Author Archive for ZeislerWB20

Nick Cherukuri: ThirdEye Gen

Nick Cherukuri

The Google Glass failed when it was released, but this did not deter Nick Cherukuri from pursuing business applications of mixed reality and augmented reality glasses.  ThirdEye was formed from a team with 50+ years of experience developing augmented reality technology for the Department of Defense.  The company’s vision is to “create the next generation of Mixed Reality Glasses and augmented/mixed reality software.”  The technology they are developing will “bring about a new era of hands-free human interaction via directly interacting with surrounding objects or placing digital info into your field of view.”  Nick believes that these glasses can “have a life changing impact on the way workers go about their everyday tasks.”  The glasses allow workers to view schematics, diagrams, and instructions while improving first time fix rates, decrease error rates, and do more quality jobs in a day.  The ThirdEye glasses can also be used for collaboration as they have a feature that allows a supervisor or expert to see what the user sees and provide feedback, and all of the features can be used hands free.  Another use of the glasses is for training new employees.  The glasses are being developed for a wide range of uses including aerospace & defense, architecture, education, field services, first responders, healthcare, law enforcement, and manufacturing.  First responders will be able to use the glasses to access patient records and talk to doctors.  Law enforcement can use the glasses for suspect facial recognition in real-time.  Security can be a concern for the glasses, but ThirdEye says that their Mobile Device Management platform can protect devices and data at every level.  This technology is not being widely used at this point, but it will be interesting to see where it goes as it is further developed.

Allevi: 3D Bioprinting

Allevi was founded in 2014 to develop 3D printing, but they took this technology in an unusual direction.  3D bioprinting is used by researchers to model disease, create custom 3D tissue, and study the body outside of the body with improved control and repeatability.  Bioprinting is being used in the fields of tissue engineering, bioengineering, and materials science.  This technology also helps with pharmaceutical development by allowing drugs to be tested faster, at a lower cost, and with more accurate results than animal testing.  It is also being used to make biomedical devices such as sugar stents that help surgeons join veins and systems for improved drug delivery.

The bioprinters work similarly to other 3D printers, but they use cells and other biocompatible materials known as bioinks instead of plastic.  The living cells can be mixed into the bioinks or seeded in after the print is finished.  The 3D geometry the bioprinters create is more similar to a natural biological system than any other model researchers have been using.  The models used can come from CT or CAT scans or a CAD program which allows for very accurate models, and researchers can model any geometry they need.  Allevi provides the software necessary to take the model and print on with the bioprinter which makes it easy to use.

There are over 110,000 people on the organ transplant waiting list in the US.  Many others experience chronic problems as a result of the long term damaging effects of immunosuppression Allevi’s goal is to develop bioprinting technology that will allow them to 3D organs to solve this problem.  Bioprinting might also be able to use a patient’s cells to 3D print skin and bone grafts.

Unmanned Vehicle Technologies

Chris Fink founded Unmanned Vehicle Technologies as a way to get out of his corporate job.  He had worked as a firefighter and dispatcher using drones, but he found that there was a lack of support from the manufacturers.  Chris decided to fix this problem by making a company that would focus on supporting customers and meeting their needs.  He founded UVT in 2014 with a home built drone with a GoPro strapped to it, but the company has now had 4,200 customers and sold more than 19,000 drones.  In 2017, Chris met Andrew McKinney, the owner of Express Aerial Solutions and another firefighter and dispatcher, who was working on commercial leasing for industrial drones because many companies could not afford the large cost of a drone up front.  UVT and EAS merged to provide a new method for customers to get UVT’s products and services.  In 2017, Matt Rybar, a Sheriff’s Deputy, merged his company, Alpha Consulting Group, into UVT.  Alpha Consulting Group focused on training for drones to be adopted into public safety agencies.  This merge allowed UVT to expand its offerings to customers.  UVT seeks to supply customers with the most advanced industrial drones that have customized hardware and software to meet their needs as well as providing outstanding customer support.

Chris also has a small unmanned aircraft systems pilot ground and flight certification that he has used learn about drone operation which helps him provide better solutions through his company.  People who have worked with Chris say that he understands the market and is open to ideas and feedback.  His willingness to listen to customers and employees is likely a large part of why his company has been successful.  He understands how important it is to learn the customer’s needs and create a high quality solution to meet it.

Afresh: AI Meets the Grocery Store

From left: Afresh co-founders Volodymyr Kuleshov, Nathan Fenner, and Matt Schwartz.

U.S. grocery stores lose $18 billion in spoiled food each year.  This is about 8% of fresh food and 8 million tons that ends up in landfills.  After years of observing this inefficiency from the inside, Matt Schwartz teamed up with two of his friends from grad school at Stanford, Nathan Fenner and Volodymyr Kuleshov, to solve this problem in 2016.  These three entrepreneurs spent thousands of hours observing grocery store managers to learn how to build a tool that could be easily integrated into the process.  They use AI to predict how much produce grocery stores should order by analyzing many factors such as customer preference for certain varieties of produce at different times of the year and the effect of weather on areas where produce is growing.  The data engine automates as much as possible, but it also has an interface to easily interact with store associates when necessary.  The AI is also self-monitoring in order to maximize the effectiveness of the tool.

Fresh food is difficult to maintain in proper quantity because of its short life span, but Afresh is helping grocery stores have the right amounts of fresh produce at the right times to minimize waste and have the products that customers want available.  Afresh is a major innovation in an area that had been stagnant for a long time.  As a result, several large grocery stores have expressed in the company, and it has raised $7.8 million in investments.  Many of the stores participating in the development have seen their waste cut in half.  Afresh is now being used by Fresh Thyme, WinCo Foods, and Heinen’s Grocery Store.  Each store pays several thousand dollars per year for Afresh, but still increasing their profits because they have the right amount of fresh produce in the store.

Easton LaChappelle: Unlimited Tomorrow

TrueLimb - Next-Generation Prosthetic Arm

Easton LaChappelle had an interest in robotics in high school, but he found a mission when he met a young girl at a science fair who had an expensive and limited prosthetic device.  He set to work developing innovative prosthetic limbs with a focus on the impact they would have on his customers.  Unlimited Tomorrow tries to optimize the customer experience by providing an inexpensive, custom prosthetic, and the customer never has to leave their house.  They do this by shipping a 3D scanner to the customer that creates a model of the customer’s full arm which is then used to make a model for the prosthetic.  Unlimited Tomorrow uses 3D printing to easily make custom prosthetics.  After modeling the part, Unlimited Tomorrow sends several sockets to the customer to ensure the best possible fit for the prosthetic.  The prosthetic uses sensors to collect muscle data, and it then uses this to control the movement of the prosthetic.  The prosthetic costs about $8000 which is an eighth of the cost of traditional prosthetics, and if the customer outgrows their prosthetic, Unlimited Tomorrow will sell them a new one at half price.  Unlimited Tomorrow’s prosthetics are some of the most realistic available since they are modeled off of the customer’s full arm, provide natural movement, and even customize the color to match the customer’s skin tone.  The prosthetics are also intuitive to learn how to operate and lightweight to improve their functionality.  Unlimited Tomorrow uses crowdfunding and partnerships to be able to keep their costs low and stay true to their mission of putting their customers first through the development of innovative technology.

 

Sustainable Air Transportation

Wright Electric was founded by Jeffrey Mark Engler to solve the problem carbon emissions by airplanes.  Flying is an essential part of modern transportation, but it can triple a persons carbon footprint.  Wright Electric is working on developing an electric airplane that will have much lower carbon emissions than current passenger jets.  The Wright 1 airplane that is in development will be able to carry 186 passengers, and it will use batteries to power electric motors for propulsion.  Lower carbon emissions will be achieved by using electric power and a more aerodynamic design that reduces drag and makes the airplane more efficient.  Battery powered airplanes are becoming more realistic as a result of research by government agencies such as NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory that are making batteries more efficient and lighter.  An electric airplane has some additional benefits.  Electric motors are much quieter than traditional jet engines, and the decreased use of fuel will make electric airplanes cheaper to fly.  Wright electric is also designing their airplane so that batteries can be quickly swapped at an airport to allow for a faster turnaround time.

Wright Electric has partnered with experienced airlines such as EasyJet, Jetex, and VivaAerobus to get commercial, operational, and maintenance insight during the design process.  The Wright 1 will not have a very large range at first with 500km or 311mi flights from London to Paris, but it will be able to get up a 1,280km or 800mi range.  The Wright 1 will also have slower cruising speeds than similarly sized passenger jets, but Wright Electric expects this to be fine for the short flights that they will be starting with.  Wright Electric is planning to perform ground tests of its motors in 2021 and flight tests in 2023.  They are hoping to have the airplane on the market by 2030.