biped.ai develops a shoulder-worn AI copilot navigation harness that uses 3D cameras and algorithms derived from autonomous driving to guide blind and visually impaired users in real time and avoid obstacles. The wearable is positioned as an assistive mobility solution to increase users' independence and safety. Founded in 2021 and based in Lausanne, the company has secured CHF 1.2M to fund growth. Proceeds are earmarked to enter the US market and expand across Europe, scale operations, and further develop the technology. biped.ai has established partnerships and recognition, including a late-2022 collaboration with Honda Research Institute on software innovation and winning the Prix de la Canne Blanche from SZBlind (UCBA) earlier this year. The company has also received support from Venture Kick, FIT, the Future of Health Grant, Genilem, the Biopole startup fund and ICC Hackathon. biped.ai developed a shoulder-worn smart harness equipped with wide-angle cameras that provides blind and visually impaired users with anticipatory collision alerts, scene understanding, and navigation via 3D audio in headphones. The solution evolved through five prototypes and testing with 110 users to converge on a first market version. The company was founded in January 2021 after an Idiap Research Institute hackathon and is incubated in the Digital Health Hub/Biopôle ecosystem in Epalinges/Lausanne. The team has grown to seven people with backgrounds largely in robotics and AI. biped.ai has received pre-seed funding from business angels and two venture capital funds and has just won the Biopôle Startup Fund to support operational costs and product shipment. The Biopôle award can provide up to CHF 90,000 per year (Biopôle’s startup fund has an approximate annual budget of CHF 500,000). The company plans to take pre-orders at VivaTech and to officially launch its device in September 2022, while pursuing FDA approval for US expansion by the end of 2022. biped.ai (formerly SoundMap) builds what it calls the world’s first autonomous walking device that uses 3D cameras and artificial-intelligence algorithms to guide visually impaired users. The shoulder-worn lightweight harness delivers real-time directional audio feedback via bone-conduction headphones while tracking objects and predicting trajectories. By filtering the most important information the device lets users anticipate movement a few seconds ahead and, the company says, can provide information up to ten times faster than competitors at an affordable cost. The team plans to industrialize the device and expand headcount to bring the product to market in summer 2022. biped.ai will use the CHF 150,000 award to advance industrialization and scaling efforts. Founders are Maël Fabien (CEO), Bruno Vollmer (CTO), and Rudolf Braun (Principal Audio Engineer).

Total raised

$2M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Nov 2023