After a nerve-racking flying experience, aerospace engineer Hector (Haofeng) Xu was inspired to make helicopter flight safer. In 2021, he founded autonomous helicopter company Rotor Technologies, Inc. This company retrofits existing helicopters with sensors and software to automate dangerous flights and prevent pilot accidents. Xu was pursuing his PhD at MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and…
In 2019, Haofeng "Hector" Xu, a PhD student in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics with a solid grounding in aviation and aerospace engineering, decided to learn to fly helicopters. Witnessing first-hand the risks associated with piloting, he set out to make helicopter flight safer. In 2021, he founded Rotor Technologies Inc., an autonomous helicopter…
After enduring a few frightening experiences while learning to fly helicopters, aerospace engineering PhD student, Haofeng Xu, was motivated to improve helicopter flight safety. In 2021, Xu founded Rotor Technologies, targeting the dangers prevalent in small private aircraft flights which lead to fatal accidents every year across the U.S.
Rotor Technologies aims to retrofit existing…
Haofeng 'Hector' Xu's PhD studies in aviation and aerospace engineering at MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics led him to train as a helicopter pilot. After encountering several near-miss situations, Xu decided to make helicopter flights safer and founded Rotor Technologies, Inc. in 2021. The company is retrofitting existing helicopters with sensors and software to…
In the quest to make helicopter flights safer, helicopter enthusiast and researcher, Hector (Haofeng) Xu, launched Rotor Technologies, an autonomous helicopter company in 2021. The basis for the company's operations was informed by Xu's knowledge of the concerning mortality rates in small, private aircraft that are often used for fighting fires, crop dusting and medical…
After witnessing the potential dangers attached to helicopter flights, MIT PhD Hector (Haofeng) Xu founded Rotor Technologies, Inc. in 2021. The autonomous helicopter company aims to make helicopter flight safer by retrofitting existing helicopters with advanced sensors and software. This technology, in turn, removes the pilot from dangerous flights and widens the use of aviation.
Across…
The recent ransomware attack on ChangeHealthcare underscores the disruptive nature of supply chain attacks. Such attacks are becoming increasingly prominent and often target large corporations through the small and medium-sized vendors in their corporate supply chains. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam, Germany, are investigating different organizational…
Atacama Biomaterials is a startup led by co-founder Paloma Gonzalez-Rojas, which combines machine learning, architecture, and chemical engineering to create eco-friendly materials. The company aims to contribute to sustainability by creating innovative materials for various industries such as biofuels, biological drugs, and mining. The company was started in 2020 and has gone through several entrepreneurship…
The MIT-Pillar AI Collective, a partnership between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) School of Engineering and Pillar VC, has named six fellows for the spring 2024 semester. Each fellow is a graduate student in their final year of a master's or PhD program who will conduct research in the fields of AI, machine learning,…
In 2019, after years of studying aviation and aerospace engineering, Hector (Haofeng) Xu decided to learn how to fly helicopters. While pursuing his PhD in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Xu experienced the inherent risks of flying small aircrafts firsthand and was inspired to make helicopter flights safer. In 2021, he established his company…