Avendly

Inspiration

My partner Ed and I were making an AI powered Grab and Go system for retail 2.0 when COVID-19 hit. Ed was sheltering with his father to help him out and realized there was a need, as COVID starts to spread, to sterilize surfaces for fomites. We decided to pivot and use our startup's manufacturing contacts to make smart UV sterilization enclosures that could be mass market. We're looking to design something during the hackathon that will ship flat pack and be assembled like Ikea furniture.

What it does

Sterilizes packages and tools with Ultraviolet light. We want to empower people with a tool to sterilize what comes into their houses, so they don't need to treat with consumables like alcohol. We want to eliminate the fear of fomite transfer of disease from things like groceries or other purchases.

How I built it

We are adapting our designs for our grab and go system to build this sterilization unit over the course of the hackathon. We made this decision yesterday, so we have built nothing for the hackathon yet.

Challenges I ran into

Supply chain right now is brutal. We are sourcing everything in the USA for the US market currently due to shipping issues from China. That said we may not receive all the parts we need by the end of the hackathon. We are working to find some overnight suppliers of the UV sterilization bulbs.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm a Roboticist at Brown University and a TED Senior Fellow. Ed has 20 years experience manufacturing retail displays and enclosures. Cat studied epidemiology at Harvard School for Public Health and is a professional photographer. Shawn is the technical coordinator for the Brown Arts Initiative.

What I learned

Over the course of the hackathon we hope to learn more about sterilization times with UV.

What's next for Avendly

We're going to run and indiegogo campaign to do our first production run and will be looking for investors to fund the development of the product for industrial supply chain use.