Case Western Reserve University junior Austin Wilson is changing the way the world interacts with voice-activated electronics.
Among the projects he’s created are robotic cars that use your voice to accelerate and change direction; drones that navigate by spoken instructions; video games where players speak commands and ask questions; and hospital devices that allow caregivers to remotely monitor their patients (Alexa, what is Ms. Jones’ heart rate and temperature?)
Austin, an Amazon Alexa Champion, is majoring in computer science and engineering. He (virtually) presented last week at the world’s largest consumer electronics show, CES, representing his company, Tauon, which enables game developers to add new value to their games through voice control. It was his second consecutive year showing at CES.
“I want to connect with businesses to bring voice to their products,” he says. “And as an attendee, I enjoy talking to people about the state of consumer electronics. What are big companies doing to build their futures?”
Austin started his quest to integrate Alexa into other technologies in high school. Since coming to CWRU, he’s been exposed to new avenues that have expanded his understanding of both tech and business:
- He led a team that created Hyland Software’s Innovation Lab during his internship.
- He serves as secretary of CWRU’s chapter of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and as the CWRU student ambassador to Unity, a cross-platform game engine.
- He led the development team for COVID-19 Predict, an online tool that integrates data for every county in the U.S. to help determine risk and trend levels. That team also presented at CES 2021.
- He participated in the Silicon Valley Trek, where students visit and network with entrepreneurs at high-visibility companies, like Slack, Apartment List and KiwiCo.
- He competed with a team in the CWRU Boeing Innovation Challenge.
- He tapped into the CWRU Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship's Remote Entrepreneurship Program and hired two CWRU students to work as summer interns to help grow his business.
This is what we do at CWRU: We take smart students and surround them with experiences and people that give them the opportunity to explore new ideas and create new futures.
Alexa, schedule my online visit to CWRU. (Or if that doesn’t quite work, yet, register here.)