This year, the firm will take the components but will also demonstrate new software and development tools that distinguish its chipsets from competing products. “There’s a lot of tools that allow developers to fast-track their products,” Herberg said.
AirSelfie Inc. This Minneapolis startup company is likely to attract some major media attention with its $99 Air Pix that’s a combination drone and digital camera not much bigger than a hockey puck. A user can give a light forward toss to launch the drone, which then flies a few feet away, levels off and takes a few pictures of the user before flying back.
“It’s a very social device,” said Greg Appelhof, president of AirSelfie. “Most people have never seen anything that just kind of flies in front of you.”
The photos are automatically sent to the user’s smartphone and can then be posted to social media. After selling about 28,000 units in various iterations over the past year, the company on Sunday will formally introduce several versions and try to line up retail distribution at the show.
“Our No. 1 goal is to create a new category of product, called aerial camera, that sits within the camera category,” Appelhof said. “In electronics, cameras are one of the most widely distributed products.”
Duluth-based Allerio makes a portable broadband transmitter, shown at left attached to an EKG monitor on the right.
Allerio. Another startup company, this one from Duluth, will show its product aimed not at consumers but a very specific type of medical professional: paramedics and emergency responders. The firm in October began selling a mobile device for paramedics to have high-capacity broadband data connections wherever they are, even outside an ambulance or emergency vehicle.
“Emergency medical services need to have the ability to do two-way telemedicine and video from the bedside in a home or in a commercial building when out on a call,” said T.J. Kennedy, the company’s co-founder and a 25-year veteran of the emergency-services industry. “In order to do that, they need to have good connectivity and high enough bandwidth to always connect.”
The device is a one-button radio system small enough to attach to a responder’s gear bag or backpack. By going to CES, Kennedy said the firm can make other electronics makers and distributors aware that the company’s product can be part of systems sold to first responders.
“We expect there will be lots of other partners that have solutions offered in that market,” Kennedy said.
