How would you like to work for a company working on a technology that lets you feel without touching anything, allowing you to use gestures in mid-air to control anything from computers to thermostats?
Bristol-based Ultrahaptics, a spin-out from Bristol University, needs to build its team of engineers, developers and designers quickly to feed the customer demand for its ultrasound touch technology – and you can be part of the team.
They are holding a recruitment evening on 9 July where you can play with the tech, register your interest and learn more about the company. The way they produce a tactile response in mid-air is an amazing ‘magic trick’ and the look on people’s faces experiencing it for the first time is a joy to behold:
CES 2015 trailer: A video showing people’s response to Ultrahaptics’ tech
Feel the magic!
Tom Carter, Co-founder and Director of Ultrahaptics explains: “The technology has a small number of speakers that emit ultrasound, and we focus it to a certain point or place or shape on your hand, and at that point what we do is just gently vibrate the surface of your skin. And you can feel that vibration.” And now you can help get this technology into people’s homes and offices.”
“Our customers see the feedback our technology creates as a real game changer in the world of gesture interfaces”
Tom tells us: “We’ve been signing our first few orders as customers are getting their hands on our kits and starting to scope out the first products that consumers will be interacting with. We’ve also just been selected to receive €1.49M to develop even new markets and applications for our products through an EU Grant, which was great news!”
“We’ve had an amazing response, from all over the world, to our launching the technology in the form of an evaluation program late last year,” Tom adds. “We’re now trying to support all the customers who are starting to develop products for various markets and we need more engineers to do that.”
Who should apply?
So who are they looking for? Heather Macdonald Tait, Human Resources at Ultrahaptics tells us: “Like everyone, we’re looking for the best! But ultimately, we need people who can fit into the team quickly and ideally those who have a real grasp of gesture recognition and haptic markets.”
“Graduates in computer science, engineering or similar are definitely of interest to us”
Heather adds: “We’re looking for experienced engineers with project management skills as well as those who can grow with the company. Graduates in computer science, engineering or similar are definitely of interest to us as strong computer science fundamentals (data structures/algorithms) are important to many of the roles. Those with experience of software build tools, defect tracking and Git are also important.
“We expect to grow very quickly in the next year and will do several rounds of recruitment for a variety of roles, so we thought we’d hold an event to invite people to come and have a play with the tech so that as the roles come up, we can let them know.”
What’s caused the growth?
So what is behind this major expansion? Heather tells us “Our customers see the feedback our technology creates as a real game changer in the world of gesture interfaces, and the last piece of the puzzle for a range of markets that need gesture sensing to be more intuitive and responsive.
Touchy feely: Ali Hadavizadeh from the University of Bath Innovation centre
being impressed by Ultrahaptics’ tech at Bristol’s Engine Shed
“Now we’re generating revenue so we also need to build the commercial side of the business as well and as such we have a range of positions coming up from marketing to finance roles which we’ll need to fill to ensure that the business continues to grow and build on the success of the technology in the market so far.”
Fun tech produced by fun people
Interested? Get along to the event in a couple of week’s time (details below). As Heather says, “We’re fun. No really, we are! There’s a real sense of play in our engineering department as we are really exploring the forefront of the technology, exploring new markets and new possibilities. There’s a lot of drive too.”
“Our customers are demanding and, like us, really want to see products on the shelves in the next year. So, lots to do!”
“Our customers are demanding and, like us, really want to see products on the shelves in the next year. So, lots to do!” she laughs. “It’s also a really exciting time to join a company like ours. We’re still young so there’s a great deal of potential to set out how we do things, to grow with us and to bring your expertise to provide a real, tangible influence to the company and help guide our success.”
You can sign up for event being held on 9 July 2015 from 17:00 to 19:30 here: Ultrahaptics recruitment evening. You can also keep up-to-date with company developments at ultrahaptics.com, or on Twitter @ultrahaptics.
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