Phase I Success of Design-Driven Educational Robotics Product Development Leads to $1M Award for Phase 2

About

Mechanismic Inc. is a Long Island, New York, C-Corp designing and manufacturing an innovative DIY STEM Robotics Education and Play product called SnappyXO Design for K-12 schools, post-secondary institutions, students, makers, and hobbyists. Our products are also being sold to the informal STEM learning centers, such as museums, libraries, STEM programs and camps, hackathons, and robotics competitions. The company currently has five employees and has received funding from National Science Foundation, Stony Brook University's MTRC program (part of the New York MEP and the MEP National Network™), SPIR, SensorCAT, FuzeHub (also part of the New York MEP and the MEP National Network™), and SUNY Research Foundation to develop this product.

The Challenge

Mechanismic Inc. had received STTR Phase I funding from the NSF for the R&D work, but they needed access to manufacturing space and equipment to develop the hardware. MTRC stepped in to provide them access to its prototyping facility and also provided a cost-share on their CNC laser equipment. Without these resources, they would have found it challenging to meet the technical and commercial milestones that they had set to meet. This support from the MTRC was critical. MTRC also provided them further R&D support and an avenue to test their product in a sponsored summer robotics camp meant for 7th-12th grade students.

"If there is one organization after NSF, that has helped us tremendously with our efforts, that would be the MTRC program at Stony Brook University. Without MTRC's support, our company would not have been able to meet our goals to bring a state-of-the-art robotics product to the market. I thank Dr. Imin Kao and Cynthia Colón from the MTRC program profusely for their kind support and dedication." — Anurag Purwar, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder

MEP's Role

Without the help from MTRC, Mechanismic Inc. would not have been able to finish the phase I tasks and prepare for the phase 2 project. After they outgrew the space provided in the prototyping lab, MTRC helped them with setting up a new manufacturing space off-campus where they set up their independent operations. MTRC's grant program offered an equipment purchase matching award, helped the company meet commercialization goals, and also assisted with their preparation for the FuzeHub commercialization award, which they won. MTRC is proud to state that they played a role in the company also winning the $1M STTR Phase 2 award from the NSF.