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Voiceitt validates next-generation Voice AI in an innovative pilot for Deaf Individuals

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In a program facilitated by Newlab, Voiceitt demonstrates the flexibility and inclusivity of its next-generation speech recognition technology for individuals who are English-speaking Deaf and hard-of-hearing with non-standard speech.

TEL AVIV, Israel and STAMFORD, Conn., July 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Voiceitt, the Israel-based leader in speech recognition technology for non-standard speech, announced today the successful completion of a joint pilot validating its inclusive voice AI with Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Voiceitt’s technology was built with and for people with non-standard speech, and its unique speech database includes speech recordings from people with impaired and atypical speech to augment and improve Voiceitt’s voice AI models. This database of non-standard speech allows Voiceitt to provide a more inclusive and accurate experience. Voiceitt further improves its recognition of non-standard speech by providing personalized recognition for individuals who provide a minimum of 200 recordings.

The pilot was facilitated by Newlab, a deep tech venture platform that works closely with innovators as they build, pilot, and scale frontier technologies. The goal of the pilot was to demonstrate an improved accuracy with Voiceitt’s speech recognition with Deaf accented speech and provide qualitative insights to evaluate impactful use cases for voice AI among Deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

Jamie LePinnet, the Director at Newlab who facilitated the pilot, said, “The Voiceitt pilot is directly in line with the goals of the Studio to pilot with startups working on impact-driven advancements in language services. The success of the pilot sets the stage for strategic collaborations that can have a far-reaching impact on customers, and the community at large.”

According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, 48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss. While the adoption of voice enabled smart speakers and other devices has increased, people with non-standard speech due to being Deaf or hard of hearing are often not able to access and enjoy these devices, which pilot participants noted “rarely understands their speech”. Aside from the convenience of speech recognition over typing, some participants noted that interpreters working with Deaf individuals do not always accurately represent what the speaker aims to express. Another pilot participant explained that when individuals are discussing a sensitive topic, they may prefer not to have a third-party interpreter present, and inclusive speech recognition would help prevent “communication breakdown”, and help them be better understood.

“Speech recognition technology is incredibly valuable for the Deaf community,” said Tyler Pujeda, a heart researcher in Boston who participated in the pilot and is now an active user of Voiceitt’s application. “New inclusive products can help us feel listened to and understood.”

The pilot also analyzed quantitative results of Voiceitt’s proprietary speech recognition software, and compared Voiceitt with the industry’s leading providers of speech recognition, measuring accuracy using the word error rate (WER) metric. Deaf users in this pilot obtained an average of 8% WER (more than 90% accuracy) after training the system with 200 recordings. Voiceitt’s system also achieved higher accuracy than leading industry software for the Deaf speakers with non-standard speech who participated in the pilot, even with no training at all.

Dr. Rachel Levy, a speech pathologist and Voiceitt’s customer success manager, emphasized that while Voiceitt has historically focused on individuals with a diverse range of speech impairments, this pilot offered a unique opportunity. “This pilot validated Voiceitt’s compatibility and increased accuracy with Deaf voices,” Dr. Levy said. “However, its greatest impact resulted from the feedback and insights collected from pilot participants which has directly impacted the development of solutions geared towards the needs and preferences of the Deaf community and the other communities we serve and support.”

ABOUT VOICEITT
Voiceitt’s mission is to help people with disabilities live more connected, independent lives. Voiceitt’s proprietary automatic speech recognition (ASR) enables people with non-standard speech to access mainstream voice technologies, communicate by voice, and be understood. Voiceitt has been highlighted in international media, including Forbes, Amazon Science, BBC, and The New York Times. Investors include Cisco Investments, the Amazon Alexa Fund, AARP, and Microsoft’s M12. Voiceitt was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Israel with a subsidiary in Stamford, CT. Visit www.voiceitt.com to learn more.

ABOUT NEWLAB
Newlab is a venture platform built to decarbonize the economy. We take a place-based approach to de-risking technology, accelerating deep tech startups, and driving economic development. Newlab has 3 locations globally.

Today, Newlab includes more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, partnerships with forward-thinking corporate and civic entities, and a network of active investors—all working together to scale deep tech. To date, Newlab has supported its 300+ member companies in raising over $5.8B from venture capital firms, with over $2.3B of successful exits and a collective valuation of over $20B. Visit www.newlab.com to learn more.

Contacts

Media Contacts:

For Voiceitt:
Sara Smolley, Co-Founder and VP of Partnerships
sara@voiceitt.com

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SOURCE Voiceitt, Inc.

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Brownfield Is the Real Test of Automation: How ForwardX Scaled 484 AMRs in a Live Auto OEM Factory Without Production Downtime

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June 18, 2026

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Chery Dalian by the Numbers：

484 AMRs deployed across the facility~1,000 vehicles produced daily127 material categories automatedBodyshop and Final Assembly workshops coveredProduction maintained throughout deployment

BEIJING, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Most automotive factories are not built for automation. They are built for production.

More than one year after deployment began, ForwardX’s AMR system continues to scale across Chery Automobile’s Dalian manufacturing facility without disrupting production. Today, the project ranks among the largest brownfield AMR deployments in the automotive industry.

That reality makes brownfield automation one of the industry’s most difficult challenges. Unlike greenfield facilities, existing factories must modernize while maintaining output. Automation must adapt to legacy systems, fixed layouts, and active operations rather than being designed into the facility from the start.

With a fleet of 484 AMRs, the deployment continues to expand while production remains fully operational, allowing automation to scale without major reconstruction or factory shutdowns.

The Chery Dalian facility produces approximately 1,000 vehicles per day, making production continuity a critical operational requirement. Across its welding and final assembly workshops, AMRs support a wide range of intralogistics processes, including line-side delivery, SPS cart transportation, powertrain delivery, and empty-container return.

In the Bodyshop, 204 AMRs currently support delivery of 32 material categories, covering more than 80% of required material demand. In final assembly, 280 AMRs manage transportation for 95 material categories, supporting nearly 90% of assembly-line material requirements.

Brownfield success depends on much more than vehicle autonomy.

Existing factories present a unique set of challenges: limited line-side space, mixed traffic involving workers and forklifts, legacy IT infrastructure, changing production requirements, and minimal deployment windows. The challenge is transforming an existing logistics system without disrupting production. While many automation projects demonstrate success at the pilot stage, scaling to hundreds of robots in active automotive production environments is a different challenge altogether.

To address these challenges, ForwardX combined vision-based autonomy, fleet orchestration, manufacturing integration, and phased implementation strategies. Rather than requiring major facility changes, the deployment was integrated into existing production and logistics workflows.

The system operates alongside workers, conveyors, robotic equipment, and existing material-handling assets. Through phased rollout and continuous optimization, automation was introduced progressively while maintaining production stability.

“The challenge is transforming an operating factory while protecting production,” said Nicolas Chee, Founder and CEO of ForwardX Robotics. “Brownfield automation requires much more than robotics. It requires integration, orchestration, and a deep understanding of manufacturing operations.”

As OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers continue upgrading existing facilities, brownfield transformation is becoming a key focus across the automotive industry.

For most manufacturers, future automation investments will be deployed inside existing factories rather than new ones.

Greenfield projects prove that robots can operate.
Brownfield projects prove that automation can scale inside real-world manufacturing environments.
Chery Dalian demonstrates what that transformation looks like in practice.

Want the full story?
Download the Chery Dalian Brownfield Automation White Paper here: https://www.forwardx.com/ 

Join us at Automate 2026 in Booth #1025 to experience the future of automotive logistics.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/brownfield-is-the-real-test-of-automation-how-forwardx-scaled-484-amrs-in-a-live-auto-oem-factory-without-production-downtime-302804143.html

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RPI Consultants Launches Invoice Statement Reconciliation in Yoga for FSM

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June 18, 2026

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BALTIMORE, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — RPI Consultants, a leading ERP implementation, optimization, and software firm, has launched Invoice Statement Reconciliation for its Yoga for FSM accounts payable (AP) solution. The new feature matches vendor statements against AP data, researches unmatched lines, and automatically surfaces exceptions.

The feature was introduced to address ongoing vendor statement reconciliation challenges. Teams often receive statements of what vendors believe they’re owed, then spend hours cross-referencing invoice records against PDFs and tracking open items in spreadsheets. As a result, mismatches go unnoticed and missed invoices show up as unexpected costs.

Yoga’s Invoice Statement Reconciliation simplifies the process by capturing every vendor statement, creating a clean workspace for the reviewer, and running pre-investigation on every unmatched line; including fuzzy invoice-number search, amount matching, PO and payment-history lookups. The solution flags and resolves exceptions as they enter the system.

For teams that operate in complex AP environments, Invoice Statement Reconciliation also supports optional accrual tracking and automation. When an invoice hasn’t arrived yet, Yoga can track the accrual and automate its reversal when it does, with all activity confirmed in the ERP.

“AP teams shouldn’t be spending hours reconciling spreadsheets against PDF statements,” said Chad Tucker, VP Yoga Software. “Yoga does the research before the reviewer ever opens the statement, saving them time so that they can instead focus their efforts on higher value work.”

Yoga for FSM seamlessly integrates with Infor CloudSuite, Lawson V10, and Workday. The solution is fully hosted and managed by RPI and is built on more than 25 years of AP automation experience across hundreds of client engagements. To learn more about Yoga’s Invoice Statement Reconciliation, visit www.rpic.com/how-tos/invoice-statement-reconciliation-in-yoga/.

About RPI Consultants
RPI Consultants is an ERP implementation, optimization, and software firm with over 25 years of experience delivering best practices through technology, systems integration, and process redesign. As a premier Infor CloudSuite implementation partner, RPI prides itself on providing customers with the expertise and strategic thought leadership they need to be successful. For more information on RPI, visit www.rpic.com.

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SOURCE RPI Consultants

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VODA.ai Introduces Advisor, a Conversational and Agentic Decision Support AI for Water Utilities and Engineering Consultants

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June 18, 2026

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BOSTON, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — VODA.ai, the leading AI decision support software for water utilities, announced today VODA.ai Advisor, a conversational and agentic AI that helps water professionals move from data to decisions faster.

Built specifically for water utilities and engineering consultants, VODA.ai Advisor allows users to interact with intelligent planning and analytics workflows through simple natural language. Users can ask VODA.ai Advisor to generate project plans, adjust criteria and settings, evaluate scenarios, and provide advice on industry best practices to support more informed decision-making.

“Every person at a utility should be able to turn data into a decision,” said Benjamin Schroeder, CTO of VODA.ai. “We are building VODA.ai Advisor to give everyone at a utility a faster way to ask questions, understand risk, explain recommendations, and move from analysis to action. It helps everyone access the insight they need to make better infrastructure decisions.”

VODA.ai Advisor supports pipe replacement planning, project justification and verification, meter revenue protection, lead service line programs, water loss initiatives, executive reporting, and project prioritization. The VODA.ai team will be demonstrating its capabilities at the 2026 American Water Works Association ACE Conference in Washington, D.C.

As AI reshapes how organizations interact with data, VODA.ai is expanding its native AI capabilities and bringing that shift to the water sector. With VODA.ai Advisor, utilities and their partners can simplify sophisticated analysis, unlock insights faster, and make confident decisions about the infrastructure their communities rely on every day.

VODA.ai Advisor will be available to customers later this year.

About VODA.ai 

VODA.ai provides AI decision support software for water professionals. The company helps turn infrastructure data into defensible decisions that prevent failures, prioritize capital, reduce risk, and protect revenue. VODA.ai supports utilities and engineering consultants with predictive analytics for pipe risk, meter accuracy, capital planning, lead service line management, and other critical infrastructure challenges. 

For more information, visit www.voda.ai. 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vodaai-introduces-advisor-a-conversational-and-agentic-decision-support-ai-for-water-utilities-and-engineering-consultants-302803639.html

SOURCE VODA.ai

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