At Mountain View’s tenth annual Expertise Showcase this week, the plaza exterior Metropolis Corridor bustled with stay displays and interactive shows from native firms and analysis establishments on the chopping fringe of robotics, synthetic intelligence, sustainable know-how and extra.
The free event hosted by town and the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce kicked off on Wednesday with a night panel dialogue, adopted by interactive displays and one other panel on Thursday. Starting at 11 a.m. on Thursday, attendees may browse almost 30 cubicles and chat with representatives from throughout the tech trade.
“We get a very diversified attendance,” stated Peter Katz, the President and CEO of the Chamber. “It could be an area highschool child who simply desires to be taught extra. It may very well be somebody who used to work in aerospace who desires to see what’s new and thrilling. Or, it may very well be a small firm that claims, ‘I wish to join with one other firm.’ All of these issues occur right here.”
There have been plenty of autonomous automobile firms current, with displays from the robotaxi firm Waymo and the driverless truck startup Kodiak Robotics, amongst others. Showcasing a special aspect of autonomy have been supply robots like Polar Labs and Matternet, the latter of whom performed a stage presentation.
At midday, a Matternet M2 drone flew throughout Mountain View, carrying a field of sweets. As soon as it arrived at Metropolis Corridor, the drone hovered within the air, utilizing a tether to decrease the field to the bottom. Simply as quickly as they’d arrived, the sweets have been gone – devoured up by keen spectators. There was additionally a scheduled presentation by Jinxbot 3D printing services and a stay DJ set.
Along with startups and well-established firms, there have been exhibitors from nonprofit organizations and authorities companies. At a sales space shared by the cities Mountain View and Cupertino, in collaboration with the nonprofit Silicon Valley Clean Energy, individuals may find out about residence electrification rebates and incentives. They may additionally play a digital actuality sport referred to as Cooper’s Clean Air Quest, exploring methods to replace outdated gear and cut back one’s carbon footprint with the assistance of the sport’s eponymous robotic Cooper.
It wasn’t simply tech firms presenting on the occasion. Attendees may additionally be taught in regards to the choices on the Mountain View Public Library.
“We’re greater than only a area company,”
Jonas dino, nasa public engagement specialise
“Libraries are right here to remain,” stated librarian Ashley Lang. “Regardless that know-how modifications over time, [the library is] nonetheless a giant, necessary presence.”
With a library card, “you might have entry to a large number of assets,” together with audio and e-book platforms like Hoopla and Libby, Lang stated. She added that the library performs an necessary position in breaking down boundaries to entry, providing computer systems, free wifi and moveable chargers to those that would possibly want them.
NASA Ames Research Center had a big sales space with a number of tables, displaying completely different areas of analysis and interesting individuals of all ages in regards to the company’s work, together with these inquisitive about internship alternatives.
At one desk, they’d representatives from their House Biosciences Analysis Department.
“They’re making an attempt to determine how we are able to stay in area,” stated Jonas Dino, a NASA public engagement specialist. The researchers work consists of finding out easy methods to mitigate the impacts of issues like microgravity and area radiation on the human physique for future area journey, Dino stated.
Subsequent to the NASA bioscientists was one other desk with a three-degrees of freedom platform on it, part of NASA’s Vertical Motion Simulator, which might simulate flight in an plane or spacecraft. Individuals may additionally be taught in regards to the many spin-off applied sciences developed with the assistance of NASA’s analysis like memory foam and scratch-resistant sunglass lenses. And for the youngest attendees, there have been NASA’s Celestial Buddies, stuffed toys resembling the solar and planets.
“We’re greater than only a area company,” Dino stated. “We do an entire bunch of various issues that lots of people don’t find out about or don’t suppose that NASA works on, however we do.”
The Expertise Showcase was bookended by two night panel discussions – one on Wednesday about AI and the way forward for work, and one the next day in regards to the aerospace trade and its influence domestically and past.
“The entire function of the tech showcase is to shine a lightweight on the tech that’s taking place proper in Mountain View and a little bit bit to the fringes,” Katz stated. “Expertise is available in all varieties. We will’t escape it. It’s all a part of our lives, and so the extra that folks can find out about it, and the extra that they will hear straight from and work together with the businesses that present it, I feel all of us profit from that.”
The Mountain View Voice, a sister publication of the Palo Alto Weekly, was a sponsor of the 2025 Expertise Showcase.
