Innovate Utah: NEW IDEAS, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FROM UTAH COMPANIES

FireFly Automatix Inc., an agriculture technology company based in Salt Lake City, has introduced its M220-AV fully autonomous field mower. The new AV (autonomous vehicle) version of the company’s 22-foot M220 for turfgrass production is premiering as a hybrid diesel-electric vehicle, with its first pilot production vehicle having been delivered to Prime Sod, a sod production company in Kopperl, Texas. Additional M220-AVs are booked for delivery through the summer.

Operators program the M220-AV through “teach and repeat” by driving a{mprestriction ids="1,3"} path in “teach” mode, then bringing the mower to the start of the path and telling it to “repeat” without a driver, allowing the mower to autonomously repeat the path over and over. Turf farms generally mow their fields one or two times per week and farms may range from several hundred acres to the largest farms over 10,000, requiring productivity and scale.

FireFly said the model uses a powerful controller to coordinate the robust suite of LiDAR sensors, cameras and a GPS receiver that ensure safe and accurate operation. As a safety measure, the vehicle stops when it detects objects in its path or loses connectivity. Alerts notify operators when the mower is stopped and provide camera views to allow operators to intervene and operation to resume safely and quickly.

“The M220-AV represents a full paradigm shift for turf farm mowing,” said Steve Aposhian, FireFly’s founder and chief technology officer. “We are creating new efficiencies to meet the turf farm industry’s highest needs, which we will ultimately expand to fulfill turf maintenance roles in every place they are needed.”

YouScience, an American Fork-based aptitude and education technology platform, has introduced Employer Spotlight, an AI-driven aptitude and career matching solution to help employers find ideal candidates. By matching a student’s strengths, interests and qualifications to in-demand career fields, employers can find talent best suited for roles at their organizations. Now built into the YouScience Brightpath platform, the new module connects businesses with students who have proven aptitudes to be successful in occupations. “This new solution addresses the long-standing problem of finding the best fit talent for jobs. It breaks down barriers for both employers and students alike, allowing them to connect in a meaningful way and make informed decisions,” said Edson Barton, founder and CEO of YouScience. “For employers, this means fewer resources spent on sifting through endless resumes or recruiting agencies.”

Salt Lake City leadership company FranklinCovey has partnered with Mango Publishing of New York City to release CHANGE: How to Turn Uncertainty into Opportunity, authored by FranklinCovey change experts Curtis Bateman, Marché Pleshette, Andy Cindrich and Christi Phillips, with a foreword by FranklinCovey CEO Paul Walker. In the book, the authors invite leaders across all industries and organizations to examine their own relationship with change and discover how their teams fall into a set of predictable change patterns and reactions. “We all travel along various rivers in life. As change is a constant, understanding patterns, our reactions to it and the importance of making the right choices can be the difference between resisting change and missing the chance to capitalize on an important opportunity,” said Bateman, FranklinCovey vice president of international direct offices.

Best Company, an SaaS marketing platform, has announced the launch of its new Referrals Module to help businesses combat the recent rise in customer acquisition costs. The module is software that automates the referral-generation process, turning a company’s’ happy customers into referring customers. A business can either upload a customer list or the module can use an application programming interface and webhooks to integrate with its customer relationship management software, allowing it to choose a point in the customer journey to trigger the referral process. From there, the referral collection, outreach and qualification process happen automatically, allowing businesses and Best Company work together to gauge effectiveness and optimize campaigns. Best Company said its team is able to get the integration and automation set up for businesses in a matter of a few hours.

South Jordan-based HireVue, a video interview and recruiting tools company, has launched HireVue Builder for Live that combines the company’s structured interview generator with its live interview platform to bring consistency and fairness to every version of virtual interviews. Builder for Live provides hiring teams with well- designed, pre-written and science-backed interview questions that evaluate for job-relevant skills, while capturing feedback within the interview experience. “Businesses of today are hiring candidates knowing that upskilling and reskilling are inevitable as the skill landscape changes every day. Add to that persistent labor shortages, and there’s an urgent need to transform the interview process so that it’s focused on identifying potential and skills,” said Anthony Reynolds, CEO of HireVue. “Frankly, asking the same bad questions to a bigger pool of candidates is just scaling terrible interviews.”

Crumbl Cookies, a cookie company with 790 locations and with headquarters in Lindon, has introduced a feature on its Crumbl app called the Cookie Journal. The feature allows Crumbl customers to rate and track cookies, share their cookie preferences with other Crumbl reviewers and earn achievements. Reviewers receive a “verified purchase” badge when the cookie review is linked to a cookie order. Users accumulate achievements based on purchases, frequent visits, favorite flavors and cookies reviewed. “Our Cookie Journal feature showcases our dedication to connecting with and understanding our customers,” said Jason McGowan, co-founder and CEO of Crumbl Cookies. “As a technology-focused company, we’ve always known that our success depends on aligning with our customers’ desires. The Cookie Journal is the latest step in our ongoing mission to make every Crumbl customer feel valued.”

Avetta, an Orem-based provider of supply chain risk management software, has announced the launch of the Cyber Risk Solution, providing a quantitative score that evaluates the cyber health of suppliers in 10 areas and delivers an aggregate grade for each. The Cyber Risk Solution is the latest component of Avetta One, a supply chain risk monitoring platform. It offers a diagnostic cyber health check that identifies potential risk areas for companies to investigate further. “Suppliers and contractors are often an overlooked cybersecurity risk, but supply chain cyber attacks are increasing and can have devastating consequences,” said Taylor Allis, Avetta chief product officer. “Avetta’s Cyber Risk Solution transforms the supply chain risk management landscape by offering a comprehensive way for businesses to constantly monitor all third parties for safety, financial health, ESG and now cybersecurity.” 

American Fork-based KT Tape, a supplier of kinesiology tape, has launched KT Tape PRO Oxygen, a tape featuring Celliant infrared technology from bio-responsive products company Hologenix. The new tape, containing a fine powder of infrared-generating minerals, is designed to increase cellular oxygenation and promote muscle support during physical activity. This delivers improved cellular oxygenation where tape is applied, bringing more oxygen to the cells and increasing local circulation, allowing athletes to push their physical limits to optimize athletic performance while staying healthy. “PRO Oxygen is the new flagship product from KT, representing the next generation of kinesiology tape performance, support and recovery,” said Jessica Klodnicki, KT Tape CEO. “This is the first of several new technologies KT will be bringing to market as part of commitment to enhancing athletic performance and recovery.”{/mprestriction}