An inflatable balance bike presented on a stand at the VivaTech show, June 16, 2022 in Paris (AFP / Eric PIERMONT)
“The balance problem is not solved”, recognizes Ryosuke Yamamura, showing his inflatable balance bike on a stand at the VivaTech show in Paris. But the inflatable and motorized wheelchair of its structure could be marketed “within 3 or 5 years”.
Alongside Audi’s latest concept car, Google’s automatic crop inspection vehicle or the robot dog acquired by the RATP to inspect its infrastructure, the start-up and tech fair also welcomes a myriad of small entrepreneurs or creators, looking for partners and investors, like Ryosuke Yamamura.
Not far from the Japanese engineer with hesitant English, the Polish Tomasz Patan presents his flying motorcycle prototype, Jetson: a kind of individual mini-buggy carried by eight rotors, with a flight autonomy of 20 minutes at a speed of 70 km/h, and sold for 92,000 dollars.
“We have pre-sold 400 copies, and we are starting deliveries in 2023” in the United States and Poland, two countries where legislation allows the circulation of this type of flying machine, explains Tomasz Patan.
He started on his own funds (“I had to sell my two cars”) but is currently raising the funds to launch mass production, with his small structure of 12 people.
Hosted with other start-ups on a large stand at the Institut Mines Telecom (IMT), Carla Sarantellis, a designer from a family of inventors, presents a bamboo electric bicycle.
Visitors to the VivaTech show, June 15, 2022 in Paris (AFP / BERTRAND GUAY)
Bamboo tubes connected by carbon joints (recyclable) provide the frame of the bike.
The machine of only 15 kilos seeks to seduce a clientele fond of aesthetic and bio-sourced materials, at the price of 3,300 euros including tax in the electric version and 2,400 euros including tax in the muscular version only.
It “represents six years of development”, explains Carla Sarantellis, whose company has already produced 150 copies in pre-series.
– Dream to reality –
After a journey that took her notably to Vietnam, where she set up a household linen manufacturing business for an NGO, the entrepreneur financed her project with private funds, with the backing of the public bank for financing. of Bpifrance innovation. “We will receive 500,000 euros” in reimbursable advance, she says.
The five young co-founders of HDRone, a start-up delivering pharmaceutical products by drone, are planning a real start of operation of their service in 2023, in Marconnelle (Pas-de-Calais) and Toulenne (Gironde) .
A robot presented at the VivaTech show, June 15, 2022 in Paris (AFP / BERTRAND GUAY)
Since 2018, they have been refining their project, thanks in particular to the financing of a private investor: to allow pharmacies in rural areas to deliver their customers by drone to the surrounding villages, within a radius of ten kilometers.
“Pharmacists often cannot meet delivery needs in the surrounding area,” explains Alexandre Conflitti, 27, one of the five co-founders of this project.
“A delivery by drone emits 22 times less CO2 than a delivery by scooter” with an atmospheric engine, he says, announcing a price of 8.99 euros per race.
On his stand, Alexandre Conflitti greets Rodolphe Hasselvander, the founder of Blue Frog Robotics (small humanoid robots), with whom he hosted a round table on tech a few years ago.
After years of effort, the one, whose company employs around twenty people, has gone from dream to commercial reality: his little robot intended to “create links”, especially for children and the elderly, “has sold 1,300 copies. And he has just received an order for 2,000 copies from National Education.
© 2022 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
