Hardware Accelerator Team Spotlight: Organic Robotics Corporation

Meet #HardwareAccelerator19 team Organics Robotics a company focused on creating a light-lace fabric that will enrich virtual reality experiences. The technology was developed in the Organics Robotics Lab at Cornell.  

What problem do you solve for the market? 

We’re solving the lack of important body awareness in a virtual environment that is preventing authentic virtual reality experiences. 

Who is your customer? 

We are currently doing customer discovery with VR headset companies, VR software companies for training applications, and consumers to identify who would benefit from purchasing our product.  

What is your innovation or solution? 

Our Light Lace is stretchable, flexible, is pressure-sensitive, and knows its own shape. The core technology of the fabric is a stretchable optical fiber developed in the Organic Robotics Lab at Cornell University. The use of an optically based sensing solution enables us to decouple the electronics from the fibers and create garments that can be washed by simply removing the centralized electronics pack. 

How did you come up with this idea? 

These stretchable optical fibers were originally developed in the Organic Robotics Lab at Cornell University as curvature sensors for a grip augmenter. Since their initial development, they have been used in various robotics demos showing their capabilities as motion capture and pressure sensing systems. Soft robots are similar in movement to the human body which spurred the idea to bring the sensors to the human form. 

What has been the biggest surprise? What has been the most eye-opening experience so far? 

One of our most eye-opening experiences has come from talking to various people in the VR space. Understanding their problems and challenges has been a great learning experience.