printpal.io Joins Other 9,000+ AI startups in Nvidia Program

March 31, 2023 by Vanesa Listek 3D Printing 3D Software Business

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printpal.io has been accepted to the NVIDIA Inception program, which introduces artificial intelligence (AI) startups to its advancements in data chips and hardware products. As one of the most recognized programs in the industry, Inception will provide printpal.io access to a wealth of resources and will allow the business to train and deploy state-of-the-art machine learning models at scale. It also offers an opportunity to collaborate with industry-leading experts and other AI-driven organizations, gaining technical expertise and mentorship along the way.

“We believe that this program will help us accelerate our growth and development and enable us to bring our innovative ideas to life faster than ever before,” indicates Peter Lebiedzinski, founder and CEO of printpal.io. “Accelerated computing is going to be key in the future for the machine learning models we have planned.”

Since 2021, printpal.io has been developing AI-based monitoring solutions for 3D printing. Its flagship PrintWatch software product monitors 3D printers to detect defects during a print job using AI. To detect defects in real time, PrintWatch takes the video feed from a camera fixed onto the printer’s print area and runs it through a machine learning model that can detect defects of various sizes, shapes, colors, materials, lighting, and settings. When a defect is positively identified, PrintWatch then begins to track the defect to see how it develops. If it is clear that the defect is getting worse, PrintWatch will take action. The Chicago-based business says this tracking system helps prevent any false positives from triggering action from the software. Overall, it has the potential to save time and resources and reduce the risk of damage or fire to the printer and its surroundings.

At a time when AI’s “smarter than human intelligence” is being questioned by many, the technology continues to increasingly make its way across industries, research, academia, and most innovative technologies. AI like ChatGPT and Google Bard, which were introduced within the last few months, have already garnered a lot of attention from the public. Since manufacturing is the industry leading the way in the application and adoption of AI technology, it makes perfect sense for companies like printpal.io to create new products that could thrive in additive technologies.

Under the premise that users can rely on AI to do “tedious tasks,” printpal.io is helping make 3D printers smarter. The company is a perfect fit for the tech giant’s Inception program, which now has over 9,000 AI startups (roughly two-thirds of the total number of AI startups worldwide). NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) said that since the program launched in 2016, it has grown more than tenfold. Year over year, membership has increased drastically. Since 2020 alone, more than 3,000 startups joined the program, with the majority originating from the U.S. (27%), followed by China (12%), and then India and the U.K. (tied at 6%).

Member firms have secured cumulative funding of more than $60 billion and members in 90 countries, with the company describing the program as “one of the largest AI startup ecosystems in the world.” The program even nurtures its member startups by connecting them to its rapidly growing community of 200 venture capitalists and investors through the NVIDIA Inception VC Alliance, which opens new paths for startups to engage, create introductions, and accelerate potential funding, thereby facilitating global startup innovation.

Other NVIDIA Inception startups that are creating products for the 3D printing industry include AM manufacturing AI software startup ExLattice; Blackshark.Ai, which provides a 3D digital twin of Earth by extracting information from satellite imagery; high-resolution 3D scanning model developer Nanjing Wansheng Huatai Tech Ltd; and Skycatch, a leading 3D drone mapping software business.