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Innovation

Warehouse inventory errors can be costly and ruin client relationships. Student startup HaptE is using AI to improve warehouse efficiency.

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An illustration of a warehouse floor displays shelving, two forklifts, a truck being loaded, shipments in brown boxes and an administrative office behind a glass window. Inset circles show HaptE tools in use on the floor.
Angel Mendoza ’26 and Matt Martinez ’26 developed OnSight, a sensor analytics platform to improve gym management and organization. The data helps gym managers know when to schedule maintenance, avoid equipment breakdowns and optimize machine placement.

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Two men stand in a gym.
Procurement management is essential for small businesses — but it’s also tedious and time-consuming work. Now there’s a virtual employee to help with that.

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Two men and a woman stand in an industrial space looking at the camera and smiling.
Created by Northwestern engineering professor Nick Marchuk ’10 MS and David Meyer ’12 MS, ’15 PhD, nLab is a credit card–sized device that turns your laptop into an electronics lab and gives students a chance to practice hands-on circuit-building.

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An illustration of a woman sitting in front of a laptop and various electronic components. A large electronic dashboard sits on a table in the background.
Gannon Schram, an economics major at Northwestern, and his friend Shrikar Lekkala co-founded MetaFrazo, a video-dubbing service that uses artificial intelligence to translate educational videos with both voice and lip synchronization.

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Gannon Shram poses with his arms folded in The Garage on Northwestern’s campus
Roughly 2,400 children in the United States are injured by electric shocks from wall outlets each year, and tripping over electrical cords is another hazard, especially for older adults. To help eliminate these risks, Chirag Goel ’21 and his team at Tego created a magnetic wall outlet that can help prevent injuries and hazards while improving wall outlet accessibility.

Explore the outlet’s features

The illustration shows a close-up of the Tego wall adapter components and how the adapter works. Additional elements in the illustration show a young child looking at a wall outlet. A vacuum cleaner is plugged into the outlet via a Tego outlet adapter. A man is running the vacuum. On the other side of a wall, a woman in a wheelchair is using a Tego adapter to plug in and turn on a light. She is holding a book.
Manufacturing and design engineering majors Gass Iyacu ’24 and Emma Jackson ’24 teamed up with classmates Pratham Bansal ’24, Alicia Cabrera ’24 and Kevin Kaspar ’24 to invent an expandable bike helmet that accommodates thick, curly and voluminous hair while prioritizing safety and ventilation.

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An illustration depicts a pair of hands holding a purple bike helmet, with two arrows pointing right and left to indicate the helmet expansion mechanism. The illustration also shows a series of images: a woman holding an orange compression accessory, securing it on her head to compress her hair, then fastening the purple helmet over her head and riding a bicycle.
The Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has launched a new course, Innovate for Climate, which encourages students to engage in climate-conscious problem-solving and business ventures.

Read about the course

Ben Szczygiel holds a large yellow buoy fitted with solar panels on its side while Sydney Williams observes. There is a waterway in the background, with a truck and boat parked nearby. Szczygiel is wearing a red long sleeve shirt, blue baseball cap and sunglasses, and Williams is wearing a lavender sweatshirt.
Suyash Mohan is co-founder of Breer, a Hong Kong–based startup that upcycles unsold bread from local bakeries into craft beer.

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Gif of an illustration of a beer bottle with little bread slice dominoes falling inside the bottle.
Ruchi Gupta is co-founder of Yobee, a startup that makes an all-natural, topical scalp treatment clinically proven to revitalize the skin’s microbiome and reduce flakiness, itching and redness. In spring 2023 Gupta was one of three women chosen to be part of the inaugural class of FoundHer Fellows, a program supporting women faculty at Northwestern who are first-time founders of entrepreneurial ventures.

Watch our video with Gupta

Portrait of Dr. Ruchi Gupta