Glimpse launches CT scanning software for hardware quality checks

Glimpse has launched Explore, image processing software designed to help companies inspect parts with CT scanners in their labs and development environments. The company told TechCrunch that the product is aimed at industries including aerospace, automotive, electronics and medical devices.

The startup says its software can make battery-cell inspections 10 to 30 times faster on existing CT scanners. CEO and co-founder Eric Moch told TechCrunch that manufacturers could scan tens of thousands of cells a day, compared with the handful scanned today. A “super scanner” Glimpse is developing with partners could complete a scan in 1 or 2 seconds, he said.

Glimpse’s software compresses and processes scan images, with much of the initial work done on computers at customer sites before results are sent to the cloud. The company says the resulting images load in a web browser within seconds. Its dashboard can also display measurements specified by customers and flag deviations, such as changes in the distance between layers in a battery cell. Moch said customer input is used to retrain the software’s deep learning algorithms.

Glimpse says it has more than 100 customers, including Anker, Lucid and the U.S. Navy, and revenue in the “mid seven-figure” range. Customers without CT scanners can send parts to the company’s Boston-area facility. Glimpse said it is opening a second Scan On Demand center in the San Francisco Bay Area. Moch said scans could cost a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.