Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.
A local contract electronic manufacturer is being recognized by the Haverhill City Council tonight for its role in launching a high-tech, softball-sized and throwable camera.
Bounce Imaging, now of Buffalo, N.Y., recently won a federal contract valued at up to $15 million for its “Explorer Unleashed” advanced 360° solutions for port security and tactical surveillance.
Haverhill City Councilor John A. Michitson plans to introduce Rich Breault, president of Haverhill-based Lightspeed Manufacturing, to discuss the “recent business success” of the product “resulting from Haverhill’s ‘Shark Tank’ startup competition.”
In 2012, Bounce Imaging entered the “Haverhill Hardware Horizons Challenge” for early-stage hardware innovators, where Lightspeed offered its design services and production to develop a working prototype for the winner. Bounce Imaging ultimately won the competition, receiving Lightspeed’s assistance and also taking away the $10,000 grand prize.
Besides Lightspeed, other sponsors included the Greater Haverhill Foundation, Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, City of Haverhill and Northern Essex Community College. Bounce Imaging was also a finalist in the MassChallenge 2012 competition.
Bounce Imaging recently won a five-year “Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity” contract from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The device was originally targeted to help first responders easily and safely assess potentially dangerous situation. Because of its low cost, the camera can be sacrificed.
Originally founded at the Harvard Innovation Lab and MIT, Bounce Imaging invented the platform that captures stabilized, omnidirectional video and audio that is stitched into a panoramic format 200 times faster than other technologies. The output can be shared over cellular and other wireless networks.
The Haverhill City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m., both online and in-person at the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers, room 202, Haverhill City Hall, 4 Summer St. As a public service, 97.9 WHAV plans to carry the meeting live.