4th Philly Hardware Meetup @ NextFab

The Hardware Meetup community is excited to announce the next Philly Hardware Meetup on September 21st. Hardware Meetups happen across 20+ cities monthly and help bring together different professionals to connect and meet each other.

Come join us to hear from our guest speakers as well as share what’s on your desk. We always have time for an open mic. We’ll be hosted by NextFab, a membership-based makerspace at the heart of Philly's hardware community.

We have a great group of guest speakers

• Nathan Bivans is CTO at FORT Robotics. FORT’s first-of-its-kind Robotics Control Platform gives robot builders and users safe, secure, and dynamic control over their machines. As autonomous systems become more common on today’s worksites, FORT’s hardware and software solutions help companies maximize human-machine collaboration while reducing risk – ensuring that people, assets, and data are protected and productive. Founded in Philadelphia in 2018, FORT serves hundreds of customers including industry leaders in warehousing, agriculture, construction, and many other verticals. More information at fortrobotics.com. As the CTO of FORT Robotics, Nathan Bivans oversees the development of safety, security, and control technology for intelligent machines. He was previously the CTO of Humanistic Robotics, Inc., where he developed and patented a wireless safety protocol designed for dangerous applications in landmine clearance. Nathan holds both a B.S. and M.E. with concentrations in signal processing and computer systems from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a Certified Machine Safety Expert, CMSE®.
• Brad Flaugher is an entrepreneur who has worked for companies large and small, started and sold his own companies, and built apps over the years. He is a published computational neuroscientist and has been thinking about machine learning and neural networks for longer than he cares to admit. He also runs bootcamps on programming and data science and recently released his first book, AI Harmony: Blending Human Expertise and AI For Business.
• Ellyn Ito is CEO and Co-Founder of Innerstill, a neurotech company launching platform, non-invasive bioelectric technologies that catalyze the body’s ability to heal from within. Ms. Ito joined founders Hank Beckhoff and Dr. Yakov Katsnelson after seeing the profound effect that their technologies had on alleviating the stress and anxiety that her teenage children suffered during lockdown. Together, they launched Innerstill in May 2021. Prior to this, Ellyn served as an investor and executive at Helius Medical Technologies, a neurotech medical device start-up that brought a non-surgical, trigeminal nerve stimulator to market in Canada and the US. Ellyn currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Redeemer Health Systems, is an executive board member for Gail Birenbaum Women's Leadership Council at Rider University, and is the Founder and Executive Director of Seeds to Sew International, a non-profit organization focused on improving the lives of women and girls in compromised communities. Ms. Ito holds a BA from the University of Colorado, Boulder and is a frequent guest speaker at their Leeds School of Business.

Agenda

• 5:00-5:30pm: Arrive, mingle, grab some food and a beverage
• 5:30-5:45pm: Opening remarks
• 5:45-7:00pm: Guest Speakers + Q&A with the audience
• 7:00-7:30pm: Open Mic.
  Anyone in attendance can give a demo or short presentation on their hardware product, startup, or project.
• 7:30-8:00pm: Mix, mingle, and close out the night.

Thank you to our partners

NextFab provides the resources to help innovators build and scale hardware-based startup companies. Through their makerspaces, product development services, and ventures group, NextFab supports hardware entrepreneurs from ideation through commercialization.

informal is a freelance collective for the most talented independent professionals in hardware and hardtech. Whether you're looking for a single contractor, a full-time employee, or an entire team of professionals to work on everything from product development to go-to-market strategy, the informal collective has the perfect collection of people for the job. With expertise in diverse projects ranging from consumer electronics to automotive, green tech, and medical devices, informal members work with clients at every stage to design, manufacture, and ship top-quality physical products, built to succeed.

If you want to help support the next meetup, please reach out to [nate@informal.cc](mailto:nate@informal.cc) for sponsorship inquiries.