Jake Loosararian, CEO of Gecko Robotics, was an electrical engineering student at Grove City College when he developed his business idea. During his senior year, he and a team of seniors were working on a project for a local power plant when the plant manager informed him that inspections of various equipment was very time consuming, very expensive, but most of all very dangerous. If the plant were to shut down for a single day, $1 million would be lost. Loosararian’s team began working on a solution; a robot capable of climbing walls.

The wall climbing robots they created could inspect the equipment 10 times faster than humans, saving the company a lot of money. Additionally, 1,000 times for information could be collected. The information included areas of weakness that could cause the plant to shut down for a day, a loss of $1 million. Each year, 20-40 people die while doing these inspections, this robot saves lives. After spending some time having a full time job and working on the startup on the side, he decided to work full time on the project. Through much stress and spending countless hours working, they received funding from investors and the company slowly started to grow.

Present day, Gecko Robotics and is focusing on expanding their market and their capabilities. This is possible due to investors taking serious interest, notably Mark Cuban and Justin Kahn. Keep an eye out for this growing business, it is sure to do well.