A new sensor could help reduce the number of accidents caused by impaired driving and could protect children left in hot cars. The Wireless Intelligent Sensing millimeter-wave radar system, developed by startup Pontosense, monitors vehicle occupants’ vital signs, and it can detect the presence of passengers in the vehicle and where they are seated. The […]
In parts of the United States, using the term “systemic racism” to refer to persistent discrimination against Black people has become a political flash point. To some ears, it sounds like an attack on the country and the local community. Several states have enacted laws that ban, or would appear to ban, discussing the concept […]
Sometime next year, an autonomous robot might deliver food from an airport restaurant to your gate. The idea for Ottobot, a delivery robot, came out of a desire to help restaurants meet the increased demand for takeout orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ottobot can find its way around indoor spaces where GPS can’t penetrate. Founded […]
Starting a company to develop an energy technology that fights climate change is hard—a lot harder than starting a software company. But the opportunities are huge. Breakthroughs in battery technology, carbon sequestration, and other energy technologies that result in a five-fold improvement over current technology could literally change the world. That’s what John Hennessy, Stanford […]
Diana Gamzina is on a mission to drastically reduce the price of millimeter-wave power amplifiers. The vacuum-electronics devices are used for communication with distant space probes and for other applications that need the highest data rates available. The amplifiers can cost as much as US $1 million apiece because they’re made using costly, high-precision manufacturing […]
When Arjun Pillai was a youngster, the words entrepreneur and startup weren’t part of his vocabulary. It wasn’t until he became an IEEE student member in 2006 that Pillai learned those terms. He served on several IEEE committees and had leadership positions in IEEE groups—which helped him discover his managerial instincts. He learned from other […]
For Evan Schneider, the family dinner table is a good place for invention. “I’m always, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if this or that,’” he says, “and people would humor me.” In 2012, with California in the midst of a severe drought, Schneider, then a mechanical engineering graduate student at Stanford University, once again tossed out […]
Electric vehicles are gaining in popularity around the world, especially with the high cost of fuel. But some of the current EV models aren’t a good fit for owners who can’t wait around for hours for their batteries to charge, such as taxi drivers, delivery people, and ride-hailing services. One startup trying to solve this […]
Because most of the ocean’s vast area is far from land, it can be dangerous and expensive for crewed vessels to conduct research expeditions. This spurred Julie Angus to cofound the startup Open Ocean Robotics to design, build, and operate oceangoing uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) drones. She is the company’s CEO. “Our planet’s oceans are […]
Shoppers are seeing more and more empty shelves, as stores around the world struggle to keep products stocked. The situation is the result of supply-chain issues caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. The product-unavailability rate increased from 5 percent to 15 percent during the past three years, according to the Consumer Brands Association. To […]