Sensol Systems, a startup founded in 2020 by Janie Bube–a recent UW Masters of Landscape Architecture graduate–along with other students at University of Washington, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) award to participate in the I-Corps program. This NSF program uses experiential education to help researchers gain valuable insight into entrepreneurship, starting a business or industry requirements and challenges. The curriculum integrates scientific inquiry and industrial discovery in an inclusive, data-driven culture driven by rigor, relevance, and evidence. Through I-Corps training, researchers can reduce the time to translate a promising idea from the laboratory to the marketplace.
Bube and the Sensol team are creating a crosswalk that illuminates from below as a pedestrian walks across it, with lighted panels in the streets that keep in step with the person who is crossing. The technology also has the capacity to track data and discern if pedestrians, cars, bikes, joggers, strollers or wheelchairs are crossing the system, and down the road the plan is to have the system communicate with autonomous vehicles or an app on a pedestrian’s smartphone. Solar power is also being considered.
The I-Corps grant is led by Bube and Landscape Architecture chair and Urban@UW interim Faculty Director Ken Yocom, in alignment with the initiative’s Smart Cities and Urban Environmental Justice themes.
Learn more about Sensol Systems in this Geekwire story here.