Puddle Hops: Flyover at CES, Music City’s tech scene, and vertical farming

CES recognitions 

A couple of Flyover Country standouts were recognized this year at CES, the national trade show hosted by the Consumer Technology Association. Illinois’ John Deere received a robotics category award for their X Series, which uses ActiveVision camera technology to help farmers see inside a combine’s grain tank and monitor the condition of harvested grain.

Wisconsin’s Mercury Marine has been named a CES 2021 Innovation Awards Best of Innovation honoree for its 1st Mate Marine Safety and Security System.

Purdue develops tech to be used in public cameras

A professor in Purdue’s College of Engineering, is leading a team working on several patented technologies related to public cameras. The team has created several patented technologies that they combined into a computer system to acquire and analyze real-time visual data from millions of globally distributed network cameras.

Music City builds on its tech scene

After a $23 million investment from General Motors Ventures, Yoshi, a startup that provides on-site, on-demand car maintenance and gas delivery, is moving from Silicon Valley to Nashville. Yoshi is following in the footsteps of the other companies that have moved to Nashville, including Harrow Health Inc., GoCheck Kids, Greenlight Medical, Stache and Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc.

Virtual reality solution for coping with stress

BehaVR, an Elizabethtown, KY company, in cooperation with Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions, has developed a virtual reality program that’s a new way to help employees cope with ongoing stress. The program, called CenteredVR, is a dynamic and personalized VR experience that helps users build resilience and coping skills.

Fast-growing vertical farming industry

Orlando-based Kalera plans to build a “vertical farm” in Columbus, OH as part of the company’s effort to become one of the nation’s largest operators of indoor, year-round farms. Kalera would be the latest player in Ohio’s fast-growing vertical farm industry.