P.E.T.E.R. is getting ready to take to the seas.

And she's going to make a huge difference in water quality.

During CES® 2020, Techstars hosted a "Pitch Competition Student Startup Showdown" in the Eureka Park™ startup area.

Students took the stage to explain their technology innovations.  Then, a judges' panel asked questions about their creations.

Pleasant Robotics Founder and CEO Gabriella Pleasant won first place in the competition.  She created her robot, named P.E.T.E.R., with the goal of healing our oceans.

How does it work?  The robot goes into the water, ingests microplastics and turns them into biodegradable material before disintegrating.  The robot itself is made up of organic materials!

Currently, Gabi, as she likes to be called,  is looking into mass-marketing P.E.T.E.R.   Just after winning the "Showcase", she shared the story of creating her biodegradable robot, explained how it works and previewed the next steps in her journey.  (That will include receiving her degree from UC Santa Cruz, where she's currently studying computational linguistics!)
On this edition of Over Coffee® you will hear:


What first inspired Gabi to become a roboticist;


The steps involved, in the two-year process of creating P.E.T.E.R;


How the robot works;


How the design changed, from original idea to now;


Gabi's "dream technology" she'd like to add to future editions of P.E.T.E.R.;


And, since the robot is a "she", the reason behind the name!