Ohio State Startups - Robotics, Sensors & Advanced Manufacturing

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AwareAbility Technologies LLC

License fiscal year: 2018 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Lei Cao  
College: Engineering 
Department: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 
Leadership: Vasil Hlinka  
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Columbus, OH  
Description: AwareAbility Technologies is bringing to market IoT sensors that are durable, able to function in harsh environments and have a 10+ year power life. The company’s tracking tags help businesses analyze data from almost anywhere in the physical world. This enables them to overcome barriers by gathering and processing data in austere environments through three core technologies: radiological power technologies, Internet of Things-based data collection and machine learning analytics.

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Circular Wave Drive Partners Inc.

License fiscal year: 2015 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Jacob Martin; Yuan Zheng  
College: Engineering 
Department: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering  
Leadership: Flavio Lobato  
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Columbus, OH 
Description: The robotics, aerospace and medical equipment industries rely heavily on speed-reduction technology. However, existing speed reducers have a short lifespan and are expensive to manufacture. Circular Wave Drive’s technology enables a full product line of low-cost, compact and highly-efficient speed-reducing gearing systems which overcome the limitations of both the Harmonic Gear Drive and Nabtesco RV. This allows Circular Wave Drive to disrupt both the value and premium markets. The company is focused on launching the technology in China due to the country's sizable command of the robotics market and aggressive push toward innovative speed-reducer technology.

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Collaborative Concepts, LLC

License fiscal year: 2022 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Ming Chen 
College: Engineering 
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Leadership: Kevin Sickles 
Ownership status: Privately held 
Headquarters: Dayton, OH 
Description: C7i seeks to commercialize a "GPS Denial Training Unit." These units are used to deny GPS reception to a single platform for training purposes. The product enables platform operators to experience the system impacts of lost GPS signals, allowing instruction for platform operators to train on alternative forms of navigation when a GPS system is compromised.

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Matsaki Technologies Inc.

License fiscal year: 2020 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Sanjay Krishna  
College: Engineering 
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Leadership: Earl Fuller  
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Columbus, OH  
Description: Matsaki Technologies is developing a system that enables utility company crews to identify and evaluate the danger of natural gas leaks. This system uses infrared technology to detect danger from a safe distance, without exposing first responders or the public to harm. Matsaki is targeting use cases with both government and commercial enterprises.

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Nikola Labs Inc.

License fiscal year: 2015 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Chi-Chih Chen  
College: Engineering 
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering  
Leadership: Brian Graham 
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Westerville, OH 
Description:Nikola Labs is a wireless power company with an advantaged far-field technology that converts radio-frequency (RF) energy into direct current (DC) power. The company’s first application is predictive facility maintenance (PfM) system for manufacturing equipment, such as motors, bearings, pumps and gearboxes. The Nikola PfM system includes wirelessly powered temperature and vibration sensors, a transponder that powers the system, and a cloud-based software application that allows customers to view and analyze the data.

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Tech4Imaging LLC

License fiscal year: 2008 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Liang-Shih Fan  
College: Engineering 
Department: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering  
Leadership: Quassai Marashdeh  
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Columbus, OH 
Description: Tech4Imaging produces a non-invasive, non-destructive electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT) imaging technology for commercial and industrial use. ECVT provides 3D volume images by reconstructing electrical signals acquired from a capacitance sensor. Combining this sensor with advanced analytics software and consultation services, the company provides industrial process visualization, combustion volume imaging, multi-phase flow measurements and imaging that can be applied to energy, aerospace, automotive and pharmaceutical industrial processes.

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TeraProbes Inc.

License fiscal year: 2015 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Kubi Sertel  
College: Engineering 
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering  
Leadership: Niru K. Nahar  
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Columbus, OH 
Description: TeraProbes manufactures innovative, non-contact metrology systems for high-frequency electronic device and integrated circuit testing. TeraProbes’ proprietary test-bed consists of an automated probe station and virtual, no-contact probe tips, enabling S-parameter characterization for the entire mmW and THz bands. The highly accurate, no-contact system reduces probe wear and tear, as well as the high hardware and operation costs associated with on-wafer characterization.

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Three Firefighters LLC

License fiscal year: 2021 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): John Volakis  
College: Engineering 
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Leadership: Michael Maher 
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Columbus, OH  
Description:Three Firefighters LLC is developing technology to enhance the safety of first responders by improving tracking and accountability of emergency personnel. The company has developed the DoorBoss, a proprietary firefighting tool that limits fire growth by starving fire of oxygen, thereby helping to save lives and avoid property loss. The company will incorporate sensors into its DoorBoss and leverage technology developed at Ohio State to create an IoT-integrated system that can track and report biometrics and the location and movements of emergency personnel in real time.

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ZiiROBOT

License fiscal year: 2018 
Ohio State primary inventor(s): Yuan Zheng  
College: Engineering 
Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering  
Leadership: Yuan Zheng  
Ownership status: Privately held  
Headquarters: Columbus, OH 
Description: ZiiROBOT is developing an active robotic walker using cooperative pulleys to enable a disabled person to walk.