iRObot Corporation: Empowering Machines to Shape the Future

Robots have made a difference in our lives. As technology continues to evolve, robots also get to be more sophisticated. These machines have helped several industries make a difference in how we live our lives. iRobot Corporation is one of the companies that design and create various kinds of robots. The company is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts and was founded in 1990 by partners Helen Greiner, Colin Angle and Rodney Brooks. These entrepreneurs once worked in MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab.

iRobot is best known for Roomba (the home vacuum cleaner robot), Packbot (military and police) and Scooba (a robot that scrubs and cleans hard floors). They continue to innovate their offerings and provide the market with robots use for household operations, military and police, medical; research and dual-role robots. Since its inception, the company has deployed more than 5,000 military and defense robots and more than 8 million home robots.

The robots deployed for military and police use have proven to be of invaluable service to the armed forces. These machines have been deployed in Iraq and in Afghanistan together with the operations of the US military forces. Their PackBots have also ventured into dangerous terrains and areas to gather data that are used for various purposes. These have been sent to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster site and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Their medical robots are capable of plugging in diagnostic devices like ultrasound, stethoscope and otoscopes.

iRobot has recently released a new wave of robots that are capable of assisting in educational environments. These machines are used to record data and provide research services. Several other machines have been released that are capable of playing music, help in doing laundry and the dishes, provide assistance in military espionage and even perform simple medical procedures. The company continues to shape our future by empowering machines to perform some of our mundane tasks.

HollyFrontier: One of the Largest Independent Petroleum Refiners in US

Petroleum-based lubricants, waxes and gasoline are among the products that are offered by HollFrontier, one of the premier and one of the largest independent petroleum refiners in the United States.

There are three divisions that operate within the enterprise: Asphalt, Lubricants and Specialty Products and Holly Energy Partners. The latter provides logistical assets to various third parties. Their properties include tankage, terminals and pipelines. The Asphalt division provides modified asphalt products that are marketed in northern Mexico, New Mexico, Texas and in Arizona. Their lubricants and specialty products are handled by their Lubricants and Specialty Products unit. As of, the business operates 5 refineries: Woods Cross (Utah), El Dorado (Kansas), Cheyenne (Wyoming), Tulsa (Oklahoma) and Navajo (New Mexico).

The business is a component of the S&P 400 and the Russell 3000 Indices. It is also listed as part of the Fortune 500 companies. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, HollyFrontier is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hologic Corp: Pushing the Boundaries of Science

When it comes to women’s health, Hologic Corporation is one of the leading providers of medical equipment that would aid in the detection of life threatening diseases. Headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, it has a global presence with products marketed in all four corners of the world.

In the arena of breast cancer diagnosis, the company has helped millions of women around the world prevent and fight this disease. It provides medical practitioners the digital imaging technology that would help with mammography applications. They are also in the process of perfecting their tomosynthesis technology that would enhance the process of diagnosing breast cancer. Compared to conventional mammography, the usage of this technology will provide higher diagnostic accuracy. It also provides high-resolution limited-angle tomography.

In addition to the breakthrough Hologic is making in diagnosing breast cancer, its core business units also include gynecologic health, direct-to-digital x-ray for general radiography applications, osteoporosis assessment, breast biopsy and mammography. They also have the mini C-arm imaging that is of great value to Orthopedia. With the offerings of the company in the healthcare industry, patients and medical experts alike are able to narrow the gap between doubt and confidence and doctors are able to come up with better diagnosis and course of treatment to help improve the quality of life of their patients.

The products and services of Hologic, Inc. are marketed under the brand names NovaSure, Multicare, Directray, Securview, MyoSure, Selenia, Fluoroscan, Lorad and Discovery. Under these brand names, the company continues to innovate and make a difference in advancing greater certainty for both patients and their primary care physician. They ceaseless push the boundaries of science to make innovative equipment that would one day, address some of the pressing health care issues around the world.

For their great contribution to science and technology and medicine, Hologic was given the Sullivan 2004 Leadership of the Year Award. The company has earned this citation in the women’s healthcare category.

Swill Puts the Liquor Store at Your Fingertips

Built by drinkers for drinkers, Swill is a platform that connects consumers with local merchants to provide convenient, on-demand delivery of liquor. With Swill, you can say goodbye to last-minute beer runs, avoid queues, and even send gifts from your mobile device. Order your favorite wine, beer, spirits, or mixers and discover new brands without leaving your house. Check out reviews, recommendations, and tasting notes to help you in your selection. Swill has partnered with some of the best merchants in your local area to provide a variety of products, prices, and delivery in under 60 minutes.

Enter your location and Swill immediately gives you real-time inventory of wine, beer, and spirits in your neighborhood. If you already have something specific in mind, you can search for it instantly. Once you have placed your order, Swill will provide real-time notifications regarding its status. Delivery is cash-free and secure, making it easy to purchase alcohol for planned parties and impromptu events alike.

Moov: Work Out Harder and Smarter

Moov is a wearable device that acts as your personal fitness coach. Built to help you work out better and more effectively, Moov teaches and encourages you to achieve your goals. Put Moov on when you're running, swimming, biking, boxing, lifting, or whatever type of exercise you do. Moov talks to you in real time to help prevent injury, improve your technique, challenge you to be your best, and cheer you on when you're doing well.



Created by a team of engineers and designers who have worked at companies like Apple, Microsoft Research, Nokia, and Bungie, Moov is precise, interactive, and effective. Using nine-axis motion sensors commonly found in strategic missiles, Moov can detect your movements accurately. This hardware is paired with AI software that runs on your mobile or other computational device, enabling Moov to reconstruct your movements in 3D and provide analytics to improve your form and prevent injury. The loop between your movement (input) and the audio/visual feedback (output) gives you useful suggestions and insights to become better.

To keep you busy and challenged, Moov launches a new sport app every month. The goal is to make the Moov platform the ultimate destination for all your workouts, from burning calories with cardio boxing to training for a triathlon.

The most successful crowdfunded fitness wearable, Moov reached its crowdfunding goal in 90 minutes, sold out $1 million worth of product in 2 weeks, and went from crowdfunding to shipping in 5 months. Team Moov's mission is to bring wellness and happiness to everyone in the world through the seamless integration of technology and design.

An outlier among wearable fitness solutions, Moov has caught the attention of consumers and the press for its unique ability to bring the workout experience to a whole new level. Moov has been featured in Forbes, CNET, WIRED, TechCrunch, Fast Company, and many more.

Rise and Relax to Nature's Rhythm With Sunn

Human beings are extremely sensitive to light. Studies show that light has a huge impact on our health – proper lighting promotes a healthy sleep-wake cycle, enabling us to sleep better at night and feel more energized during the day. Light entering our eyes regulates the body's circadian “clock” system, as well as many of our waking and resting behaviors. The sun, our planet's greatest natural source of light, informs our internal clocks of the time of day, guiding our daily rhythms and activities.

But in today's world, many people are spending more time indoors. The Sunn Light is a high-quality, smart LED light fixture that syncs with the sun, changing color and brightness according to the time of day to promote healthy living and create vibrant spaces. Sunn lets you bring the sun into your home. In the morning, it gradually brightens like the rising sun to gently wake you up. In the afternoon, it produces cool white colors to encourage focus and productivity. As the day winds down, Sunn emits a warm glow to help you relax and prepare for sleep.

Always Know Where Your Pet Is With Pip

No one ever wants to lose their pet, but sadly, nearly 10 million companion animals go missing every year. In most cases, the pet never showed any prior signs of running off, but then something unexpected happened.

Shortly after Dave Waymouth adopted his dog, Pip, the terrier mix escaped through the fence to run after a squirrel. Panicked, Waymouth and his family searched everywhere and alerted the neighbors and animal control. In the end, Pip was found eating garbage from a dumpster at a nearby hotel. Several months later, Waymouth's in-laws' cat, Juniper, disappeared. After almost a week, she was discovered trapped under the porch with a dislocated knee. Unfortunately, Juniper's hind leg needed to be amputated. If she had been found sooner, the vet would have been able to save her leg.

The unpleasant reality is that not all missing pets like Pip and Juniper are found – many stories have worse endings. One of Waymouth's biggest fears is that Pip will escape again and run into traffic, so he built a pet monitoring device to give himself and other pet owners peace of mind.



Named after Waymouth's dog, Pip is a small GPS and activity tracker for dogs and cats that attaches to a pet's collar. Pip will notify you of your pet's exact location if he ever leaves a safe area. The app will then use the GPS in your phone and the GPS in Pip to guide you to him. Because Pip uses a cellular data connection to transmit the GPS location, you'll be able to locate your pet anywhere in the United States.

Pip is not the first GPS tracker with a cellular connection for pets. However, existing products are all bulky, have poor battery life, and come with expensive monthly fees. By contrast, Pip is comfortable even for small pets and will last up to three months on a single charge. Additionally, it keeps track of your pet's daily movements, allowing you to see how active she is each day and spot any changing trends in her behavior.

The 6thfinger Keeps Your Touchscreen Active While You Step Away

Mobile gamers, do you find it difficult to leave your smartphone or tablet for even just a couple of minutes because you don't want your screen to lock? A group of gaming enthusiasts from San Francisco also had this problem, so they decided to create something that would keep their games active when they needed to step away.

The 6thfinger is a portable device that mimics the human finger touching a capacitive touchscreen. Compatible with most mobile devices on the market, it is able to interact on its own as if your finger were tapping and turning the screen randomly. The 6thfinger does not require any batteries and can be used right out of the box. Now you can take breaks from hours of playing, while still maintaining your progress.

Made with high-grade aluminum and durable components, the 6thfinger can also be used with laptop touchpads and Windows 8 touchscreens.

Lesson.ly: Build Online Training Materials for Your Team in Minutes

Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Lesson.ly makes it easy for growing businesses to build, share, and track training materials. With Lesson.ly's easy-to-use online training software, you can create beautiful, branded lessons in mere minutes, without any programming. Combine text, images, audio, video, and documents to craft rich, engaging lessons and structure them as you please. You can also include multiple choice, true or false, and free response questions into your lessons to make sure your learners are understanding your content. Arranging sections and questions is a piece of cake with drag-and-drop sectioning. Then customize your lessons with your company's logo and a personalized URL. Don't worry if you're not a designer – Lesson.ly's authoring tool was built to be flexible enough to meet your specific needs, but structured enough to give all your lessons a professional and consistent look.


Once you're done making your lessons, you can assign them to a single user or an entire group with a few clicks. If you add due dates, Lesson.ly will send your learners email reminders seven days and one day before a lesson is due. If someone didn't complete their assignment on time, they will receive an overdue notice the day after the due date. Alternatively, you can simply share your lessons via unique, protected URLs.

Lesson.ly keeps track of your team's training and educational history, so you can see who has learned what, when, and how well. You can assess both your lessons and learners – view lists of completed, incomplete, and overdue assignments, as well as individualized reports for each user featuring recent progress, scores, lesson completions, and past-due assignments. And with Lesson.ly's Gradebook, you can see all of your learning data in one comprehensive view and export it to CSV.

Lesson.ly counts BambooHR, Stripe, Lyft, Angie's List, and ModCloth among its customers.