Buffalo Automation

Buffalo Automation is an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that develops autonomous navigation technology for commercial ships, recreational boats, and water taxis with the goal to improve maritime safety. It is a private company based in Buffalo, New York. Thiru Vikram is the CEO of the company.
History.
Buffalo Automation was founded by Thiru Vikram, Alexander Zhitelzeyf and Emilie Reynolds, who were engineering students at the University at Buffalo. Originating as a university research project, the concept was transformed into a company in 2015. 
AutoMate.
The team developed AutoMate, a predictive system which uses artificial intelligence technology and neural networks to coordinate and integrate data, decisions, and actions based on nautical maps, cameras, sensors, thermal imaging, broadband radars, GPS, LiDAR and Automatic Identification System (AIS). The system allows autonomous identification and safe navigation around stationary objects (allision avoidance), swimmers, and other vessels within the surrounding . Initially developed as a fleet management and autopilot solution for the commercial shipping industry, the technology has since been adapted for use with recreational boats, including yachts and motorboats. Initial tests were performed in 2015, using a -long catamaran equipped with the AutoMate system.
In addition to hazard identification and avoidance, the AutoMate system also employs neural networks to recognize navigation signs, help vessels maneuver in compliance with International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), and interpret weather conditions. The technology helps in fuel efficiency, which was tested in 2018 on vessels in the Great Lakes.
In early 2018, Buffalo Automation began tests of a -long autonomous pleasure boat made by Sea Ray, a boat manufacturer owned by the Brunswick Boat Group. Also in 2018, Buffalo Automation expanded its sales focus to Europe. Fully autonomous navigation of locks was in development as of 2020.
The Mayday.
In 2020, Buffalo Automation introduced The Mayday (originally named "Greycraft"), a free app. Designed to encourage people to experiment with and experience artificial intelligence technology that is otherwise not readily accessible to the average person, "The Mayday" operates as a self-contained offline neural network capable of detecting boats, ships, and other vessels visible to a cell phone camera. "The Mayday" app is also used to hail Buffalo Automation's "Greycraft" self-driving water taxis.
Greycraft.
In 2021, Buffalo Automation unveiled a self-driving water taxi, Greycraft. Fully autonomous, "Greycraft" uses cameras, laser scanners, radar, satellite, GPS, compass information, and artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate the surroundings and guide itself. The autonomous solar and electric-powered water taxi was first demonstrated to Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon on January 7, 2021. As part of the region's green urbanism efforts, "Greycraft" is currently pending government approval to allow public use as a water taxi or passenger ferry in East Tennessee. Upon approval, patrons would access the water taxi service using Buffalo Automation's "Mayday" ride-hailing app.
The on-board solar panels and battery used to power "Greycraft's" engine and AI (artificial intelligence) navigation system have a capacity of six hours and enable speeds up to . "Greycraft's" quiet engine and solar-charging system provide a sustainable transport alternative, minimize marine acoustic disruption, and avoid environmental impacts associated with fuel and oil residue leaked in aquatic environments. 
Trials of the United Kingdom's first "robot water taxis", watercraft equipped with Buffalo Automation's AutoMate autonomous navigation system, were scheduled for summer 2020 in Plymouth (UK) but postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bifrost.
In 2020, Buffalo Automation redeveloped its thermal imaging software to enable rapid skin temperature scanning of multiple people in a crowd for the purpose of detecting fever. This adaptation was initiated in response to a health care and public health sector unmet need created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Named Bifrost, the system operates as a Software as a service (SaaS) solution, where Buffalo Automation's convolutional neural network is combined with existing thermal imaging equipment in order to rapidly report the skin temperature of different facial regions of each individual in a crowd. The Bifrost Project was piloted at the entry to the University at Buffalo Neurosurgery Center of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Funding.
As of Dec 2020, Buffalo Automation had completed 13 rounds of funding to secure a total of US$2.6 million in venture capital. Grants from SUNY and New York State business plan competition prizes helped bootstrap early activity.
In 2016, Buffalo Automation secured its first private placement, US$25,000 in pre-seed investments from Launch NY and Z80 Labs. In 2018, it raised a total of $900,000 in a seed funding round led by the Jacobs family office, with Z80 making a US$100,000 follow-on investment. 
In 2020, the company raised US$650,000 through two rounds of convertible note issuance, with the first generating US$150,000 through an investment by Jerry Jacobs Jr. and his family. In the second, the University at Buffalo's "Innovation Seed Fund" made its inaugural venture capital investment, investing US$250,000 in Buffalo Automation. Varia Consulting Group subsequently matched that US$250,000 investment.