Home Articles Victorian Technology Profiles Feb/Mar 05

    Victorian Technology Profiles Feb/Mar 05

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    The path from start-up to success story can be a challenging journey. These two Victorian innovators are taking the path less travelled, turning good ideas into profitable international businesses, and they’re not looking back!

    AA08-Feb-Mar-2005-2fortheroad1Eye for Detail

    Victorian manufacturer Autoscan Systems Pty Ltd knows that accuracy is everything when it comes to microscopes. Its unique robotic platform (stage) is often referred to as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of microscope stages.

    “Imagine trying to scan the MCG for one yellow blade of grass – through a keyhole,” says Autoscan’s Managing Director Michael Krochmal. “All you can see are lots of green blades of grass, and you don’t know whether you have seen any given blade before, or missed a whole swag of them. That is the equivalent of most microscopic tasks. We systematise this job and lend a theme of machine consistency to the results. Most importantly, we allow the operator to avoid the mental fatigue that usually comes with the tedium of routine scanning, thus leaving them fresh to make crucial decisions based on the distilled results.”

    Autoscan Systems began manufacturing the product for geologists in 1979, and has since expanded into radiation protection and the life sciences. The stage fits onto most popular optical microscopes on the market and is now available in 21 countries.

    The company’s latest generation of stages use external linear sensors (manufactured by Sony), which claim a repeatable positioning accuracy of 50 nanometres (there are one billion nanometres in a metre).

    “Our turnkey systems are currently unique in the world,” says Krochmal. “They typically include the high-precision robotic microscope stage, our own in-house application programs (although our stages can be controlled by third-party software) and a camera on the microscope.”

    Autoscan is in the process of obtaining a patent on its new AS50 microscope stage concept, which Krochmal says is unlike anything currently on the market. The company is also in the middle of a major three-year ARC project with the University of Melbourne, which is hoped will revolutionise the execution of a technique used in oil exploration.http://www.autoscan.com.au

    Smart Software

    There’s nothing artificial about the success of intelligent agent systems developer, Agent Oriented Software (AOS). The Melbourne-based company was established in 1997 to market JACK, its intelligent agent-based enabling technology for behaviour-driven software systems.

    An agent is a software program that operates autonomously in an environment. It integrates with other agents to generate complex simulations where a typical representation of human reasoning is sought, or to replace a human altogether (as in unmanned vehicles). JACK is used by international aerospace and defence-related organisations to test equipment, staff and hypothetical battlefield scenarios.

    “We build systems that support rather than replace humans,” says AOS Managing Director Andrew Lucas.

    “The human does the critical reasoning while the intelligent agents do a lot of the grunt work.”

    The AOS team owns subsidiaries in the US and UK. “It’s very difficult to sell to blue chip customers from a distance,” says Lucas. “Defence organisations are usually the first to adopt our product, and they act as blue chip references. We’ve sold to the UK Ministry of Defence, the US Air Force, the US Space Industry and the Canadian Defence Department.”

    Last November, AOS received a prestigious UK Trade and Investment Business Award for best new business launched in the UK by an Australian company in the last three years, presented in Sydney to Andrew Lucas by UK Minister for Science and Technology, Lord Sainsbury (pictured).

    Since its inception, AOS has maintained a collaborative research relationship with Melbourne University. The company also actively collaborates with RMIT, the University of NSW, Cambridge University (UK) and Penn State University (US).

    AOS is branching out to engage banks, financial companies, telcos, and retail distributors. “We’re looking to assist businesses develop applications in-house or work in conjunction with us and possibly a third party integrator,” says Tony Delaney, Manager of Enterprise Applications.

    The company has received interest from a diverse range on companies, from debt collectors and ATM manufacturers to the petrochemical industry.
    www.agent-software.com

    Did you know…?

    • The Australian Advanced Technology Enterprise Centre (AATEC) has been established to provide critical support for early stage Victorian start-up companies developing and commercialising advanced electronics products and technologies. Visit the AATEC website at www.mmv.vic.gov.au/aatec

    • Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL), profiled in last issue’s “Two for the Road”, has signed an agreement with New Zealand company Powerco to conduct New Zealand field trials of its fuel cell energy systems. CFCL has spent 12 years and $130 million developing its fuel cell technology. The two 12 month field trials (with the option to expand to four) are scheduled to begin in April.