SOLIDWORKS - The Language of Innovation

A recent series on the RISE™Inside podcast has us chatting with some of the companies contributing to the Small Business Startup Ecosystem and the success of RISE™Robotics.

Dassault Systèmes, with their solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application, SOLIDWORKS is one such company that has been a part of the RISE™ DNA since before its inception.

Suchit Jain, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., and Arron Acosta, CEO of RISE™Robotics, discussed the relationship with host Justin Starbird.

"Dassault Systèmes, a French company, acquired SOLIDWORKS in 1998," shares Suchit. "In those days, it used to be mainframes, computers running CAD. It used to be only meant for the chosen few if you will. SOLIDWORKS' promise then was to bring the power of CAD, computers, and the design process to every engineer's desk. That was the promise. We have kept that all these years."

Since Dassault's acquisition of SOLIDWORKS in 1998, the company has transformed from simply a CAD application into a full-service platform offering complete product lifecycle experiences for designers, manufacturers, and customers.

"As we moved into the last 10 to 15 years, we realized that experiences are important," explains Suchit. "So we created a cloud-based platform called the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which allows all of our applications and tools to connect so that the data is interoperable, allowing all team members to create and deliver an experience to consumers, including everything from concept and design to manufacturing, lifecycle management, and even sales and marketing.

"Today, we call ourselves the 3DEXPERIENCE company. Our job is to bring 3DEXPERIENCEs, and enable our customers to create those 3DEXPERIENCEs, in a virtual form, such that when they deliver them physically, they'll come out perfectly every time."

To provide these complete 3D experiences, SOLIDWORKS offerings include-

2D CAD with DraftSight 2D drafting - DraftSight enables you to meet your drafting, modeling, prototyping, manufacturing, and laser cutting needs.

• Essential 2D design and drafting with a complete set of edit, design, and automation tools

• Create, edit, view, and share 2D and 3D DWG files with productivity tools and an API

3D CAD - Intuitive 3D design and product development solutions help you conceptualize, create, validate, communicate, manage, and transform your innovative ideas into great product designs.

• Create fast and accurate designs, including 3D models and 2D drawings of complex parts and assemblies

• Design for cost and manufacturing with cost estimation tools and manufacturability checks

• Interact with team members and control revisions with standardized data management tools

• Eliminate errors and rework by using integrated motion and stress analysis tools

3DEXPERIENCE® WORKS - unites the entire ecosystem, allowing you to connect the people, applications, and real-time data from every aspect of your business in one connected universe.

• Aggregate and organize product and business data into actionable information

• Benefit from integrated cloud-based product data and lifecycle management

• Securely share real-time information and collaborate to drive sustainable innovation

COLLABORATION - Collaborate with your team using integrated social tools. Engage with management, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders throughout the product development process.

• Cloud-Based Data Management and Collaboration

• Built-in revision and version control with no additional IT investments

• Digitally connect with stakeholders to elicit valuable feedback easily 

• View, markup, manage, and share designs from anywhere, at any time, and on any device 

• Create dashboards and communities to connect people and data in one place to empower collaboration 

ELECTRICAL DESIGN - SOLIDWORKS Electrical solutions simplify electrical product design with specific tools for engineers and intuitive interfaces for faster embedded electrical system design.

• Easily integrate your electrical schematics into 3D models

• Minimize repetitive tasks associated with developing electrical schematics

• Leverage a common database for ECAD and MCAD, ensuring consistency when creating documentation

• Access an extensive electrical component and symbol library of industry-standard schematic symbols

After years of working and designing with SOLIDWORKS, the RISE™Robotics team found themselves on the SOLIDWORKS 3DEXPERIENCE World stage in front of an audience of judges, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders pitching their revolutionary RISE™Cylinder, an electromechanical alternative to hydraulic systems, which catapulted them into the spotlight.

"At SOLIDWORKS World," Arron reminisces, "lots of customers discovered us for the first time, became aware of us, and started calling and emailing, wanting to see what would happen if they put our technology into their machines and we could show them by just providing them with a CAD model to fit right into their machine.

"One of the things that the CEO of Dassault Systèmes, Bernard Charlès, clearly understands is that Dassault Systèmes customers, SOLIDWORKS customers, are also RISE™ customers. 

"This makes the collaborations that we do with original equipment manufacturers and hydraulic manufacturers very easy because we are all able to speak the same exact file language—it's like when you're doing Word editing, and everyone is using.doc, but in this case, it's all in SOLIDWORKS files."

Suchit adds, "In this world today, everybody collaborates. Parts are being purchased. You don't design everything. Sometimes you're buying parts; sometimes, you're getting them manufactured from outsourced places. The good news is, as a part of the 6 million user SOLIDWORKS network, we have a lot of people who are manufacturing and making things for other customers within the network with a common language: SOLIDWORKS files and data, which are now all on the cloud. Through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, companies can exchange, very easily, all of that."

As for what's next for RISE™ and their relationship with SOLIDWORKS, "we're only midway through our journey with SOLIDWORKS," explains Arron.

"Next will be more licenses. We're growing pretty rapidly, building out our mechanical engineering team and building out our electrical engineering software manufacturing. We have triple the number of product projects that are starting now than we did previously. We will take on more licenses, set up more computers, and install SOLIDWORKS. That's the immediate need. Then, there's some farther-out stuff that's fascinating around making use of the other tools SOLIDWORKS offers for the rest of the life cycle of our products.

"As we journey into sustainment, we'll be there with SOLIDWORKS. It's nice to have great partners."

To learn more about SOLIDWORKS and their relationship with RISE™Robotics, listen to "SOLIDWORKS-The Language of Innovation" live on the RISE™Inside podcast.

The Power Of A Good Story

There is nothing quite like the power of a good story. And the benefit of a good story for an innovative startup is immeasurable!

Every day, companies around the world are solving problems that we never even knew existed. And The Aebli Group is here to make sure that people know.

Founded in 2014, The Aebli Group, affectionately self-proclaimed the TAG Team, is a full-service marketing and business development agency with a passion for creating stories that highlight and propel companies and innovations that are changing industries.

Whether your business is next door or across the globe, the TAG team is "down the hall" with an array of tools and resources to help you amplify your story, share it, and create actionable results that lead to more business.

Although a full-service agency, TAG's offerings are customizable and scalable and include: 

• Website Design

• Podcast

• Branding

• Content Strategy 

• Digital Marketing

• Social Media

• Public Relations

• Event Marketing

• Creative Services

Whether a startup or a multinational conglomerate, The Aebli Group will work with you to determine and understand your business’ needs, offering prescriptive and creative solutions to ensure your business gets seen and succeeds.

TAG has found their stride in helping clients explain the complex technologies behind their groundbreaking innovations, specifically in the medical device, high-tech, transportation, and logistics markets. This is beautifully highlighted by their work with the zero-emission heavy machinery company, RISE™Robotics, whose innovative new RISE™Technology is disrupting the hydraulics industry and electrifying heavy machinery with it’s fluid free, belt technology proving to be superior in performance, reliability, durability, cost-effectiveness, safety, and predictability while also being environmentally friendly.

With The Aebli Group, your business is their passion. Clients become family, and the team works as hard with them as they do for them. With a shared belief in and passion for RISE™Robotics' innovative RISE™Technology, The Aebli Group, alongside RISE™, worked to create content, share it across platforms, research leads, vet potential deals, create connections, and promote partnerships. This successful strategy ultimately lead to the first real broad application of their breakthrough fluid-free RISE™Cylinder in the reimagined Re-Gen Railtrac™, with RISE™Inside from Anthony Liftgates.

Most recently, an Army xTechSearch 6 Competition win has opened the door for future partnerships, including a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract to scale and integrate its efficiency-enabling technology, the RISE™Cylinder, into a Common Lifting Device for the US Air Force. The Common Lifting Device, which was developed under an SBIR Phase II contract for the United States Air Force Special Operations Forces, was a result of an AFWERX phase 1 program, a United States Air Force program with the goal of fostering a culture of innovation within the service and discovering new technologies from companies they had never worked with before.

To learn more about how The Aebli Group can help your company tell its story, get discovered, grow its bottom line, and become a leader in your industry, visit their website, Aebligroup.com. Also, be sure to check out their podcast, Inspections, to learn more about RISE™ and the other incredible clients and innovations with whom TAG has the privilege of working.

Seeing New Possibilities

In a continuing series on the RISE™Inside podcast, we've been highlighting RISE™Robotics' belief in and work with disability employment awareness—a time to celebrate the numerous and diverse contributions of workers with disabilities, while also providing an opportunity to educate the public, particularly employers, on issues surrounding disability employment. As well as blindness awareness—a campaign close to the hearts of RISE™Robotics and team members Ken Gray, Chief Product Officer, and fellow eSight advocate, Rosa Henderson, Executive Assistant to the Chief Product Officer, who both live, work, and thrive with visual impairments. 

Today on the RISE™Inside podcast, host Justin Starbird is joined by special guests Roland Mattern, Director of Marketing for eSight Eyewear, and Gary Foster, advocate, former employee, and user of eSight Eyewear, to talk about eSight technology and the impact that interventions can have on improving people's vision and lives.

At its core, eSight is the most versatile and advanced all-in-one device for people with visual impairments, designed to move seamlessly with the wearer through daily life.

eSight's low vision device, more commonly referred to as electronic Eyewear, functions by stimulating synaptic activity from the remaining photoreceptor function of the user's eyes. Using a cutting-edge camera, smart algorithms, and high-resolution screens, the assistive technology maximizes the visual information provided to the brain to naturally compensate for gaps in the user's field of view.

A typical eSight user has visual acuity of 20/60 to 20/800, some as high as 20/1400, caused by more than 20 different eye conditions, including macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and Stargardt's disease. Many may achieve 20/20 visual acuity while wearing eSight.

At eSight, they don't just help their low-vision clients see. They help them "See New Possibilities." Whether it's getting a new job, pursuing a degree, or traveling the world, their goal is to provide the most advanced low-vision assistive technology available.

Since Gary discovered eSight in 2015, it has significantly impacted his life, his independence, and all the things he loves to do. His story is both fascinating and inspiring.

"It made a completely profound difference in my life. It's made me completely independent again. I travel all over North America unassisted because when I wear an eSight, I actually have 20/20 vision. I have 20/400 vision without it. It's a thrill for me to introduce this technology to people because it still amazes me.

"I suffered from AMD. In my family, it's very common. Our doctor always classified this as premature age-related macular degeneration because, in my family, we get it young. 

I was my mother's caregiver when she lost her sight, and I have to say, I thought that if it ever happened to me, because of my experience with my mother, I would be completely capable of handling this situation. I knew what to expect, but I can tell you, honestly, that nothing prepares you for losing your sight.

"I wasn't prepared, even though I thought I would be, because I didn't realize the simple tasks that I wouldn't be able to do.

"I've always been a very independent person, and having to become dependent was a real challenge for me. It really was a challenge.

"I had a very dynamic job. I worked in the Rocky Mountains. I lived in Lake Louise, Alberta. I had a lot of people that I was responsible for. I was responsible for all of the highways in the National Park, everything from avalanches to snow removal to road repair and bridge repair. I was the operations coordinator for all of that, which was very demanding.

"I went from that, on a Wednesday, to being unemployed on a Thursday.

"When my eyesight reached the point where I could no longer maintain a driver's license, that was the end of my career. It was hard to go home and wonder, 'Well, what next?'

"I became an ambassador for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind just to be active. It was at one of their conferences that I first encountered eSight.

"I remember standing in a long line of people who wanted to look through this device. There was a fellow there, Tyler Moore, who wears eSight, and he was holding them up for people to look through. There were so many people that he was talking to a group on his left and holding the glasses up on his right for the queue to come through and look. 

"When it was finally my turn, I was looking through the glasses, and my wife stood in front of me and said, 'Well, what can you see?' I said, 'I see your face.'

"She started to cry. I looked around the room, and I said, 'I can see everybody's face.' I heard, 'Next,' as the glasses were pulled away from my face. It was like, 'Oh, my God, I need to know more'!

"That was my introduction to eSight. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

"I went to talk to my doctor about it. They had never heard about it. He was skeptical.

"I flew from Calgary to Toronto to do a complete evaluation and found that for me, I read to the bottom of the eye chart. I couldn't believe it. It was absolutely phenomenal. Shortly after that, I purchased my first pair and started learning how to relive my life independently.

"I have to say that it is something I never thought would happen again," recalls Gary. "When I had an opportunity to go and work full-time, I was like a kid in the toy store. I wanted to learn everything about the inside workings of that office. I worked with everybody. I wanted to know every bit of what I was supposed to be doing, and I branched out. Not only did I learn the job I was there to do, I just started doing more and more and more. The more capable I was, the more they got me involved.

"Having a full-time job gave me back my confidence. For me, it was just so exciting. There was nothing that I didn't want to do. If I could do it, I would do it."

As for what's next for Gary and his refound independence, "my wife and I look forward to any opportunity we can assist eSight in getting the word out, which we do. We love doing that. 

"When I first started going to conferences and meeting with doctors, I was always amazed at why they hadn't heard of this product. It's in medical journals. Then, the next step was that they were always so incredibly skeptical. I understand that, but what's happening now is so gratifying. Doctors are coming looking for us, wanting to know more.

"To hear a doctor say, for example, 'I have ten patients right now that I can't do anything for, and I would love to introduce them to this technology. I need to know more.' When we start hearing that, I really feel like I'm accomplishing something, which is great because I'm more interested in what it does for that client than the doctor or even eSight itself.

"My message is, here's this technology. Let's get it into the hands of the people that can use it, and I'm starting to hear more encouragement from doctors. Roland would agree with me; it's so gratifying to have a doctor come up and be excited because he's heard about this. He comes, and he talks to us about it. We'll do a demo, and he's excited to return to his practice and get the word out."

"On a personal level," Gary says, "I am going to be an incredibly busy person until I am no longer able to do so physically. It's not going to be the vision that's going to stop me at this point. Somewhere along the line, my legs, my knees, and my back will have to say enough is enough. I love it."

And as for the future of eSight, Roland explains, "eSight 4 builds upon the success of eSight 3, which was named a Time Magazine's Innovation of the Year and Health Tech Digital Awards Best Wearable Technology Solution. 

"In the long term, we'd like to be a household name. We want to be on the tip of the tongue of every ophthalmologist in North America and beyond, but I think those are your Big Hairy Audacious Goals in the long term.

"In the short term, we will be attending the American Academy of Ophthalmology this month and the American Academy of Optometry to continue driving our message to the healthcare community.

"We also have a new product in development. We're constantly pushing the envelope, looking to make the product better. We're hoping to have a release for a new product in 2023. Our R&D colleagues are indeed working on that.

"In the meantime, we continue working through our digital and face-to-face channels to ensure our message gets out there and we can help as many people as possible.”

If any of your listeners want to learn more about eSight, they can visit our website at www.esighteyewear.com. There you will find product information including user stories, about the company, and information about various retinal diseases that impact central vision. Please visit eSight and reach out anytime.

Also, to hear more about eSight and Gary's journey, tune into "Seeing New Possibilities" live on the RISE™Inside podcast today!

Creating Inclusive Work Environments

Held every October, Disability Employment Awareness Month is a time to celebrate the numerous and diverse contributions of workers with disabilities while also providing an opportunity to educate the public, particularly employers, on issues surrounding disability employment.

Coincidently, October is also Blindness Awareness Month, a campaign close to the hearts of RISE™Robotics and team members Ken Gray, Chief Product Officer, and Rosa Henderson, Executive Assistant to the Chief Product Officer, who both live, work, and thrive with visual impairments.

Past episodes of the RISE™Inside podcast have shed light on and highlighted how RISE™Robotics and its team members have flourished as a result of inclusive practices, appropriate accommodations, and a mindset that looks beyond impairments or disabilities, shifts the focus to what people can do, and capitalizes on the inherent talent and value of every employee.

In the most recent episode of RISE™Inside, Molly Pasley, Assistant Professor of Special Education at Northern Illinois University in the Visual Disabilities Program, sat down with host Justin Starbird to discuss ways in which all employers can shift their mindset, recognize disability bias and discrimination, and create inclusive environments specifically surrounding visual impairments.

Through her teaching and research, Molly has recognized a common underlying fear of workplace discrimination surrounding "coming out blind."

"Right now," she begins, "I'm in the middle of a study where I'm interviewing people all across the country and in Canada with visual impairments about their experiences with discrimination. A number of people have said that they've either tried to hide or successfully hidden their visual impairment in the workplace because they were afraid they wouldn't be promoted or wouldn't be hired for a job if they disclosed their visual impairment."

The first step towards mitigating these fears and creating an inclusive environment is self-awareness, explains Molly. "Once a company recognizes a bias exists, they can actively fight against it."

To do so, Molly encourages a "strengths-based approach" when hiring and promoting. "Look at people for what they bring to the table," she explains, "not what they can't do or what you perceive they can't do.

"Ask first. Get to know the individual and if they tell you they can do something, believe them until they indicate to you that they've got to come up with an alternative. This will also help avoid the trap of assuming a person is incapable of doing something based on their disability, which I think a lot of people fall into if they haven't met or don't know a person who's blind or visually impaired."

"Another important thing," she adds, "would be to ask that person what they need to be successful in the workplace, and when they tell you, listen. Don't assume you know better just because you are sighted or just because you're able-bodied. They've been navigating the world with that disability and have figured out how they learn and work best."

She goes on to also encourage a foundation of inclusive practices. "For example," she explains, "when creating any training videos, promotional materials, or even paper documents, making sure that you're thinking, 'Okay, how is a person with low vision or blindness going to be able to access this? Do I need to put it in an electronic format where I don't have all these graphics? Or use alternative texts?' That way, every employee will get the full meaning from the materials and graphics. Also, with training videos, include descriptive audio and closed captions for scenes with a lot of visual information that a person can't detect with a visual impairment."

Molly believes that educating yourself is the best way to overcome biases and disability discrimination. "A great resource for employers who are looking to do the work on themselves and within their organization to change the culture of their organization into one that is more inclusive, specifically for people who are blind or visually impaired, is the Mississippi State University's National Technical Assistance Center on Blindness and Low Vision, or the NTAC-BVI."

"Their goal," explains Molly, "is to improve employment outcomes for people with blindness or low vision and provide free resources for employers, job seekers, and families. It's a really rich website. They include employee vignettes, stories of people across fields, across visual impairment, the entire spectrum, you name it. I feel like they have a great representation there."

The site addresses topics such as:

• What are blindness and low vision

• What types of jobs can people who are blind or have low vision do

• Why hire workers who are blind or have low vision

• How can we accommodate visual impairments in the workplace

• What are the legal requirements for hiring someone who is blind or has low vision

• How can I help a current employee who is experiencing blindness or low vision

• How do blind workers perform job-relayed tasks

For more information on these topics, head to their website, ntac.blind.msstate.edu, or contact Molly through email at mpasley@niu.edu.

To hear more about Molly's work and ways you can address disability discrimination and promote inclusiveness in the workplace, listen to Episode 3 of Series 4, We RISE™ With Molly Pasley on the RISE™Inside podcast, live now!

THE MISSING LINK

The rotary machine that changed the world. Nikola Tesla’s polyphase motor.

Every so often, a new technology greatly changes the way we live.

And today, more than ever, the world yearns for such technology.

Concerns over environmental sustainability are coming to a head and drawing the attention of citizens, cities, countries, companies, and lawmakers. The automotive and other related industries are now pushing hard to improve energy efficiency and minimize carbon footprints.

The Reliance on Hydraulic Fluid-Power for Linear Actuation

Our homes, cities, factories, and cars are undergoing electrification in efforts to combat carbon emissions. However, the big machines that build and feed our world are among the last to make the transition.

Although the industry has embraced the electrification of rotary actuation, it is the linear actuation related activities that lack a viable alternative. These mobile machines are still utilizing hydraulics to meet their current standards of functionality.

While modern hydraulic systems are incredibly power-dense, very robust, safe, and generally well suited for their applications, they require excessive input energy to do useful work, fail unpredictably, are difficult and costly to maintain, and pose an unnecessary environmental risk.

Typical Hydraulic Alternatives. Rollerscrew (left), Ballscrew (right).

The fact that the industry has not had a linear actuator that can replace the basic functionality of the hydraulic cylinder in terms of speed, stroke, and controllability has been a major hurdle toward complete electrification and sustainability.

RISE™Robotics, a thriving, innovative industrial technology company, is aiming to solve that.

Through a decade of research and development, RISE™Robotics has worked towards developing a more efficient, more reliable linear actuator capable of meeting the functionality of the hydraulic cylinder. Today they have successfully built and introduced the most energy-efficient fluid-free actuator capable of meeting and exceeding hydraulic cylinder standards—the missing link to heavy machinery electrification.

This Missing Link for Electric Mobile Heavy Machinery

Utilizing a revolutionary mechanical system, RISE™Robotics is leading the way to zero-emission heavy machinery by providing the world’s most efficient and productive alternative to hydraulic cylinders.

Their fluid-free belt technology offers a significant competitive advantage over existing hydraulic technologies and alternatives. Boasting superior performance, dependability, durability, cost effectiveness, safety, and predictability, in addition to being environmentally friendly, it is redefining what linear actuators can do for heavy machinery.

Regenerative Lowering with RISE™Technology

In partnership with RISE™Robotics, revolutionary zero-emission machines are being created with the patented RISE™Cylinder (US Patent 11255416, Patent Pending: WO2019/014259) inside. This fluid-free, electromechanical alternative to hydraulic systems is capable of delivering hydraulic-like forces with unprecedented efficiency, precision, speed, and weight. It also consumes up to 90% less energy than traditional heavy duty linear actuators in the form of hydraulic cylinders due to lower power consumption levels and regenerative charging.

By demonstrating itself capable of meeting or exceeding traditional hydraulic standards, the revolutionary RISE™Cylinder is garnering the attention of investors, engineering teams, and potential partners.

RISE™Robotics has established various industry partnerships, integrating their technology into a range of heavy-duty vehicle and equipment applications, as well as launching several projects with the U.S. Air Force aimed at modernizing the design of current equipment to increase efficiency and agility in the field.

The numerous early achievements of RISE™Robotics and RISE™Cylinder establish merely the starting line for the future of electrification and sustainability in the industry.

Air Force Ground Support Equipment due for Linear Actuation Enhancements.

Today, RISE™ is seeking endeavors that allow them to advance and adapt their technology to serve the widest selection of applications possible.

Each day, they connect with pioneers and experts across industries, daring enough to partner in re-imagining the machines that move our world, jointly conceptualizing, building, testing, and verifying the next generation of heavy machinery with RISE™Inside.

“Imagine a machine without hydraulic pumps, valves, blocks, tubes, hoses, and seals that uses one-quarter of the energy of the best of today's machines,” acclaims Ken Gray, Chief Product Officer at RISE™Robotics. “Imagine no leaks, no fuel, no emissions. Imagine a machine that's remarkably quiet and out-lifts, out-digs, and operates smoother than anything that's ever been built. 

“RISE™Robotics’ mission is to turn that imagination into reality.”

Discover the missing link in your electrification journey.

Discover the pure joy of better machines.

The Engine: Elevating Tough Tech and Its Founders

Originally established at and still closely connected with MIT, The Engine can be described as an initiative born of a mission to help the breakthrough technologies discovered each day in academic and government research labs. The Engine empowers and enables said technologies to be translated into successful commercial products and technologies that influence positive change on a global scale.

Targeting "tough tech" companies, The Engine acts in three roles to support the advancement of budding innovative businesses, the first being an essentially ordinary venture capital fund. What sets The Engine apart from most others in this space is its unusually long fund life of eighteen years. Patient capital acknowledges the time it takes most tough tech products to reach their intended market finally.

With their second role being a host of infrastructure, the Engine manages facilities containing a variety of labs and spaces equipped to fulfill the research and development needs of early-stage startups, including office co-working spaces, wet labs, bio labs, chem labs, and maker spaces offering the use of expensive, otherwise inaccessible equipment. By hosting these facilities, they allow founders to develop their technology freely while scaling their business and pinpointing the exact investments they should make as they strike out on their own.

Their third and final role is to facilitate and constitute a network of experts and professionals with the knowledge and capabilities to provide the unique support needed by tough tech companies as they nurture their technology and grow their businesses. From government to academia to the corporate world, The Engine recruits contacts, pilots collaborations, and coordinates technology transfers that accelerate the success of their founders and raise the tide for the entire tough tech ecosystem.

These days, terms such as "deep tech," "frontier tech," and the Engine's preferred "tough tech" are increasingly commonplace. Yet, their definitions are rarely explicitly defined, likely due to their ever-evolving nature. In a general sense, the Engine qualifies tough tech as any breakthrough technology addressing one of many vital issues facing humanity. Still, for the purpose of investment, they focus on three primary categories: climate change, advanced systems, and human health and infrastructure.

The choice to diverge from more general investment terms with the usage of "tough" reflects how The Engine's philosophy differs from other investors in the space. Where many decide to bring in business experts to take over the commercialization and business development aspects founders are inexperienced in, the Engine believes that the founders they invest in have all the capabilities necessary to grow and run their businesses themselves. The Engine does not shy away from passing on a potentially impactful or lucrative opportunity if the founder behind it does not seem to have a genuine commitment to or passion for their technology. In parallel, if the founder does not seem to have the vision in store for their technology. The Engine recognizes these as critical ingredients to success when pursuing the long and often arduous transition of tough tech from the lab to the market.

Still, The Engine effortlessly matches the motivation for progress and success they expect from their founders, engaging often and enthusiastically with companies to help them address challenges as they occur, summoning experts amongst themselves or their vast ecosystem as needed to provide exclusive guidance focused on achieving founder's goals, both technological and commercial. And while their enthusiasm for tough tech is apparent enough in their comprehensive support services, they go even further by regularly hosting events aimed at convening, strengthening, and expanding the community. This includes a Tough Tech Summit held each year, which focuses on gathering companies to provide opportunities for collaboration and networking, and Business Development Days, in which corporate and government stakeholders are invited to meet with The Engine's entire portfolio of companies and survey their technology.

With government interest rapidly growing in reducing carbon emissions and electrifying automobiles, the Engine today is particularly hopeful about the potential of RISE™Technology to revolutionize heavy machinery and infrastructure overall. Predicting significant change on the horizon regarding climate change and mobility, The Engine works closely with the RISE™ team today as we continue our endeavors in both the public and private sectors to expand our technology's reach and impact.

FedTech - A Bridge Between Innovation and Industry

Engineering, funding, running, and succeeding as a deep tech company is challenging. Most inventors, founders, startups, and entrepreneurs lack the knowledge or ability to turn their innovative ideas into profitable ventures. FedTech is a company looking to change that.

At the crossroads of entrepreneurship, ground-breaking technology, and mission-driven organizations, FedTech is looking to power a vast ecosystem of founders, startups, mentors, and inventors through their novel approach to translating ground-breaking technology into real-world impact.

Conceived in 2015 after the founders identified an opportunity to commercialize the roughly $150 billion in annual federally sponsored R&D while attending the National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, they are finding their stride in the deep tech space. They have grown to offer four unique programs to provide support and services related to technology entrepreneurship.

Startup Studios

Startup Studios: From tech-transfer to tech-transition.

Through this program, teams of highly talented entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs are paired with technologies at the forefront of innovation to turn out market-disrupting startups.

Every year, the government spends hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D. A large portion of the technology developed and labs built remains unharnessed. FedTech team members scour the portfolios of these labs to identify the innovations with the best commercialization potential. From there, a team is assembled, educated on the many aspects of how to run a startup, and provided with the opportunities, resources, and tools that enable the creation of a business that's ready to launch.

In general, FedTech Startup Studios are sponsored by entities with a vested interest in federal innovation, such as NSIN (National Security Innovation Network), NASA, and other extensive research and development organizations, which often support the administration of the program and the choice of entrepreneurs and technology.

In the years since FedTech was founded in 2015, many Startup Studios have run and created close to 200 teams. Many of these teams have incorporated and gone on to raise millions of dollars while introducing their products to the world.

Accelerators

Is there a playbook for entrepreneurial success in deep tech?

FedTech partners with organizations to build custom accelerators where startups come to deliver solutions aimed at solving the organization's most pressing needs. This is a cohort-based program in which startups are given the resources and education to help them succeed in their pitches. Participants are provided mentorship, educational programming, pitch days, venture-building activities, and strategic exposure, all to transition their technologies into thriving small businesses and partnerships.

This is highlighted by their work supporting the Army’s xTech program, which is a competition that aims to foster innovation and opportunity by providing a platform for small businesses to collaborate directly with Army leadership to support its modernization initiatives.

In the program's 6th iteration, xTechSearch 6, FedTech was introduced to RISE™Robotics and their innovative RISE™Technology aimed at powering the next generation of Army heavy machinery. RISE™Robotics presented the concept of zero-emission machines powered by the RISE™Cylinder, a fluid-free, electromechanical alternative to hydraulic cylinders for heavy equipment and machinery. The RISE™Cylinder addresses the battery-electrification problems inherent in hydraulic systems by delivering hydraulic-like forces at unprecedented efficiency, precision, speed, and weight while using up to 90% less energy than hydraulic cylinders.

As one of the competition finalists, FedTech assisted RISE™Robotics with the education and support necessary to understand and navigate the map and language of working with the Army, ultimately earning them exposure, opportunity, and the distinction of becoming an xTechSearch 6 winner.

Internal Innovation

This program fosters out-of-the-box thinking within corporate environments by offering custom solutions designed to unlock the unharnessed potential of clients. Teams are pushed beyond their comfort zones to help create better solutions for their organizations using practice-proven, evidence-based methodologies. This could be through intense short-term workshops or longer engagements utilizing VIP speakers, industry CEOs, and mentors.

Corporate Venture

science is the next frontier for corporate innovation.

FedTech believes that "science is the next frontier for corporate innovation. Headlined by startups in deep tech fields, advances in cutting-edge science from quantum communications to renewable energy are supercharging a new era of risk and opportunity."

Today, FedTech is a leader in the deep tech venture space. By collaborating with corporate partners, they are helping companies first to gain strategic insight and then turn that insight into action.

In their Corporate Venture program, they supplement current corporate capabilities with an entrepreneurial perspective on technology, working with companies to:

• Build market strategy

• Navigate the emerging technology environment

• Conduct thorough diligence to provide foresight on startups

• Launch spinouts

• Operate accelerators to connect companies with best-in-class technology & talent

• Encourage intrapreneurship

Today, FedTechs' commitment to unlocking the benefits of technology is possible through their deep relationships and collaborations with the DoD, NASA, DoE, NIST, VA, federal labs, research institutions, universities, and corporations. If you are an entrepreneur, a startup, or a company that realizes the potential of deep tech and is looking to take that next step, visit FedTechs' website to learn more about their programs and successful alums.

RISE™Cylinder Competitive Technology Landscape

The Nightmare of Hydraulic Maintenance

Many companies today are working diligently to create new technologies aimed at replacing outdated, costly, inefficient hydraulic systems in heavy machinery. RISE™Robotics is one of those companies. With the successful market debut of their first commercial product, the fluid-free RISE™Cylinder packaged within Anthony Liftgate's Re-Gen Railtrac, RISE™ is quickly setting themselves apart and proving that they are the TRUE hydraulic cylinder alternative, "ticking all of the boxes" of a hydraulic application.

Modern hydraulic systems are not only incredibly power-dense but also very robust, safe, and generally well suited for their applications. While a handful of existing non-hydraulic technologies might appear to meet the requirements, they have all been shown to come with inadequacies, limitations, and concerns.

Traditional integrators use hydraulic cylinders and other modern, effective alternatives, such as the compliant rack and pinion, ball screw, and roller screw.  RISE™Robotics' revolutionary fluid-free belt technology provides a substantial competitive advantage over these technologies. It demonstrates superior performance, reliability, durability, cost-effectiveness, safety, and predictability while being environmentally friendly. A look at the competitive technology landscape emphasizes all of this.

The core of the comparison between these different technologies lies in linear actuation efficiency, which impacts everything from material use to operating cost of running and owning a machine and the capital cost of the machine itself.

M. Vukovic, R. Leifeld and H. Murrenhoff, “Reducing fuel consumption in hydraulic excavators,” Energies, 10, 687, 2017.

Current centralized hydraulic systems may run with between 10 to 40% efficiency, with more sophisticated electro-hydraulic actuators running in the 50 to 60% range. Both have to contend with motor losses across the spectrum, pump losses, small valve and hose losses, as well as losses associated with ports due to temperature and oil viscosity.

With only motor and gearbox losses to contend with, the RISE™Cylinder can deliver a full system efficiency between 70 and 85%.

Volumetric power density is another point of comparison. While hydraulics' volumetric power density is second to none, RISE™Technology is far superior in mass power density.

Close up of a Roller-Screw Nut

A roller screw, in particular, employs a set of rolling threaded contact mechanics within a nut and screw arrangement; these devices can achieve a high load density due to the large number of contact patches on a roller screw. The belts on which RISE™Technology is based can exert pressures of over 1,000 PSI between the belt and the pulley, also allowing for a high load density.

Despite the comparable levels of volumetric power density, roller screws fall short here in that the nut arrangement and supporting bearings used to create the blocks on either side of the rotating screw element are typically very long, resulting in a significant length addition factor. In the case of hydraulic cylinders, the cylinder itself is only marginally longer than the stroke. And while it is not as compact as a hydraulic cylinder, the RISE™Cylinder comes very close.

In addition to the screw technology's naturally longer length, the motor and gearbox must also be considered, which makes packaging more difficult. One advantage of hydraulic systems is that the motor and pump can be located remotely, allowing lines to be routed to the action. Of course, the disadvantages of this lie in the maintenance and pressure losses through hoses.

Like a hydraulic power unit, the RISE™Robotics' system can route the belt from the linear unit across short lengths to a more convenient location for the belt power unit, substantially simplifying packing issues.

Also, due to their design, hydraulic cylinders and the RISE™Cylinder are not only compact but easily scalable and capable of achieving nearly any stroke imaginable. In contrast, both ball screw and roller screw systems must contend with critical speed restrictions. This critical speed depends on the size of the screw, its length, and the relative rigidity of the blocks that mount it to a fixed point. Typically, a screw can not be run faster than around 70% of that critical speed. As a result, the screw's net stroke is typically limited to one or two meters in length for high speed applications.

Shock tolerance and side-impact tolerance are two other areas to consider in this competitive technology landscape. One high-shock event is all it takes to ruin a system, and it is nearly impossible to avoid with cylinders in a wide range of mobile hydraulic applications. 

Hydraulics are notoriously good at dealing with shocks as no metal surfaces under Hertzian contact are being loaded due to direct axial shock. RISE™Robotics' RISE™Cylinder is also able to add shock tolerance and side-impact tolerance to its list of competitive advantages.

RISE™Cylinder utilizes belts that are somewhat elastic, allowing them a small amount of give and take. Under full load, the belts typically stretch around 0.5%, similar to how fluids behave when loaded and unloaded. RISE™Cylinder's linear drive has similar levels of inherent shock tolerance. When combined with methods of shock prevention and shock assistance applied directly to individual sections of belt, a quite resilient system emerges.

Hertzian Contact Visualization

Screw systems, on the other hand, use direct Hertzian metal-on-metal mechanics that, when overloaded with an impact load during axial compression, may damage the bearings and, once brinelled, are no longer serviceable.

Last but not least, RISE™Technology and its hydraulic alternatives shine regarding environmental impact. By entirely doing away with hydraulic oil and relying on solid-state components, RISE™Cylinder eliminates environmentally destructive and wasteful mishaps.

Example of a Ball-Screw

Furthermore, by using the least amount of materials during production, RISE™Cylinder is the lightest linear actuation solution on the market today, and thanks to the fact that its revolutionary technology wastes the least amount of energy, it is also the most efficient machine on the market - both of these distinctions resulting in significant financial and environmental savings.

With this impressive list of product features in its technology, RISE™Robotics is electrifying the competitive landscape and redefining what linear actuators can do for heavy machinery. RISE™Technology is being proven capable of meeting or exceeding traditional hydraulic standards, and has garnered the attention of investors, engineering teams, and potential partners with its revolutionary fluid-free belt system, which can outperform, outlast, and outshine the competition.