HAXLR8R, an accelerator program for hardware startups around the world, graduated 10 new hardware companies at its fifth Demo Day in San Francisco. Each company completed the 111-day accelerator program in Shenzhen, China where they had access to expert support in design and manufacturing.
“Connected hardware is creating a new industrial revolution. Instead of the iconic jetpack of vintage science fiction, the future involves low-cost automation, innovative sensors, connectivity and communities built around physical objects,” said Cyril Ebersweiler, founder of HAXLR8R and venture partner at SOSventures. “This fifth batch combines expertise in robotics, AI, nanotechnology and biology to create not only groundbreaking but affordable and delightful products,” Ebersweiler added.
Here are the ten HAXLR8R startups presented at the demo day:
Clarity is a wearable air quality monitor. Created for China, India and other polluted locations, Clarity helps users make smarter decisions with real-time updates on the air around you. The crowd-sourced data will generate the world’s most detailed pollution maps (like Waze but for air quality)
Form is introducing Point, a softer approach to home security. Point listens to the sounds of your home, senses what is in the air, and alerts you if anything is wrong. It tells you about the things you care about most, like windows breaking, alarms going off or the presence of smoke. Point gives you the comfort to know that all is fine when you are away—without cameras or complex security systems. Form was started by a Scandinavian team with Apple tenure. Form is now on Kickstarter.
KATIA brings the functionality of an industrial robotic arm to mainstream consumers. It can be trained by touch without programming and runs on an open source platform that can be extended by developers.
The Keyi Cell Robot is an amazing modular and mobile robotic toy and platform.
Linkitz is a new kind of wearable for kids. It is modular – every link is a little electronic toy with its own behavior that kids can play with right out of the box. Linkitz snap together allowing kids to create their own wearable that can do anything: sparkle when a friend is near, send secret messages, or chime along with a hand-clapping game.
OpenTrons is a lab bot for open, easy to use biotech tools that you can connect together to make a modular lab automation system. OpenTrons offers a rapid prototyping platform for biology that accelerates the design-build-test cycle in life-science. The easy-to-use lab bot shares open protocols, allowing for digital fabrication workflows in biotech to accelerate discovery, while the liquid handling robot costs under $3,000. OpenTrons is now on Kickstarter.
Petronics:indoor cats have a natural instinct to hunt that cannot be fulfilled by any cat toy available today. With sensors, actuators, and artificial intelligence, Mousr is a robotic cat toy that can see and react to a cat like a real animal would.
Prynt is a case for smartphones that prints pictures instantly. Users can also access data such as movies, gifs or secret texts by scanning their Prynt photos with the app.
Robo is an educational toy for kids to awaken their interest in logic, programming and robotics.
Voltera‘s circuit board printer cuts hardware development time from months to days. By using conductive ink technology, the printer can create prototype boards in the time it takes to get lunch.
HAXLR8R is currently taking applications for its sixth round until November 15. Interested applicants can apply here. Click here for recruiting preferences shared by HAXLR8R’s general partner Benjamin Joffe for a better chance of getting enrolled.