Faster AI-Driven Scans Bring CT To The Factory Floor

When Lumafield, a developer of accessible X-ray CT technology, emerged from stealth in April 2022, it offered the world’s first accessible industrial X-ray CT platform. Lumafield’s Neptune industrial CT scanner is an order of magnitude less expensive than legacy systems, and it brought this powerful technology to engineering teams that had never been able to afford industrial CT before.

Now Lumafield has made its Neptune scanner more than 300X faster, allowing it to scale from one-off scans in product development labs all the way to serial inspection in high-volume manufacturing operations.

Behind the speed increase is a significant development in artificial intelligence. CT scanners work by capturing a series of two-dimensional X-ray images from different angles, then reconstructing them into a 3D model using software.

Lumafield’s AI allows the company’s reconstruction process to achieve the same high-quality results with fewer two-dimensional X-ray images, reducing the time required to run a scan. New improvements in Lumafield’s software also make it possible to skip certain steps in the reconstruction process before performing automated analysis, which cuts processing time.

As a result, scans that previously took several hours can now run in a minute or less, finally making industrial CT a practical technology for quality assurance on factory floors. Combined with factory automation systems, Lumafield’s scanner and software can inspect products at high volume, automatically flagging problems such as dimensional inaccuracies and the presence of pores and cracks.

A demonstration of Lumafield’s rapid scanning technology is available at IMTS (booth #135828) to experience the Neptune scanner and Voyager analysis software firsthand.

“Industrial CT has been out of reach for most production lines—until now,” said Eduardo Torrealba, Lumafield Co-Founder and CEO. “With these speed improvements and Lumafield’s low price point, it’s now possible to implement 100% inspection with CT, catching invisible issues before they become costly problems.”

Lumafield Announces $35M Series B Funding

Lumafield has also announced it has closed a $35M Series B funding round from new and existing investors, achieved a major new AI-driven performance breakthrough, and appointed two prominent executives to its board of directors.

The company has raised a total of $67.5M to date, including a combined $32.5M in its Seed and Series A funding rounds. Spark Capital led the Series B round, which also included participation from existing investors Lux Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Data Collective, and Future Shape. Lumafield also announced the appointment of Victoria Holt and Santo Politi to the company’s Board of Directors. Ms. Holt was previously CEO of Protolabs.. Mr. Politi is Founder and General Partner of Spark Capital, where his investments have included Oculus, Twitter, Wayfair, and Plaid.

Lumafield has been fortunate to have some of the world’s leading investors back our vision of ‘CT ubiquity.’ Thanks to their support, we’ve been able to help engineers change the way they work on everything from cosmetics packaging to bike parts,” comments Eduardo Torrealba “We’re honored by this vote of confidence from Santo and Victoria, as well as our Seed, Series A, and Series B investors. We’re excited to move into our next phase of supercharged growth.”

“The manufacturing world is changing dramatically,” said new Lumafield board member Victoria Holt. “Manufacturers are confronted with an increasingly competitive marketplace, radical shifts in supply chains, and ever-higher customer expectations. My experience leading Protolabs gives me an appreciation for the positive impact technology can have on manufacturing. Lumafield offers a technology, a team, and a perspective that promise to reshape the way products are made. I’m very excited to work with Lumafield to realize its vision.”