robots

September 28, 2021

NextFab-based Burro, formerly known as Augean Robotics, has raised a $10.9 million Series A round of financing a little more than two years after its seed round, the company announced Tuesday. The four-year-old company makes an autonomous, collaborative robot called Burro, which assists in farming labor. And as field labor workforces have shrunk in recent […]

Exyn Technologies’ Drones Achieve Autonomy Milestone with On-Board Mapping

May 3, 2021

Exyn Technologies announced Tuesday that it has achieved what it considers the highest level of aerial autonomy reached within the industry. The key to the achievement is that Exyn drones are immune to GPS signal loss, meaning all spatial and mapping computations are done onboard, the company said. Under Exyn’s definitions of autonomy, which are […]

How to Get Hired in Philly’s Growing Robotics Scene

March 22, 2021

Her interest in robotics started with the comics. “I read a lot of Batman and Iron Man as a kid” in Egypt, said Nour Hussein. “Seeing the high-tech stuff being used by superheroes was fantastic for teenaged me, and I wanted to create technology.” Hussein eventually came to the engineering school at the University of […]

ROAR for Good Closed a Round of Funding as it Eyes Expansion Throughout the US

March 18, 2021

2020 was a crushing year for the hospitality industry. But ROAR for Good founder Yasmine Mustafa is keeping her eyes on encouraging recovery numbers as the company places its personal safety device technology in more hotels across the United States. The company just closed a round of growth capital and is planning to add to […]

Simply Good Jars Wins $500,000 on ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ Premiere

March 15, 2021

Simply Good Jars, the Philadelphia start-up that sells pre-made salads designed to stay fresh without preservatives, hasn’t yet made any money. And it had to overhaul its business model on the fly during the pandemic. But that didn’t prevent Philadelphia chef Jared Cannon from receiving a $500,000 investment from two Shark Tank TV show heavyweights: […]

The Philly Founder of This Healthy Meal Startup Will Appear on ‘Shark Tank’s’ Season 12 Premiere

March 3, 2021

“Shark Tank” fans, rejoice: We’ve got a Philly-based founder gracing your screens this Friday night at 8 p.m. during the show’s season 12 premiere. Chef Jared Cannon, founder of four-year-old healthy meal startup Simply Good Jars, will be vying for investments from sharks Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec and Daymond John. Cannon […]

The U.S. Air Force is Entering a Robotic Future

January 14, 2021

Over the past five years, robotic dogs have gone viral in captivating online videos showing them opening doors, performing acrobatics, hauling trucks and pulling other stunts. In the pandemic era, they’ve been used to promote social distancing and reduce risks to medical staff hospitals. Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics was behind most of these examples. But another […]

We Asked 4 Experts How Cryptocurrency, Gene Editing, 5G and Drones Will Influence the Future

December 28, 2020

Cryptocurrency. Gene editing. 5G. Drones. We hear — and report on — these terms often. But for the average person who’s not well versed in these topics, they might just sound like tech-y jargon, or technology that exists solidly in the future. On the latter point: Yes, but not exclusively. In a year when Bitcoin […]

Navy Yard Returns to its Roots While Some Philly Start-Ups Depart for the Suburbs

November 9, 2020

Twenty years after far-sighted officials began marketing the former naval base in South Philadelphia as the Navy Yard business center for growing private firms, its largest employer is — the Navy. Of the 15,000 men and women who officials say work in the new and repurposed buildings on the Delaware River at the foot of […]

Pottstown Firm Offers Free Masks to Area Residents

May 22, 2020

Ultraflex Systems Inc., a medical device manufacturer at 237 South St., will be giving away free neoprene masks to any residents of the borough or surrounding areas who report to the main office on Friday, May 22, and Tuesday, May 26, at 11 a.m. The masks are fabricated on premises by Ultraflex employees (proudly made […]