Clutch Performance: Compact Motion Control Powered by ESTAT

by Gretchen Weaver | Mar 5, 2026

ESTAT Actuation is rewriting the rules of motion control with brakes, clutches, locks, and latches powered by electroadhesion instead of heavy, bulky, and heat-prone electromagnets. Spun out of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 2019, the company’s first breakthrough...

Leaficient Sprouts Insights: Plant Vital Drive Smarter Greenhouse Decisions

by Gretchen Weaver | Mar 31, 2026

Leaficient is an AI-powered agritech company bringing laboratory-grade insights to commercial greenhouses. Leaficient uses low-cost cameras, hyper-spectral imaging, and environmental sensors to track plant biometrics in real time—down to the leaf level. The result is...

A Sound Investment: How Reclamation Factory’s Acoustic AI Is Cracking the Code on Plastic Recycling

by Gretchen Weaver | Jul 31, 2026

Engineer and entrepreneur Georgia Crowther has built a career solving complex problems across aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and robotics — from developing urban bikeshare technology and designing wheels for NASA’s VIPER lunar rover, to pioneering...

Shelfmark’s Managed AI Transforms In-Line Visual Inspection

by Gretchen Weaver | Feb 12, 2026

Pat O’Donnell, founder of Shelfmark, hit pause on his software consultancy gig in 2022, when the opportunity to build something new proved irresistible. Though he did not yet have a fully formed vision of his company, he devoted six months to focused research with...