Smart trash tech | Digital music everyone can create

Smart trash tech

PITTSBURGH, PA–Want to help the environment but you’re kinda lazy? CleanRobotics is a recycling tech company that has created a smart recycling bin called TrashBot: When you throw away trash, the product uses AI, robotics, and machine learning tech to separate recyclable materials from items destined for the landfill. It will also provide you with fullness alerts, waste data, and feedback about the environmental impact of items.

Digital music everyone can create

NASHVILLE, TN–The music industry has gotten behind digital music creation startup Artiphon. The company designs smart instruments, physical and virtual, that can be played by everyone instantly. Its first digital device, INSTRUMENT 1, broke Kickstarter’s funding record for a music-making product in 2015. Its Orba, a handheld instrument that looks like a game controller, got over $1.4 million in preorders. Early last year, the company partnered with Snapchat to create a musical lens called Scan Band, which lets users point their smartphone cameras at everyday objects (such as plants, pets, and food) to reveal colorful stickers that you can reach out and play.

Early cancer-detection model

ST. PAUL, MN–Oncodea is a startup that has developed a working early cancer-detection model. Led by CEO and Co-founder Dan Que Pham, the company recently won a division of the Walleye Tank, a Minnesota life and medical science pitch competition presented by the Mayo Clinic Office of Entrepreneurship. Looking ahead, the company plans to pursue clinical trials and regulatory approval.

Startup lets you watch competitive video gaming

ST. LOUIS, MO–Purdue graduate Mike Vela is the founder of World Champion Fantasy, a startup that seeks to improve the experience of watching competitive video gaming. While WCF’s tech is still in development, it has raised $5.2 million so far, with investors that include Kurt Benkert, a free agent quarterback who most recently was a member of the San Francisco 49ers, and Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.