Tech Vibe Radio (11/9/25)
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59 segmentsThe following is paid for by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Information on the program is intended to solely further the public's general knowledge about the product. Opinions expressed should not be relied upon for any purpose by any member of the audience. News Radio KDKA does not guarantee the accuracy of any of the information aired on the following program. This is TechVybe Radio, your front row seat of Pittsburgh's technology and innovation economy. TechVive is brought to you by Compunetics at Compionetics.com. Choruscall at Choriscall.com. Highmark at Highmark.com. Huntington Bank at Huntington.com. Kindling at thekindlingagency.com. PNC Bank at PNC.com and Saviore at Saviore.com. Tech vibe proudly broadcast from the Huntington Bank Studios.
Welcome to TechVive Radio. I'm just so happy you're spending your Sunday morning right here with me. I'm Jonathan Kirstie with the Pittsburgh Technology Council, where it is my duty every single Sunday to give you this front row seat to Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem. I just love telling the stories of Pittsburgh's tech companies. especially our members at the Pittsburgh Technology Council. And today we are diving into the cutting-edge world of artificial intelligence and defense technology with James Julius, who is the founder and CEO of Vissimo. And they are based, I love this, in Carnegie. Cunning's a great little part of town. You're all in there. There's some great stuff happening down there. And Vesimo has been making waves in the industry, and they recently secured a $3 million contract with the U.S. Army artificial intelligence. Integration Center. Say that 10 times. It's the Department of Defense's Trade Win Solutions Marketplace. And we're talking about AI-driven drones, rapid rototyping, all the fun stuff. So I'm really stoked to nerd out with James. Hey, James, thanks for being here. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Most definitely. Before we jump into it, give us the elevator pitch. For Vismo, it was great. Before we hit the old record button today, we were telling me, like, you've been in business for 10 years now. So first, congratulations on 10 years. That is an accomplishment in your industry, man. You've spented quite a few times over the years. Yeah, that's right. Basically, beginning of October, 2015, we got going. And 10 years, will you blink and it's just, it's on you. It is. And, you know, I was joking with you before we got going. I said, you know, 10 years ago, we were making, you know, visual dashboards for air conditioning companies. And now today we're going to talk about, you know, literally doing additive manufacturing and building AI-driven drones in-house. So it's been quite the arc that we've gone on. It's very, very cool. And you've probably write a book at some point. Yeah, a couple of books. At this point, yeah. And also, the way you built your company, you've always had customers. Yeah, as he bootstrapped, which I think I'd love, I know, Audrey, our CEO, he's also my co-host often on the show, she's always in and out, but she would probably give a big kiss on the lips right now. Yeah, we've been very fortunate. You know, we secure our first customer within six months. I had a very young, growing family at that point. We ate ramen for a couple of years, right? We're very lean and, you know, hired my first set of employees, you know, a year and a half, two years after we got going. And one of those guys have been with me the whole time. Awesome. Yeah, and it's been incredible to see his growth. And then... The other folks that we've hired, you know, we have a great and committed staff with us. Yeah, really blessed. That's a good story. I love it all the way around. First and foremost, congrats on this contract. That is a huge deal as far as it. Give me the key D to this. I mean, this sounds like really important stuff as I was kind of introing this. And we're talking about drones and rapid prototype. I mean...
Tell me what exactly is going on with this, and how did they find you in the first place to do this? Yeah, so the U.S. Army's AI Integration Center, they're based out of here in Pittsburgh. A few years back when the Army Futures Command stood up, they had the AI Task Force that came here to Pittsburgh, and they at that point were looking for businesses to work with that would essentially be the intersection of small businesses, university, and military partners. And this is going back to 2020, 2021. We built relationships with them at that point. And we were the business that was selected to build this AI platform that would unify this small business and university and allow them to be able to do data science and artificial intelligence design in a software platform. And, you know, we were the company chosen to prototype this. So. Our relationship with the AI integration site, I-2C, goes back about five years. And so we've been working with them on different projects, different topics over the past few years, anything from software to in the computer vision space when it comes to examining artillery fire. And so this was an offshoot of some of that work that we started a few years ago. And... One of the needs that we're finding out is there's a bunch of unmanned aerial vehicles that end up being in a wartime theater. So you're seeing these different classes of UASs. So small ones think about things that are like 10 pounds or less. And there's these drones of them, swarms of them that will fly. And they have just no real way of understanding what is happening in the front lines of the military. And so these small ones, they don't have a lot of endurance. And they wanted to create a drone that was less expensive because drones are super expensive. Yeah. Right? We're talking like there's ones that we, where we're evaluating that are like $70,000 a pop. And these are our small ones. They're called SRRs or short range reconnaissance aircraft. And so the Army had this idea and they said, hey, we want to create a MRR or a mid-range reconnaissance aircraft. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Right. And so mid-range basically said, hey, we want, it needs to be able to fly further. It needs to be able to fly longer. And it's going to be predominantly doing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission. So going to fly high. It's going to be able to run front activities, be able to understand and observe what is going on in the front lines. So. That was like big mission, and they're like, at the same time, we wanted to be inexpensive. It would be cheap. Sure, no problem. Right. You know, if you want it to be good, you want it to, you know, not cost a lot of money, how do you be able to maximize these things in a rapidly evolving ecosystem? Right. Oh, my goodness. Now, bear of mind what I mentioned to you is. A couple years ago, we were making dashboards for analytics companies. I was going to say, yeah, you're making dashboards. Right. So how do you make that jump, right? Yeah. So we've been in the machine learning and artificial intelligence space for a long time. The staff that we have, you know, we have engineers on staff. We have physicists on staff. And so at the same time, we have a pretty deep bench of software engineering experience. So when you look at the, like,
you know, the dozen person company, right? And so, well, how, how equipped are they to be able to developing drones? Well, at the same time, We now have access to all these tools we've been using forever. And since AI was at its earliest conception point, and we're able to now bring in all the education that we have and all the information that exists publicly and be able to rapidly prototype, you know, drones using artificial intelligence to help be the backbone of that. And so at the same time, it's AI to... Imagine to design the drone. It's using artificial intelligence means to be able to observe the battlefield and be able to then put that, give that information back to the person who is piloting the drone. So it's just some really cool stuff that we've had the opportunity to do and build. You make it sound so simple, but it's very complex. It's a fact that you have that startup ability to just adapt and overcome and take on a project like this. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come right back and learn more about the contract and really more of the future of what's happening with Vissimo. In case you just joined us, we are talking to James Joyce, the founder and CEO of Vismo. I love the fact you guys are based right there in Carnegie doing the great work that you're doing. We'll be right back at this quick break. This is Jonathan Kirsting with the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Go to pghth.org. Adair you too. We'll see in a second. The Pittsburgh Technology Council has been helping our region's tech companies succeed since 1983. The Pittsburgh Technology Council helps its members meet new customers, hire top talent, make headlines, and have a strong voice in government. From startup to multinational, the PTC helps tech companies and advanced manufacturers of all sizes. See how we can help your venture grow at pghtech.org. That's pghtech.org. work. A strong work culture is the invisible force that bonds employees to each other, to the company, and to their work. It's linked to better business outcomes, happier employees, and increased retention. How we work and where we work continue to evolve in almost every way, yet our human need for connection and purpose remains. Help your employees connect and thrive by evolving your culture to support your team, regardless of how or where they work. So discover how the Kindling Culture Agency... can transform your company's culture at spark something big.com. That's the kindling culture agency at spark something big.com. Compionetics is the leading developer of unified voice, video, and data collaboration in conferencing applications for the service provider, government, and unique workflow applications. The Summit Olympus and Evergreen platforms, driven by their encrypted user interfaces,
enable powerful and secure collaboration. Combined with world-class support and innovative professional services, Compunetics delivers the right solution every time. Learn more at Compunetics.com. This is TechVybe Radio, your front row seat to Pittsburgh's technology and innovation economy. TechVive is brought you by CompuNetics at Compionetics.com. Choruscall at choruscall.com. Highmark at Highmark.com, Huntington Bank at Huntington.com. Kindling at thekindlingagency.com. PNC Bank at PNC.com. And Saviore at Saviore.com. Tech vibe proudly broadcast from the Huntington Bank Studios. Welcome back. Oh, my goodness. It's Sunday morning. It is time for more Tech Vib Radio. We are back from the break, and this is Jonathan Kirsting. I'm with the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Go to pghthTech.org. And if you just joined us, we are hanging out with James Julius. He's the founder and CEO of Visimo. Based on Carnegie, they escort a really nice contract with the government all around building drones. And, I mean, it goes even deeper. It's a very complex project. But I'm just really excited for the company because... If anyone's been following tech vibe or the tech council over the years, an area that Pittsburgh is really growing is around like defense robotics. And it's so rewarding for us of the tech council because it is a great way for our startup companies. to really put their chops to work and get paid. And we had so much building strong relations with the government where they're in town just sniffing out. All of our smart companies here that have great solutions that they can deploy. And this is one of them. I mean, you just came back with this, this is $3 million contract. We're talking about the fact that like, You were once building dashboards as you started 10 years ago, and now, like, you're in the business of building drones, and they take off vertically, and they do some crazy things, and they're supposed to be not as expensive. All these, it seems to give these disparate goals you've got to reach to make these things happen. Let's dive into a little bit more. I got to know more about these drones and what the timeline is to get these things up and running. I mean, I'm very excited for you guys. So the contract has a very fast term. It's a 15-month contract, right? The idea to take something that's on a couple sheet of paper performance statement that says, okay, it has to be able to go this fast. It has to be able to stay in the air for this long. It has to be able to be at this price, right? You have these things that are naturally competing against each other. And one of the things we were talking about in the break is, could you feed something like this into a chat, GBT, a clod, or whatever, and have it give you an answer. Sure, you probably could get an answer. But then there's the actual, like,
science and engineering of how do you actually get this thing in the air? Right. You know, we have an astrophysicist that works on our team. That's good to have one of those on your team. Yeah, at times like this, it's super beneficial, for sure. And, you know, so we get into the science of the airfoil and understanding what the airflow is that it's going to be around the 3D printed airframe, right? So the piece of this is everything is fully 3D printed. It's fully attributable. So it means that I can have parts that can be replaced, you know, very, very inexpensively. It's not like I, you know, you get a scratch on an aircraft and it's going to cost you a million dollars to be replaced. You know, you damage one of the wings and it can be able to be replaced or 3D printed at a forward operating base. I love the fact of there being 3D printing facilities like at a base because it's like a drone's down. Yeah. We could have heard the part for you. Where's the file? Right. Get yourself apart. Absolutely. You know, back in business. Yes. You know, and, you know, what's one of the cool things? This project has been, you know, recognized by our U.S. senators, right? So, you know, John Fetterman, you know, put it out there. He's like, you know, calling out the fact that, you know, every dollar we bring back to the Commonwealth. It's, you know, better jobs, a stronger community. Everything. It's real wins from Pennsylvania. That's by the Tech Council gets so excited about this type of work because it just, it works on so many levels, yes. And at the same time, building these drones. and everything that we build has to be compliant with the NDAA. So it has to be compliant with the National Defense Authorization Act. So it has to be able to not have adversarial components that are a part of the aircraft. So, you know, takeaway is some of the best cameras and chips and other types of things you typically see in the drones that you might go to Costco or Best Buy or whatever. All that stuff's coming from China. We can't have that in our drones. It's got to all be sourced U.S., right? U.S. or Blue List? Yeah, so basically, you know, you have the parts that we can be able to build this thing with are restricted. You mentioned about, you know, it has to be able to take off vertically. Well, part of the reason is, is because we don't know where these troops are going to be. There may not be a runway. There might not be a runway, right? And so, and it's built so that, you know. Two of these guys, their soldiers out on the front lines, between two backpacks, they can go out to wherever they want. They need to deploy a drone. And deploy a drone. Oh, yeah. And, you know, because that's the big thing. They need to have persistent aerial surveillance. So. Persistent being it has to have a really long flight time. Has to be able to be up in the air for a long time. So that's, you know, sort of low bar. You know, one of the things that we do automated battle damage assessment. So basically it says, okay, you have artillery fire that explodes or did it engage and actually hit the target? It can confirm whether there was a hit or what it took out. So you can bring that Intel back and they can plan accordingly. That's right. Yeah. And what some of the big drivers of what we had heard more broadly is that. These drone initiatives, they haven't really been codified across the entire military industrial complex. Really? Interesting. Okay. So there's a lot of different initiatives that are being stood up at the division levels, and they're trying to all solve how do you be able to bring drones effectively into the battlefield? Will this unify all that then? This is just a, I would love for us to say, hey, we're creating the unifying piece. I was going to say, Matt, like, come on, how do we make that happen? No, there are.
plenty of commanders who are trying to solve this. And, you know, we're pleased to be able to be playing one role. Of course. And, but there's a need because our adversaries have this, some of the similar tools to what we have. I mean, just looking at what's going on in Ukraine and how it's like a, it seems to me, when I can tell it, it's like a war of drones. It's like, these are the new weapons of war. And so the ability that you can use these at all different levels, whether they're attacking or just doing surveillance, and the idea that you can put one in your backpack with two guys, two soldiers, and go out there and deploy something that takes straight off. And I get excited when I say, hey, all that technology came out of Carnegie PA. Yeah. I'm like, come on, man, that's pretty cool. Yeah, we got the opportunity. We've been in Carnegie now for a couple of years. We were in Coriopolis, you know, before then, you know. You put the hill there a little bit. I was going to say. So we're inching our way towards, you know, towards the city. Yeah, it's sort of cool that you have these, you know, the future of the way that the wharf is surveilled and intelligence is gathered, and that's happening right in our backyard. Yeah, and so you've got 15 months to complete this contract. Right. That's... That's a, it's going to go by fast. And so we're, we're already a few months into it. And so just the process of, of getting, you know, our press release squared away. And you guys are going up the chain of command because Army Futures Command has gone through some consolidation with some of their folks. But anyway, so, you know, we've been at this project now for about four and a half, five months. And so, you know, we're sort of well down the path. We're starting to go through the test prints and sampling. It's got to be so exciting to watch us come together and see your team come together and build this. Like, that's got to be amazing. And actually building stuff, you know, we've moved and that our arc has changed from being like really services driven to being product driven. But now being to the point, you can actually put your hands on the thing that you're building. Because that's just super cool. We just printed it. It didn't help. Yeah, right. You just dreamed it up. We need to do something a little bit different. Good. Switch the file and let's go try it again. So you hit it right in the head as rapid prototyping being a big piece of it. That's what's so exciting to me is that you're bringing, these are all technologies that you see at one time, just one company specializing. Someone can just do three. And there's companies that do that. But the idea you're taking something like 3D printing, AI, all this stuff. And it's all in our one route here at Visimo. That's a pretty amazing stuff. Oh, my goodness, we only have a couple minutes left. What's going on besides this? I know you're cooking all kinds of projects in Visimo. This is just one of the many things you're working on. What can we look forward to in 26? Because it's like November now. Yeah. It's, oh my goodness, it's that time of year. Let's start thinking about the 26. Yeah, it's getting there. You know, we've been fortunate to have been working with most of the... three and four letter acronyms of the agencies. So we work with NASA, we work with EPA, work with USDA, or Department of Energy, Navy, Army, Air Force, right? Those are my kind of acronyms, right? I was going to say, this is Alphabet Sue for any of the lay listening at home. And so what, you know, some of the things that we're proud about and we're going to continue to see one of our big projects is we have our first AI trained application that's in space.
And it's actually running on the space station, right? And so it's, so for us to say, hey, who is the first AI company to have an AI trained application in space? Yeah, that's a visible. It's a local, you know, AI organization in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. You heard that here on TechVob. What a cool way to wrap up this show. That's what I'm talking about. Outer Spiffy. Yeah. Oh, that's just so amazing. James, what a fantastic time talking with you. I need another 20 minutes because there's so much going on that I think. Our listeners got a fantastic taste with what you're up to. Go to visimo.com. Check it out. And I'll see you at Tech50. Visimo.com. I'm sorry, vismo.com. Check it all out. And I have a feeling I'm going to be seeing you at Tech50 this coming week, which is just this Thursday coming up, which is, oh my goodness. Yep. Time's moving by fast. I got my fingers crossed for you guys, man. Thank you very much. And you're definitely so glad for a finalist. Yeah, finalists for the AI robotics. I'm a finalist for the CEO of the year as well. Oh, you're up for two. Now my fingers are both my hands are crossed with my fingers. So thanks for being here. Thank you. And everyone, thanks for listening here this Sunday. Hope you tune in next week for more stories, just like what's happening on here with Vismo. Go to pghtech.org. Find out all the ways the Pittsburgh Technology Council can help your tech company succeed or if you're trying to happens at tech industry. We can help you with that as well. I will see you on the air next Sunday. Compu-netics is the leading developer of unified voice, video, and data collaboration in conferencing applications for the service provider, government, and unique workflow applications. The Summit Olympus and Evergreen platforms, driven by their encrypted user interfaces, enable powerful and secure collaboration. Combined with world-class support and innovative professional services, Compunetics delivers the right solution every time. Learn more at Compunetics.com. Thanks for geeking out with us on TechVibreedio. Tune in next Sunday for more tech and innovation stories right here from Pittsburgh. Get tech vibe wherever you get your podcasts and never miss a show. Tech vibe is brought to you by Compunetics at Compunetics.com. Chorus call at choruscall.com. Highmark.com. Huntington Bank at Huntington.com. Kindling Agency at thekindlingagency.com, PNC Bank at PNC.com, and Saviore at Saviore.com. And we're always coming at you right from the Huntington Bank Studios. The preceding was paid for by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Information on the program was intended to solely further the public's general knowledge about the product. Opinions expressed should not be relied upon for any purpose by any member of the audience. News Radio KDCA does not guarantee the accuracy of any of the information heard on the preceding program.