Business
Henry joins us to talk about his journey and experiences with surface science, engineering, and the US Airforce. Timestamps 0:35 – How did MicroTau come to be? 2:08 – Henry discusses his involvement with InnoCentive challenges 5:16 – A challenge from the US Air Force Research Laboratory 6:26 – What is drag? 8:26 – How riblets found on shark skin can reduce drag 11:20 – Printing with light to create nano-scale features on surfaces 15:14 – Henry talks about his unexpected success with the US Air Force challenge 17:54 – Submitting a business proposal to the US Air Force 19:47 – The process of implementing the technology 22:13 – The carbon and cost savings associated with reducing friction drag on large-scale aircrafts 24:04 – The applications of MicroTau’s technology 27:18 – How the product will scale to large-scale surfaces 28:37 – MicroTau’s revenue model 30:35 – The process of approval in a highly-regulated industry 32:45 – MicroTau’s funding sources 33:30 – Support for start-ups in Australia 35:27 – What are some of the other applications for these riblets? 40:37 – Different types of surfaces and their applications 41:11 – Gecko pads 43:08 – Optical applications including visual adaptive camouflage 46:00 – Namib beetles 47:08 – What’s next for MicroTau? 48:48 – Growing the team 50:02 – MicroTau’s first active flight test this year