Q1 2016: Wearable Superpowers: SpiderSense & Thalmic Labs Myo

Event focus: Wearable Assistive Technology featuring SpiderSense, a tactile suit that allows you to feel the environment around you on your own skin and Thalmic Labs gesture control armband

Wearable technology is giving people superpowers, making us better at everything we do in work, life and play. In wearing our tech, we are able to augment the entirety of the human experience from how we walk, how we see and how we perceive the world around us. This is especially key for people with disabilities who are already using wearable technology as assistive devices which are changing the way they live their lives.

This event is dedicated to exploring wearables as an assistive technology. This event features Chicago-based SpiderSense (http://spider-sense.com/), a tactile suit that allows you to feel the environment around you on your own skin which was just recently featured on All-American Makers.

JUST ADDED Thalmic Labs' Myo (https://www.myo.com/) is a gesture control armband which allows you to interact with the connected world. The Myo recently made waves in the press (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSuzMxQDmzg) as being core technology to control a robotic prosthetic arm and has been demonstrated to translate sign language. Marketing Director, Sameera Banduk, will be joining our agenda in a Q&A on Myo's assistive capabilities via Skype from Waterloo, Canada.

Join us for a night of discussion, networking, pizza and beer!

Spread the word! #WWCHI

**Call for Sponsors, Exhibitors and Volunteers for this event! If you are interested please contact us at chicago@wearewearables.com**

Agenda

6:00-6:30: Registration & Demo Area Opens (pizza and beer served)

6:30-6:45: Superpowers to the People: How wearables are making us super human a presentation by Tom Emrich, Founder of We Are Wearables

6:45-7:00: Q&A with Thalmic Labs makers of the gesture control armband Myo

7:00-7:20: Presenting SpiderSense by Victor Mateevitsi including live demo

7:10-7:30: Member announcements

7:30-9:00: Networking + Bar & Food

A big thanks to our sponsors Uproar PR and to our community partner 1871 for hosting us again this month.

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About the Tech

SpiderSense (http://spider-sense.com/)is a tactile suit that allows you to feel the environment around you on your own skin. We believe that technology should improve our quality of life. Let’s save the lives of our soldiers, firefighters and policemen. Let the blind see.

Thalmic Labs (https://www.thalmic.com/about): Led by mechatronics engineers Stephen Lake, Matthew Bailey, and Aaron Grant, we're a world-class team of engineers, researchers and designers building the future of human-computer interaction.We're closing the gap between humans and technology by solving a fundamental question: How do we connect the real and the digital worlds as we move towards wearable and ubiquitous computing?We have big plans, and world-class investors backing them. Thalmic Labs is funded by Spark Capital, Intel Capital, Formation 8, First Round Capital and FundersClub, along with this list of individual investors:

About the Speakers

Victor Mateevitsi is a researcher, a maker and an inventor with interests in haptics, wearables, and computer graphics. After co-inventing SpiderSense in 2013, he continued the research and development aiming to make SpiderSense smaller and more portable. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and has been named one of the “20 in their 20’s” by Crain’s business magazine and one of the “Fifty For The Future®” by the Illinois Technology Foundation.

Sameera Banduk is an e-commerce marketing professional with a passion for the tech industry. After spending nearly four years contributing to the growth of Well.ca, she moved back to her hometown of Waterloo to join one one of the hottest tech companies in the region, Thalmic Labs. As the Marketing Director, Sameera focuses on increasing awareness for Thalmic Labs and Myo armband. She believes that the company is going to revolutionize the way we interact with technology.

Tom Emrich is the founder of We Are Wearables, the largest wearable tech community of its kind with a reach of over 90,000 and chapters in Toronto, Chicago and Ottawa.

About Our Sponsors

1871 is an entrepreneurial hub for digital startups. Located in The Merchandise Mart, the 75,000-square-foot facility provides Chicago startups with programming, access to mentors, educational resources, potential investors and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that help them on their path to building successful businesses. Recently ranked 9th in the world in the 2014 UBI Index list of top university-associated business incubators, 1871 has become a global leader in the entrepreneurial community. 1871 is the flagship project of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. For more information, visit 1871.com (http://1871.com/).

Uproar PR is an innovative consumer technology public relations and social media agency. Along with their other technology practices, the firm has successfully built brand recognition for its wearable tech clients. Within the Toronto and Waterloo communities, Uproar works with Thalmic Labs, Bionym Kiwi Wearables and PUSH. With Uproar's media relations experience, those companies have been featured in media outlets including The Today Show, Business Insider, New York Times and CNBC, just to name a few. The firm specializes in developing campaigns that drive awareness and sales, creating industry buzz. For more information, visit www.uproarpr.com (http://www.uproarpr.com/)

Want to help out at the event, speak or present or sponsor? Contact the Chicago team at chicago@wearewearables.com .

PARKING

Driving to 1871?Reserve discounted parking steps from the Merchandise Mart with SpotHero.Download the SpotHero iPhone|Android App or visit the SpotHero Website to book your spot in advance!

Use code 1871 for an extra $5 off!

There is also discounted parking at the 210 N. Wells Self-Park Garage for 1871 tenants and guests!
$8.00 – Monday – Friday: enter between 3:00pm – 11:59pm, out by 8:00am

Saturday – Sunday: for up to 12 hours of parking
$14.00 – For up to 12 hours of parking anytime
Entering the garage:

For directions to the garage, please visit http://www.210nwells.com/directions. Entrances are located on Wells Street and Post Place (between Franklin Street and Wells Street).Enter 210 N. Wells Self-Park and pull a “timed” ticket to lift the gate and park your vehicle.Take your parking ticket with you for validation at 1871 Reception.

Exiting the garage:
Stop by 1871 Reception to validate your parking ticket.At the garage, insert your parking ticket into one of the pay stations in the ground floor lobby. You may pay your parking fee with any major credit card or cash.The pay station will return your paid ticket to you, which you may then insert at the exit gate.