Squid Labs was an American independent research and development company founded by a group of four

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

graduates. In 2004, Colin Bulthaup, Dan Goldwater, Saul Griffith, and Eric Wilhelm moved from the East Coast to California to found the company known as Squid Labs. During its years of existence from 2004 to 2007, Squid Labs added three more members to its team: Geo Homsy, Corwin Hardham and Ryan McKinley. Working out of a warehouse in Emeryville, the group adopted the slogan "We're not a think tank, we're a do tank." and created a handful of patents and inventions including an electronically sensed rope, portable pull-cord generators, and a machine that could manufacture eyeglasses of any prescriptions at extremely low cost. Squid Labs was also the birthplace for many companies still running today, such as

Makani Power Makani Technologies LLC was an Alameda, California-based company that developed airborne wind turbines. Founded in 2006, Makani was acquired by Google in May 2013. In February 2020, Makani was shut down by Alphabet, Google's parent company. Hi ...

and Howtoons. Although the company no longer exists, Squid Lab's co-founder, Saul Griffith created a similar company in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

named Otherlab.

Projects

Squid Labs had many breakthrough and award-winning projects that influenced their respective industries. These inventions include: * Electronically Sensed Rope - A high strength electronic cable that could read and display load data and rope condition. The rope is embedded with fibers that sense the rope's condition can send data to a receiver. This was one of Squid Lab's better known inventions and was featured in Time Magazine's most amazing inventions of 2005. * Low Cost Eyeglasses - Squid Labs designed a machine that could cheaply mold lenses of any prescription under 20 minutes. This won the Harvard Business School Business Plan Competition and was the start of the compan
Optioptia
*

Printed electronics Printed electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electrical devices on various substrates. Printing typically uses common printing equipment suitable for defining patterns on material, such as screen printing, flexography, gravur ...

- Squid Labs helped to start the field of printed electronics This is a low-end and low-cost way to create circuits and other electronics using common printing technology. * Programmed Assembly - Squid Labs researched and created autonomous self-assembling robots and was featured in

Nature (journal) ''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. ...

in 2005 for their development of small self-replicating systems. * Monkey Kites - Squid Labs is the researcher and developer for all o
Monkey Kites
high-performance

kite surfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

kites. *

Solar Power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

Systems - Squid Labs helped test and design rugged solar panels that could be installed in driveways and on the road. * Location and Guidance system technology'' '- Squid Labs developed custom electronic sensor technology for private and corporate clients. This technology has many uses including airborne systems and emergency responders.

Spin-off Companies

Products and designs started at Squid Labs evolved into companies that are run by former Squid Lab members and contributors. These companies include:
Howtoons
- Howtoons is a book that turned into a website of cartoon comics. These comics show kids how to build their own toys and conduct experiments from household items. The purpose of Howtoons is to inspire kids to be creative and explore their world. Saul Griffith is one of Howtoons inventors and primary contributors.
Instructables
- Instructables is website where members collaborate with each other and share

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

projects. The format is similar to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, but focused more on projects that "the average person could do." Eric Wilhelm of Squid Labs is now the CEO of Instructables.
Makani Power
- "Makani Power is a company that develops

airborne wind turbines An airborne wind turbine is a design concept for a wind turbine with a rotor supported in the air without a tower, thus benefiting from the higher velocity and persistence of wind at high altitudes, while avoiding the expense of tower construction ...

to harness high-altitude wind energy." Today, Makani Power is run by Squid Lab's Corwin Hardham.
WattzOn
- WattzOn is web and mobile solution designed to help partners engage in energy and water savings, featuring automated utility data connections and personalized savings plans.
MonkeyLectric
'-"MonkeyLectric was founded by Dan Goldwater in 2007 to develop and distribute innovative bicycle lighting products."
Optioptia
- Founded by Saul Griffith, "Optiopia is company that produces affordable eye care and researches ways to improve the way we detect and correct visual loss."
Potenco
-A company that designs and produces portable pull-cord generators (PCG) for third-world countries and natural disasters. "These generators have the ability to produce hours of lighting by simply pulling on a small cord for a few minutes." Potenco was co-founded by Saul Griffith.

Members

Colin Bulthuap - An electrical engineer with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from

. Colin is founder of Kovio Inc., a company that prints low-cost

integrated circuits An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

, and in 2001 was recognized as one of the top 100 innovators under the age of 35 by Technology Review Magazine. Colin has also won many other awards including the International Design Competition held in São Paulo, Brazil. Dan Goldwater- An engineer and architect in the industries of

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

, hardware, chip and networking. Dan graduated from Brown University with bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering. After Squid Labs, Dan went on to found and run MonkeyLectric, a company that designs and distributes new kinds of bike lighting products. Saul Griffith- With degrees in materials science and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

and PhD in Programmable Assembly and Self Replicating machines at MIT, Saul has been received Collegiate Inventor's award, the Lemelson-MIT Student prize,

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...

and many more. Saul is currently running his spin off of Squid Labs, Other lab, and Onya Cycles, his urban bicycle company developed through Other Labs. Corwin Hardham- A

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

and scientist, Corwin received his PhD from Stanford University for developing hydraulic platforms to improve gravitational wave detection. Corwin was acting as the CEO of the Squid Labs-born company Makani Power. Died, October 23, 2012. Geo Homsy- A computer scientist and software architect, Geo has a PhD in Electrical Engineering and

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

from MIT. Geo also specializes in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. He is currently working as senior hardware and Software engineer for the Atair Aerospace Engineering team. Ryan McKinley - A software Engineer graduated from San Diego state with bachelor's degrees in visual arts and computer science. Ryan earned his

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

from the MIT Media Lab. Eric Wilhelm - A graduate from MIT with Bachelor of Science degree,

, and PhD. in

. Eric Has received National Inventors Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventors Award and has been recognized as one of the top innovators under 35 years old by Technology Review. Eric is currently the CEO o
Instructables

References

{{Reflist, 2 Companies based in Emeryville, California Research and development in the United States