Dr. Son started PPS in 1997 to push the boundaries of tactile sensing technology and to develop innovative, meaningful products that harness the sense of touch for medical devices, robotics, ergonomics, automotive, industrial, and consumer applications after working in large corporate organizations such as Hughes Space and Comm., Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and General Motors.
Over the past two decades, PPS empowered many of the world’s largest technology leaders such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, P&G, J&J, Red Bull and other Fortune 500 companies to create successful products using tactile sensors. Today, PPS is a world leader in providing custom capacitive tactile sensing solutions for commercial companies.
Though PPS, Dr. Son spun-off two medical devices companies. Sierra Scientific Instruments, Inc. developed a motility catheter called ManoScan, which was commercially successful, sold in March 2010 for $35 million is now owned by Medtronic. Medical Tactile, Inc. developed the first FDA cleared tactile sensing device (www.suretouch.us) that performs digital breast exams that are painless, radiation free and delivers immediate results. SureTouch received national recognition when it was awarded the Medical Design Excellence Award, Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Award and the Platinum ABBY award.
Dr. Son holds over 20 patents, published many peer-reviewed journal articles, won numerous academic and professional awards, and acted as PI or co PI on a wide range of government grant projects through NIH, DARPA, and the Army. He began establishing his expertise in advanced sensor technologies while at Harvard Robotics Laboratory where he participated in collaborative research with the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, Yale Vision and Robotics Group, and the Stanford Dexterous Manipulation Laboratory in developing tactile sensor technology that emulates human sense of touch for robots.