Winning–for the Environment

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

Over Coffee® is on holiday hiatus. Please enjoy this reposting of one of our top episodes of 2020, as we count down to CES® 2021! CES® will look vastly different, this year. The pandemic has forced the show to go all-virtual. But we predict that the show will maintain its mix of pure innovation, creativity and excitement. Exactly as we observed when we met Pleasant Robotics Founder/CEO Gabriella Pleasant. At the time of our conversation, in Las Vegas in January, 2020, Gabriella, or Gabi, as she prefers to be called, had just won Techstars' “Pitch Competition Student Startup Showdown”, hosted in the Eureka Park™ startup area. Her winning creation: a biodegradable robot named P.E.T.E.R., designed from sustainable materials. P.E.T.E.R.'s mission: to purify water: ocean and otherwise. She does this by "eating" microplastics that pollute the water! According to Gabi's blog, P.E.T.E.R. has had some modifications in the year (has it really been, already?!?) since we spoke. Gabriella writes that she is working with a team on a concept model, and a demo is next! And P.E.T.E.R., while she's Gabi's first robotic creation, may just be the beginning. Gabi writes, "I just want to build robots!" Here's Gabi's story about developing the P.E.T.E.R. robot. We'll look forward to seeing the next steps in her creative journey. On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover: What first inspired Gabi to become a roboticist; The steps involved, in the two-year process of creating P.E.T.E.R; How the robot works; How the design changed, from original idea to now; Gabi’s “dream technology” she’d like to add to future editions of P.E.T.E.R.; And, since the robot is a “she”, the reason behind the name!