Austin AI was founded in October 2001 as an engineering firm specializing in providing solutions for industrial problems best solved utilizing sensor-based technology that emphasizes molecular and atomic spectroscopy. President Rick Comtois told IBO that Austin AI often develops systems or applications that are used on a larger scale within specific industries for process control and materials sorting and separating.

Many of Austin AI’s systems are based on energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) technology. The decision to use the technology comes from the long history both he and Vice President of R&D John Schindler have with the technique. “It was a natural maturation of the experiences and developed expertise of two chemists,” he said. He told IBO that EDXRF’s logical competition is its sister technique, wavelength dispersive XRF (WDXRF). Though WDXRF is superior in terms of sensitivity and resolution, making it the preferred laboratory method for many applications, EDXRF utilizes a simpler optical arrangement and therefore a stronger design for industrial applications, he said. “It is no mistake that the thousands of handheld XRF devices sold each year are all EDXRF based,” he said.

Austin AI’s offerings include EDXRF technology–based products such as QXR products for on-line sensor–based sorting of recycled metals, wood, plastics, glass and e-waste. Other EDXRF products include the QXI, a microfocus analyzer; the CP-1000, an elemental analyzer that is designed to be hydraulically pushed into soils, sediments, waste heaps, and pond and river bottoms; and the DHP-1000, a tool for analyzing bore holes and other pre-drilled holes to give fast, accurate data on the concentration of ores to the mining and exploration industries.

The company, which has a full-time staff of about eight, considers itself a leader in both the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and X-ray markets. The company uses LIBS as a complementary technology to EDXRF for its ability to measure the light elements and to detect elements at low levels. Austin AI considers LIBS another component of the portfolio of sensors available to the automated sensor–based sorting industry. “Whenever possible, we incorporate or develop new components or algorithms as we need them. This generally keeps us ahead of the curve,” Mr. Comtois said. He also credited the company’s success to creative problem solving and customizing the product or solution to fit a customer’s needs.

Mr. Comtois admitted that the economic downturn hurt Austin AI, citing a specific example of a major project that was ready to ship to a company supplying products to the automotive industry in 2008. In the four months it took Austin AI to finish the specialized system, the customer went bankrupt. However, he is optimistic about Austin AI’s future. The company will continue, he told IBO, to follow the model that has led to its success to date. “The temptation has been to get into some processing or tolling of recyclable materials. [Those areas] are very specialized and under the radar for large recycling companies—in other words, using our own developed technology in practice.” Austin AI is considering a product for this market.