haptics
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Haptic
Haptic (formerly WearWorks) is a New York-based company building navigation and communication that runs entirely on the sense of touch - no screen, no audio. Its patented HapticNav system creates a 'virtual corridor' of vibrations that keeps a person on course, first proven when a blind runner completed the NYC Marathon without sighted assistance. The company packages this into the Wayband wearable, a HapticNav app, and an SDK so developers can add tactile guidance to maps, rideshare, healthcare, and defense applications.
Brian Miller
Brian Miller is the CEO of Sovato, the Santa Barbara company building the first platform to let health systems deploy and scale remote robotic surgery. An electrical engineer turned roboticist with a PhD from Northwestern in haptics, he spent his first job at Computer Motion writing software for the AESOP and ZEUS robots and watched the 2001 Operation Lindbergh, the first transatlantic remote surgery. Twenty-three years at Intuitive Surgical followed, where he rose from control-systems analyst to Chief Digital Officer and Head of Digital and AI Strategy. In April 2026 he returned to the frontier he started on, taking Sovato from early market development toward its first patient programs in 2027.
Kevin Yoo
Kevin Yoo is the CEO and co-founder of Haptic (formerly WearWorks), a New York-based technology company building tactile-feedback navigation tools. With co-founders Keith Kirkland and Yangyang Wang, he created the Wayband - a wristband that guides users through pure vibration. In 2017, the device helped ultramarathoner Simon Wheatcroft become the first blind runner to attempt the NYC Marathon without sighted assistance. Yoo is an industrial designer by training, a Pratt Institute alum, and a Council of Korean Americans member.
Clinton Smith
Clinton Smith is Co-Founder and CEO of RIOS Intelligent Machines, a Menlo Park-based robotics and AI company deploying dexterous robots in factories across industries like wood products, food, and beverage distribution. A Princeton-trained electrical engineer with a Ph.D. on laser spectrometers for wireless trace-gas sensing, he spent years at Xerox PARC and Physical Sciences Inc. before co-founding RIOS in 2018 with fellow PARC engineers. Under his leadership, RIOS has raised $37.5M total including a $13M Series B in March 2024 co-led by Yamaha Motor Corp. and IAG Capital Partners, pioneering a Robots-as-a-Service model that shifts CapEx burden away from manufacturers and promises outcomes from day one.