Inspiring Industrial Innovation
Bauer Executive DBA Pioneers New Age of Deep Tech
Bauer College Executive Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) student Nicolaus Radford is ushering in a new age of robotics with his company, Persona AI, which was recently awarded Deep Tech Business of the Year by the Houston Innovation Awards.
Also a finalist for Startup of the Year, Persona AI is building the next generation of humanoid robots that will work alongside humans at some of the world’s most challenging and labor-intensive worksites.
Bringing the advanced robotic technologies of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to life, Radford expects these humanoid robots to help production backlogs brought on by acute labor shortages and maintain the safety of human workers in industries like shipbuilding, energy or manufacturing.
“You don’t have to be on the East or West Coast to be doing awesome things like this in deep tech,” Radford said. “We wanted to illustrate that it is possible to create these kinds of companies in Houston... and I can’t think of a bigger industrial city than here, which made it the perfect fit.”
Radford said it is incredibly validating to be recognized by the Houston Innovations Awards in this way. It honors all the late nights everyone spent in their collective pursuit toward future innovations, and all the shareholders who backed the project in the early fundraising stage, he added.
“I don’t think (the Executive DBA) would have been so impactful on me if I had not made a litany of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons the hard way.”
He also said that Bauer has been a tremendous help in advancing his career — the lessons he’s learned, the people he’s met and the network he’s developed while here have been exceptional.
He added that he wouldn’t be anywhere if he hadn’t made mistakes along the way.
“I don’t think (the Executive DBA) would have been so impactful on me if I had not made a litany of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons the hard way,” Radford said.
Just as his LinkedIn biography says: “I try hard things, some work and some don’t.”
Looking toward the future of his company and their role in the growing artificial intelligence market, he said he hopes his company will bring a certain sense of responsibility and ethics to the deployment and implementation of AI robotics.
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