Flying above the competition: The founding story of HumBots
Flying above the competition: The founding story of HumBots
On April 20th, a team of students from Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods traveled to Sacramento State to pitch their business idea at the Future Four & More Competition. The company, HumBots Data & Analysis, competed against a variety of California State Universities and Community College teams who had a variety of great ideas from apps that track nearby allergies to a chariot pulled by adults. HumBots took first place with the idea of implementing LiDAR and Multispectral sensors with modern UAV Technology to better manage and understand forest lands. On top of the first place prize of $3,000, the team was also awarded the Most Sustainable Business Award which gave them an additional $700.
The group of 7 first formed at the google startup weekend on March 3rd with Joe Snipes, Ben Neff, Daniel Rodriguez, Danny Kelley, Tomas Jevons, Aaron Spurgeon, and Alex Orozco working non-stop to make HumBots a reality. After winning the competition at Humboldt State, the company has been steadily growing gaining the attention of forestry industry leaders.
The company’s next steps are to begin prototyping this summer while strengthening business relationships in the market with hopes for the acquisition of angel funding before the end of the year.