Robotics, AI and automation in “Forbes 30 under 30”

Forbes has once again expanded their “30 under 30” list this year to celebrate the achievements of the up and coming; the main list now covers 20 different sectors, and an inaugural European edition has also been released, with 10 sectors. While the expansion of the list dilutes the brand (it’s more like “900 under 30”), it does highlight some interesting trends in robotics, AI and automation. Advanced manufacturing, conversational systems and human-augmented AI are key themes on this year’s list. And you’ll recognize some of these bright young minds from their contributions on Robohub.

Advanced manufacturing, 3D printing and rapid prototyping

Tim Sandy and Markus Giftthaler were honoured on Forbes “30 under 30” list for their work on the In Situ Fabricator mobile construction robot.

• Karishma Shah – Google[x] Rapid Evaluation Program Manager
  Google Alphabet’s youngest hire, Shah cofounded a natural language processing project at Google[x], led operations for the Project Wing drone delivery service, and now is program manager for Google’s rapid prototyping team.
• Markus Giftthaler and Timothy Sandy, PhD candidates at ETH Zurich’s Digital Fabrication lab
  Giffthaler and Sandy are developing techniques and tools for robotically fabricating complex structures on building construction sites as part of the Swiss National Centre of Competence (NCCR) in Digital Fabrication. You may have read about their work with architect Kathrin Dörfler on the In-situ Fabricator at Robohub.
• Danny Cabrera and Ricky Solorzano, Cofounders BioBots
  This company makes 3D printers and inks that can print living tissues.
• Phil DeSimone, Cofounder Carbon3D
  Carbon3D builds 3D printers for manufacturers that use a chemical process so that printing can be achieved 25 to 100 times faster than traditional 3D printing methods.
• Ionut Budisteanu, Founder VisionBot
  VisionBot has developed an affordable pick-and-place machine for automatically assembling integrated circuits; the machine is aimed at makers, hobbyist and SMEs looking to turn their prototypes into products.
• Max Friefeld, Cofounder Voodoo Manufacturing
  Voodoo Manufacturing offers scalable 3D printing services for single part prototyping up to high volume production.
• Maxim Lobovsky, Cofounder Formlabs
  Formlabs makes desktop 3D printers.

Drones

Philipp Oettershagen was honoured by Forbes 30 under 30 for breaking the solar powered UAV flight endurance record – 81 continuous hours of autonomous flight!

• Philipp Oettershagen, PhD Candidate ETH Zurich AtlantikSolar Project
  Oettershagen has been busy breaking solar powered UAV flight endurance records with the Atlantik Solar Project, which you may recall seeing on Robohub.
• Tom Brady and Danny Ellis, Cofounders SkySpecs
  SkySpecs makes software for inspection drones, allowing end users to automate inspection and analyze inspection data.
• Yash Mulgaonkar, PhD Candidate at U Penn
  Mulgaonkar’s research is focused on developing rapid fabrication methods for drones and other robots, and on training robots to coordinate together on tasks.
• Alec Momont, Founder Drones For Good
  Drones for Good leverages open source drone technology to explore how drones can be used for social good, such as delivering emergency supplies and medication.
• Sampriti Bhattacharyya, Founder Hydroswarm
  You may recall hearing from Bhattacharyya on Robohub — she’s made our Women in Robotics list in 2014, and also did an ICRACam pitch at IROS earlier that year. Her company, Hydroswarm, makes autonomous underwater drones for swarming applications.

Health and medicine

Luna is a rehabilitation robot for orthopedic and neurological patients by EGZOTech.

• Harbaljit Sohal, Postdoc at MIT
  Sohal develops neural implants that can be more easily integrated by the human body.
• John Barrett, PhD at Newcastle University
  Barret’s research focuses on neuroprosthetics and brain-machine interfaces
• Michal Mikulski, Founder EGZOTech
  EGZOTech is developing physical therapy robotics for automated diagnostics and treatment of neurological disorders.
• Patrick Slade, Cofounder PSYONIC
  PSYONIC develops low cost artificial hands
• Dhananha Jayalath and Chris Wiebe, Cofounders Athos
  Athos develops smart clothes that use sensors to help athletes understand which muscles they are engaging.
• Ben Harvatine, Founder Jolt
  Jolt develops sensors for detecting sports concussions.

Conversational robots for customer service

A Skolkovo startup, Promobot makes retail robots with conversational capabilities.

• Dmitry Aksenov and Mikhail Naumov, Cofounders DigitalGenius
  DigitalGenius provides natural language processing to provide big companies with conversational software robots for customer service that can answer questions in real time.
• Oleg Kivokurstev, Cofounder Promobot
  Russia’s answer to retail robotics, Promobot is designed to answer customer queries, distinguish between repeat customers and new ones, and learn people’s shopping preferences.
• Andrew Flachner, CEO and Cofounder RealScout
  RealScout is a service for realtors and their customers that uses machine learning to respond to natural language queries, to help home buyers to personalize their search criteria and find features that may not be included in a standard MLS listing.
• Matthew Ramirez, Cofounder WriteLab
  Writelab uses algorithms to provide immediate feedback to students about the grammar, spelling and structure of their writing assignments.

Human assisted AI for augmenting and automating bespoke products and services

• Navid Hadzaad – Go Bulter
  The concierge app GoButler launched in 2015 uses “human assisted AI’ to fulfill requests such as dinner or flight reservations via text messaging.
• Marcela Sapone – Co-founder Hello Alfred
  Hello Alfred is another concierge service that combines ‘intuitive technology with human intuition’ to anticipate your needs. The service offers home cleaning, dry cleaning, errand delivery, grocery shopping and other services.
• Maran Nelson, CEO and Cofounder Clara Labs
  Another example of “human assisted AI”, Clara Labs offers virtual administrative assistant services to executives and enterprises. NLP and AI are used to automate and streamline, while professional human assistants handle complex requests and do quality control.
• Kieran O’Neill – CEO and Co-founder of Thread
  Thread combines the savvy of human stylists with algorithms that track your style preferences and can quickly search through millions of products to hone in on items that meet your personal taste.
• Levi Young and Dana Zingher, Cofounders Enclothed
  Enclothed efficiently pairs personal stylists and customers by using algorithms to build a profile of your style preferences, size and budget, and searches for products to deliver to your door.
• Miles Penn and Rafi Witten, Cofounders MTailor
  MTailor is an app that uses the camera on your smartphone to measure your size and use the data to create custom-fitted clothing. YCombinator startup
• Caroline Walerud, Cofounder Volumental
  Volumental uses 3D scanning technology to find (or create) the perfect fitting pair of shoes, and they are looking to adapt the technology to eyewear next.
• Ben Alun-Jones, Kirsty Emery and Hal Watts, Cofounders Unmade
  Unmade offers custom machine-made knitwear; users pick and upload designs, sizes, yarn-type and colours, and Unmade uses a combination of knitting machines and knitware experts to finish your garment for you.

Smart homes and connected devices

• Will McLeod, Cofounder Keen Home
  Keen home makes smart vents to help you control the temperature of your home, room by room. McLeod is also cofounder of SmarterShade, a company that manufactures smart windows that respond to light and temperature by changing their tint.
• Michael Wang, Cofounder FutureAir
  FutureAir makes connected fans and air conditioners for efficiently managing indoor air quality.
• Kristjan Maruste, Founder CoModule
  CoModule offers a hardware/software package that bring connectivity to electric bikes and scooters, providing theft protection for users and vehicle diagnostics to manufacturers to help them improve their products.

Machine learning and algorithms 

• Scott Clark, Cofounder and CEO SigOpt
  SigOpt uses algorithms to optimize A/B testing for websites and applications.
• Nicole Hu and Ahmad Wani, Cofounders One Concern
  One Concern uses machine learning and predictive analytics to asses damage after natural disasters in order to help emergency service workers.
• Alexander Lavin, Research Engineer at Numenta
  Lavin is working to develop artificial intelligence by reverse-engineering the human cortex.
• Rob Bishop, Founder Magic Pony
  Magic Pony develops machine learning approaches to video enhancement, prediction and compression.
• Lucy Stonehill, Founder BridgeU
  BridgeU uses algorithms to match prospective students to the universities that best match their interests and career choices.
• Steve Marsh, Founder Geospock
  Geospatial data in real time for autonomous vehicles and other applications.

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large

Hallie Siegel robotics editor-at-large