Dexter Ang 05 AF 16 had been working as a high-frequency trader before he learned his mother had ALS. Over the next year he watched her slowly lose the ability to walk feed herself and even click a mouse to read an e-book one of her favorite activities.

The progression was painful to watch but what Ang couldnt accept was that his mothers physical condition could so negatively affect her interactions with the digital world.

’I didnt think there needed to be that connection between physical capability and digital capability’ Ang recalls.

The idea set Ang on a mission that would change his life. Ten years after graduating from MIT with a mechanical engineering degree he returned to the Institute to immerse himself in its work around wearable technology securing a co-founder and a business strategy along the way. Today Ang is the CEO of Pison Technology a startup that uses neuromuscular sensors to help people interact with digital interfaces.

Pisons sensor sits on users wrist like a watch to capture tiny movements of muscles and tendons as well as electrical signals from the brain. Pisons software processes those signals and controls the device theyre being sent to helping users do things like interact with apps on smartphones manipulate objects in augmented reality and communicate with robots and machines.

Hundreds of people have used Pisons technology through partnerships with multinational corporations including Microsoft Samsung Mitsubishi and Google. Helping people with disabilities remains a focus for the company and Pison is also working with medical organizations and nonprofits like the ALS Association.

’The implications of connecting the human body with digital systems and artificial intelligence are unimaginable’ Ang says. ’Were in the very early innings — maybe the first inning — of what neural interfaces are going to be and how they are going to transform everything in the world.’

A mission broadens

Angs experience watching his mothers decline in health brought him back to MIT through the Advanced Study Program. Ang enrolled in classes at MITs Sloan School of Management the School of Engineering and the Media Lab. One offering that particularly attracted him was an assistive technology course run by John Leonard the Samuel C. Collins Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

’I was really passionate about the problem [of physical decline impacting digital life]’ Ang recalls. ’Id go to sleep thinking about it and wake up thinking about it. I knew the problem was electrical-based and I needed an electrical solution and that MIT had the network that I was most likely to have success with.’

Angs mother passed away in 2015 during his first semester with ASP. He took three weeks off and finished the term. Later that year through his fraternity he met Pison co-founder David Cipoletta who was working on eye tracking and robotics for people with ALS at the University of Rhode Island. After speaking with him about the potential for sensing electricity through electrodes on the skin Cipoletta asked Ang to come to his apartment two weeks later. By then hed built a prototype.

The founders received support from MITs Sandbox Innovation Fund and spent time at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship under mentorship from Managing Director Bill Aulet. Ang also spent about $50000 of his own money exploring different solutions.

’The tools that were provided to me through the MIT network investors and training were essential to me and to Pison early on’ Ang says.

In the years since Ang completed the Advanced Study Fellowship program in 2016 the founders have worked with a number of companies to further develop the technology.

Pisons current sensors detect the electrical signals the brain uses to communicate with the bodys nerves tendons and muscles. The signals or biopotentials are registered on the skin of the wrist and sent to Pisons phone app which turns them into digital instructions. Pisons app can interact with other apps or any other device the phone is connected with. For instance if a users phone also has the Google Home app Pisons sensors could be used to control smart home features like lights.

Business books: Top Picks

Best Business Management books

#1ITIL Foundation: 4th edition

The fourth edition of ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) was presented by Axelos in February 2019. The ITIL v4 (PDF and other versions available) focuses on practical aspects of IT management and provides a holistic approach with emphasize on Agile, DevOps and digital transformation topics.

#2Read People Like a Book

Read People Like a Book: How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors (How to be More Likable and Charismatic).  

#3The Intelligent Investor

One of the greatest investors of the twentieth century, Benjamin Graham, proposed his philosophy of “value investing” that could protect investors from dramatic errors and teaches them to develop long-term strategies. This approach is exhaustively explained in The Intelligent Investor (PDF download available) book, which remains the stock market bible since its first […]

#4How Money Works

Money is the oil that keeps the machinery of our world turning. By giving goods and services an easily measured value, money facilitates the billions of transactions that take place every day. Without it, the industry and trade that form the basis of modern economies would grind to a halt and the flow […]

#5Business Communication

Everyday Business Storytelling: Create, Simplify, and Adapt A Visual Narrative for Any Audience. Communication is one of the basic functions of management in any organization and its importance can hardly be overemphasized. It is a process of transmitting information, ideas, thoughts, opinions and plans between various parts of an organization. Good and effective […]

#6How Business Works

Every type of business has to choose an ownership structure. Although there are variations globally, most countries offer similar types of legal entities, from a single- person private enterprise to a massive organization trading on a stock exchange. There are three key considerations: how big the venture is expected to grow; the complexity […]

#7The Essential Manager’s Handbook

The step up to a managerial role can be an exciting, but daunting, new challenge. Suddenly, you are responsible for making sure your team is working together, achieving results, and that overall your department is running smoothly. There is no single technique to becoming an excellent manager, but the Essential Manager’s Handbook provides […]

#8Operations Management

Operations Management is important, exciting, challenging, and everywhere your look! Important, because it’s concerned with creating all of the products and services upon which we depend. Exciting, because it’s at the centre of so many of the changes affecting the world of business.

#9Where Are the Customers Yachts

In 1940 Fred Schwed, a stockbroker whose father had lost everything as a short seller on Wall Street during the Roaring Twenties, published this timeless classic on how the stock market really works. Schwed, a pleasure-loving, cultured man who had been expelled from Princeton University in his final year for entertaining a lady […]

#10Corporate Finance 11th Edition

Corporate Finance, Eleventh Edition This book has been written for the introductory courses in corporate finance at the MBA level and for the intermediate courses in many undergraduate programs. Some instructors will find our text appropriate for the introductory course at the undergraduate level as well.

Best books for entrepreneurs

#11ISE International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace

The 13th edition provides a complete solution that is relevant (timely, comprehensive), practical (focus on applications of concepts), integrated (integrated progression of topics) and the most up-to-date on the market. Available with Connect: Our highly reliable homework and learning management solution that embeds learning science and award-willing adaptive tools to improve student results.

#12Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness

Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness (Tim Grover Winning Series) From the elite performance coach who wrote the international bestseller Relentless and whose clients included Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade, comes this brutally honest formula for winning in business, sports, or any arena where the battle is relentless.

#13Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

From the creator of Valuetainment, the number one YouTube channel for entrepreneurs, comes a practical and effective guide for thinking more clearly and achieving your most audacious business goals.  

#14Your Next Five Moves

Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy (Hardcover / Audio / Kindle). Creator of Valuetainment, the # 1 YouTube channel for entrepreneurs and “one of the most exciting thinkers” (Ray Dalio, Principles author) in business today, provides a practical and effective guide to thinking more clearly and getting the most out […]

#15Finding the Winning Edge

When those who chronicle the history of the game list the individuals who had the greatest impact on the National Football League, Bill Walsh will clearly be among the names of Halas, Lombardi, Brown, Landry, Noll and Shula. But when you consider who has impacted the game most in terms of those who […]

#16International GAAP 2020 2021

Generally Accepted Accounting Practice under International Financial Reporting Standards. The content of this book takes into account all accounting standards and other relevant rules issued up to September 2020. Consequently, it covers the IASB’s Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting and authoritative literature listed below.  

#17Schweser FRM Part I Secret Sauce

This review book is a valuable addition to the study tools of any FRM exam candidate. It offers concise coverage of exam topics to enhance your retention of the FRM curriculum. We suggest that you use this book as a companion to your other, more comprehensive study materials.

#18We Should All Be Millionaires

We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power. Are you ready to fill your life with more peace, power and joy? We Should All Be Millionaires details a realistic, achievable and step-by-step path to create the support, trust and plan you need to master […]

#19THE BUSINESS ANALYST’S HANDBOOK

In my previous life in chemical engineering, I used to carry around Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook—a working reference book containing every table and tool the professional might need to refer to in carrying out his or her role. When I began working as a business analyst, I looked for a similar handbook for […]

#20ITIL 4: Create, Deliver and Support

Part of the Managing Professional series, this publication provides next-level guidance by following ITIL 4 Foundation. It is ideal for IT professionals managing the operation of IT-enabled digital products and services or end-to-end delivery. This publication helps you understand the Create, Deliver, and Support the Managing Professional module, as well as provide an […]