Squid Labs was an American independent
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
company founded by a group of four
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
graduates. In 2004,
Colin Bulthaup Colin may refer to:
* Colin (given name)
* Colin (surname)
* ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie
* Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse
* Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...
, Dan Goldwater,
Saul Griffith, and Eric Wilhelm moved from the East Coast to California to found the company known as Squid Labs.
During its years of existence from 2004 to 2007, Squid Labs added three more members to its team: Geo Homsy, Corwin Hardham and Ryan McKinley. Working out of a warehouse in
Emeryville, the group adopted the slogan "We're not a think tank, we're a do tank." and created a handful of patents and inventions including an electronically sensed rope, portable pull-cord generators, and a machine that could manufacture eyeglasses of any prescriptions at extremely low cost. Squid Labs was also the birthplace for many companies still running today, such as
Makani Power
Makani Technologies LLC was an Alameda, California-based company that developed airborne wind turbines. Founded in 2006, Makani was acquired by Google in May 2013. In February 2020, Makani was shut down by Alphabet, Google's parent company.
Hi ...
and Howtoons. Although the company no longer exists, Squid Lab's co-founder,
Saul Griffith created a similar company in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
named
Otherlab.
Projects
Squid Labs had many breakthrough and award-winning projects that influenced their respective industries. These inventions include:
* Electronically Sensed Rope - A high strength electronic cable that could read and display load data and rope condition. The rope is embedded with fibers that sense the rope's condition can send data to a receiver. This was one of Squid Lab's better known inventions and was featured in Time Magazine's most amazing inventions of 2005.
* Low Cost Eyeglasses - Squid Labs designed a machine that could cheaply mold lenses of any prescription under 20 minutes. This won the Harvard Business School Business Plan Competition and was the start of the compan
Optioptia
*
Printed electronics
Printed electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electrical devices on various substrates. Printing typically uses common printing equipment suitable for defining patterns on material, such as screen printing, flexography, gravu ...
- Squid Labs helped to start the field of printed electronics
This is a low-end and low-cost way to create circuits and other electronics using common printing technology.
* Programmed Assembly - Squid Labs researched and created autonomous self-assembling robots and was featured in
Nature (journal)
''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. ...
in 2005 for their development of small self-replicating systems.
* Monkey Kites - Squid Labs is the researcher and developer for all o
Monkey Kiteshigh-performance
kite surfing
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, an ...
kites.
*
Solar Power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...
Systems - Squid Labs helped test and design rugged solar panels that could be installed in driveways and on the road.
* Location and
Guidance system
A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes ...
technology'' '- Squid Labs developed custom electronic sensor technology for private and corporate clients. This technology has many uses including airborne systems and emergency responders.
Spin-off Companies
Products and designs started at Squid Labs evolved into companies that are run by former Squid Lab members and contributors. These companies include:
Howtoons- Howtoons is a book that turned into a website of cartoon comics. These comics show kids how to build their own toys and conduct experiments from household items. The purpose of Howtoons is to inspire kids to be creative and explore their world.
Saul Griffith is one of Howtoons inventors and primary contributors.
Instructables- Instructables is website where members collaborate with each other and share
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
projects. The format is similar to
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
, but focused more on projects that "the average person could do." Eric Wilhelm of Squid Labs is now the CEO of Instructables.
Makani Power- "Makani Power is a company that develops
airborne wind turbines to harness high-altitude wind energy." Today, Makani Power is run by Squid Lab's Corwin Hardham.
WattzOn- WattzOn is web and mobile solution designed to help partners engage in energy and water savings, featuring automated utility data connections and personalized savings plans.
MonkeyLectric'-"MonkeyLectric was founded by Dan Goldwater in 2007 to develop and distribute innovative bicycle lighting products."
Optioptia- Founded by
Saul Griffith, "Optiopia is company that produces affordable eye care and researches ways to improve the way we detect and correct visual loss."
Potenco-A company that designs and produces portable pull-cord generators (PCG) for third-world countries and natural disasters. "These generators have the ability to produce hours of lighting by simply pulling on a small cord for a few minutes." Potenco was co-founded by
Saul Griffith.
Members
Colin Bulthuap - An
electrical engineer
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the ...
with a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. from
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. Colin is founder of Kovio Inc., a company that prints low-cost
integrated circuits
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Transistor count, Large ...
, and in 2001 was recognized as one of the top 100 innovators under the age of 35 by Technology Review Magazine. Colin has also won many other awards including the International Design Competition held in São Paulo, Brazil.
Dan Goldwater- An engineer and architect in the industries of
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
,
hardware
Hardware may refer to:
Technology Computing and electronics
* Electronic hardware, interconnected electronic components which perform analog or logic operations
** Digital electronics, electronics that operate on digital signals
*** Computer hard ...
, chip and
networking
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
. Dan graduated from
Brown University with bachelor's and master's degrees in
electrical engineering. After Squid Labs, Dan went on to found and run MonkeyLectric, a company that designs and distributes new kinds of bike lighting products.
Saul Griffith- With degrees in
materials science and
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...
and
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper
''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...
in Programmable Assembly and Self Replicating machines at MIT, Saul has been received Collegiate Inventor's award, the Lemelson-MIT Student prize,
National Inventors Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...
and many more. Saul is currently running his spin off of Squid Labs, Other lab, and Onya Cycles, his urban bicycle company developed through Other Labs.
Corwin Hardham- A
mechanical engineer
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...
and scientist, Corwin received his PhD from
Stanford University for developing hydraulic platforms to improve gravitational wave detection. Corwin was acting as the CEO of the Squid Labs-born company Makani Power.
Died, October 23, 2012.
Geo Homsy- A
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus ( ...
and
software architect, Geo has a PhD in
Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...
from MIT. Geo also specializes in
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...
,
robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist human ...
and
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...
. He is currently working as senior hardware and Software engineer for the Atair Aerospace Engineering team.
Ryan McKinley - A software Engineer graduated from San Diego state with bachelor's degrees in visual arts and computer science. Ryan earned his
Master of Science
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...
from the MIT Media Lab.
Eric Wilhelm - A graduate from MIT with Bachelor of Science degree,
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. , and
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper
''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...
. in
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...
. Eric Has received National Inventors Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventors Award and has been recognized as one of the top innovators under 35 years old by Technology Review. Eric is currently the CEO o
Instructables
References
{{Reflist, 2
Companies based in Emeryville, California
Research and development in the United States