The finalists for this year’s hardware and gadget category at the GeekWire Awards run the span of aviation to anchovies.
From Aerovel’s vertical drones and Echodyne’s short-range radar to the aviation motors lifting magniX and Deako’s ability to shed light on homeowner solutions, the Pacific Northwest is also loaded with companies building hardware, not just software. And all of it comes with a pizza, if Picnic has its way.
Last year’s winner, Ventec, made the perfect tool at the darkest time. The Bothell, Wash.-based company’s portable ventilator was top-of-the-list for hospitals enduring a surge of COVID-19 cases across the country last spring. Ventec delivered 30,000 ventilators by the end of August.
Community voting is now underway across 13 GeekWire Awards categories in our 13th annual celebration of Pacific Northwest tech. Community voting, which closes on April 30, will be factored in with feedback from more than 20 judges. On May 20 we will announce the winners live at the virtual GeekWire Awards, presented by Wave Business.
Submit your votes below, grab your tickets, and keep scrolling for descriptions of each finalist for Startup of the Year, presented by Alltech.
Create your own user feedback surveyAerovel
Aerovel is developing a new drone it calls the Flexrotor, which is designed to take off and land vertically, like a helicopter, then transition into horizontal flight using wings for lift, like an airplane. Aerovel says the Flexrotor can stay aloft for up to 32 hours — a record for drones in its class — providing overhead surveillance for military, law enforcement or other civilian uses. Aerovel was started in 2006 by Tad McGeer and Andy von Flotow, who were the founders of Insitu, an unmanned aerial system developer. Aerovel’s plant is about 500 meters from Boeing’s Insitu plant in the Columbia River Gorge town of Bingen, Wash.
Deako
Seattle-based Deako’s “plug and play” light switches allow homebuilders and homeowners to easily swap in high-tech, remotely controlled lighting. Its technology works off a home’s existing wiring and lets homebuilders market their projects as smart homes, without a lot of upfront cost. “Our core value proposition is we make it super simple for homeowners to personalize their home lighting in really cool and powerful ways,” said COO Wes Nicol.
Echodyne
Kirkland, Wash.-based Echodyne makes use of exotic metamaterials to build high-performance radar technology for government and commercial markets. The Bill Gates-backed company teamed with NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California for tests of an AiRanger drone earlier this year. The drone flew by itself over 14.5 miles of pipeline, simulating the type of inspection mission that commercial drones are expected to perform in the not-too-distant future. Echodyne’s ability to build fully functioning radars that are about the size and weight of a typical tablet computer opens up new applications for drones, such as self-guiding air taxis and cargo-haulers.
MagniX
The company, based in Redmond, Wash., recently announced deals with Sydney Seaplanes in Australia to retrofit a nine-passenger Cessna 208 Caravans with battery-powered electric motors, and has joined an effort to retrofit a 40-passenger de Havilland Dash 8 Q-300 with two electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells. In addition, the company continues work to certify its first battery-powered aircraft — which first flew 12 months ago — so that it can begin carrying paying passengers.
Picnic
Seattle’s Picnic is among a bevy of startups and larger industry giants trying to find ways to automate restaurant kitchens amid slim margins and labor shortages. The company has seen increased demand for its pizza-making robot during the pandemic from customers looking for ways to prepare food with less contact. The vision system reads the size and shape of dough, which then moves on a conveyor belt as sauce, cheese, fresh-sliced pepperoni and other topping choices are automatically dropped.
A big thanks to our longtime awards presenting partner, Wave Business, for supporting this fun community event. Also, thanks to gold and category sponsors: Blink UX, WSGR, JLL, EY, Premera, Dreambox Learning, BECU, WestRiver Group, ALLtech and First Tech Federal Credit Union. And to our silver sponsors BCRA and Kingston Marketing Group. If interested in sponsoring a category or another component of the GeekWire Awards, please contact us at advertising@geekwire.com.
