Sohrab Haghighat
Sohrab Haghighat is the co-founder and CEO of Hestus and a two-time Y Combinator founder. He holds a PhD, has spoken at numerous conferences and is named as an inventor on more than 14 patents. Sohrab was among the first ten employees at Cruise Automation (the SF-based self-driving company acquired by GM in 2016). At Cruise, Sohrab led multiple teams responsible for vehicle behavioral planning. After Cruise, Sohrab founded SpaceRyde, a Canadian rocket launch company, which he led for six years. SpaceRyde was the first company to get a launch authorization from the Government of Canada, 21 years after the last rocket launch from Canadian soil. Under his leadership, the company built a pipeline of more than $170M in launch contracts, and its IP was later sold.
Monday Dec 7
Joint Cleaning & Floor Care Products Program
The Product of 2031 — Reimagining Household & Commercial Products for the Next 5 Years
What will household and commercial products look like five years from now? Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), connected devices, smart packaging, robotics, and digital technologies are transforming how products are developed, purchased, used, and replenished. As appliances become increasingly intelligent and autonomous, these innovations are creating new opportunities and challenges for manufacturers and consumers alike. With the emergence of "physical AI" — robotics and AI-enabled technologies that interact directly with the physical world — the role of the consumer is also evolving. Will consumers continue to use cleaning and floor care products themselves, or will they increasingly rely on autonomous systems to perform these tasks? And as connected devices become the primary users of certain products, how might that change the way companies approach product development and formulation? This session will explore how emerging technologies are shaping the future of household and commercial products, with a particular focus on AI adoption in the cleaning and floor care sectors. Panelists will discuss opportunities for collaboration between appliance manufacturers and consumer product companies to ensure product compatibility, performance, and safe use, as well as the evolving expectations of consumers and regulators. Attendees will gain insights into how these technological advancements could influence the way companies formulate, design, manufacture, package, market, and sell their products.
Speakers:
Jacob Cassady, Director of Government Relations, Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
Sohrab Haghighat, Co-Founder and CEO, Hestus
Mike Sanders, Senior Design Director, Procter & Gamble
Manmit Shrimali, CEO & Founder, Turing Labs