7th SD Hardware Meetup @ Aquillius | Hardware for Life Sciences
We're back for another Hardware Meetup!
This month we're meeting at Aquillius co-working space! Aquillius is a San Diego–based incubator supporting biotech and medtech startups with state-of-the-art labs, coworking space, and venture resources. They help innovators accelerate from concept to commercialization with hands-on support and infrastructure. Check them out here.
Our guest speakers
Dr. Aadeel Akhtar, CEO of PSYONIC, founded the company to create advanced, accessible bionic limbs after meeting a young girl missing a limb in Pakistan. PSYONIC's bionic Ability Hand is the fastest on the market, impact-resistant, and the first to provide a sense of touch. It is also covered by Medicare and is being used by humans and robotics companies globally, including NASA, Meta, Mercedes, and Google. Dr. Akhtar earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and an M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, along with a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Computer Science from Loyola University Chicago. He’s been recognized by MIT Technology Review and Newsweek and secured a 3-shark deal on Shark Tank.
Brian Hachtmann is a full stack principal engineer helping startups bootstrap technology and platforms in uncharted territories. With 23 Patents Granted and 22 Pending, Brian has worked with teams from manufacturing equipment engineering with Tesla in its infancy (Tesla Roadster through Model S battery lines), leading the Ground Station engineering team at Makani Google [X] attempting to revolutionize wind energy and dramatically reducing cost of wind power, leading the hardware development team as CTO Hardware Principal at Prellis Biologics developing micron scale optical printing of vascularized tissue scaffolds for tissue engineers, to building Alien Engineering his consulting firm working with CEOs Founders and Principal Engineers guiding their efforts or adding horsepower to their team. Brian’s lifelong love for engineering design, machine design, embedded systems engineering, automation, systems engineering, and engineering leadership holds strong today, where as a consultant he supports small growing teams while hunting for greater business opportunities. When not designing and building, Brian enjoys traveling and the outdoors - paragliding, mountain biking, and surfing with friends and family all over the world.
Nick Sondej is a hands-on mechanical engineer with a background in precision machine design and technical product development, and a professional interest in building tools and systems that accelerate hardware dev. He also knows enough software to get himself into (and occasionally out of) trouble. Previously he helped build carbon fiber/metal 3D printing company Markforged (formerly NYSE: MKFG) in Boston before moving to San Diego a few years back. He now runs Matti Group, a small technical consulting firm working with hard tech/deep tech startups and has too much energy cooks/bikes/runs/skis/roller skates in his free time.
Hardware Meetups happen across over 45 cities around the world every month, helping bring together founders, engineers, and other hardware professionals to networks, share insights, and collaborate with each other.
Agenda
6:00-6:30 - Arrival, mingle, grab refreshments
630-7:30 - Welcome and Introductions
7:30-8:00 - Community Open Mic
8:30-9:30 - Mix, mingle, and close out the night
And thank you to our partners
informal is a freelance collective for the most talented independent professionals in hardware and hardtech.
If you want to help support the next meetup, please reach out to [email protected] & [email protected] for sponsorship/logistics inquiries.
See you soon!