Cameron Miner Contact
Insight · Innovation · Impact

Thirty years turning hard problems into shipped products — and the strategy that gets them there.

I'm an emerging-technology strategist. I evaluate where technologies are heading and help organizations invest ahead of the curve — across industrial systems, AI, robotics, and life-critical devices, from the foundational work behind the da Vinci Surgical Robot to the Zoll AutoPulse.

Cameron Miner delivering his TEDx Portsmouth talk
TEDx Portsmouth 2026

AI Is Everywhere. Except Where Needed Most.

A case for grounding AI in physical reality and human impact — choosing outcomes over income.

Watch the talk →
About

Breakthrough science changes the world — but only when it reaches the people who need it most.

My journey began at MIT, where I studied physics and competed as a finalist in the 2.70 robotics competition — which led me to DEKA, working directly with Dean Kamen on foundational medical systems like bedside peritoneal dialysis and the iBOT — the self-balancing wheelchair whose technology went on to become the Segway. I later refined my approach at Stanford under IDEO founder David Kelley, who instilled a human-centered design philosophy that still anchors my work today.

I'm a parallel entrepreneur by practice: I've always built ventures alongside institutional R&D roles, which means I advise from live experience — on the tensions between scientific rigor and speed, between technical depth and investor narrative, between building and fundraising — not from distant memory.

Whether building centers of excellence or launching startups, I'm drawn to complex problems and to scaling high-impact innovation from early research through global commercialization — across medical, military, and consumer products, in some of the most highly regulated environments there are.

Portrait of Cameron Miner
Current Work

Looking for the biggest impact an emerging technology can have, then building the path that gets it there.

Across corporate research, national labs, and venture ecosystems, I build the evaluation systems that decide which technologies are worth the bet — and when.

The judgment is the same whether the question is a research portfolio at scale, a pre-company science team, or an emerging technology reshaping an entire sector. Working within the research is how I find the market opportunity, and it usually turns out to be bigger than anyone assumed.

The Engine · MIT

Advisor, Blueprint Program

Pre-company work with tough-tech teams coming out of MIT labs — de-risking science on its way to becoming a company.

Frontier Industries

Strategic Advisor

Full-spectrum strategy for coupling small modular reactors with AI data centres — from sovereign power and sovereign AI to the upstream research pipeline and downstream humanitarian impact. frontierindustries.co.uk

MITdesignX

Advisor

Venture cohorts, from research concept to fundable company.

MIT D-Lab

Mentor

Mentoring Design for Scale and Applications of Energy in Global Development — the gap between what performs in a lab and what survives in the field.

GroundTruth Health

Founder

AI understands language far better than it understands physical reality. Closing that gap in the high-touch places that need it most: elder care, healthcare, and manufacturing.

MIT · MassRobotics · Techstars

Guest Lecturer & Mentor

Course 2.177 guest lecturer; mentor at MassRobotics (Physical AI Fellowship, AWS/NVIDIA) and Techstars Boston.

Case Studies

Meta Reality Labs

Neural-input wearables — and the framework that guided the research behind them.

Three threads

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Research evaluation framework diagram
Meta Research

Tracking and guiding spatial-computing research

Insight. Early research had drifted from common goals — the team needed shared metrics for evaluation and guidance.
Innovation. Defined interaction primitives and the metrics to evaluate each research thread's contribution.
Impact. Built the evaluation framework that became the standard for research prioritization and review — the same operating model I now bring to venture and emerging-technology portfolios.
Wearable wristband prototype for AR interaction
Meta Research

A wristband for AR interactions

Insight. The size, weight, and power budget for haptic feedback vastly exceeded every other system component.
Innovation. Direct electrical nerve stimulation using the existing EMG sensing electrodes, skipping mechanical actuation entirely.
Impact. Greatly reduced size, weight, and power — unlocking remote haptics and force feedback.
SWAP analysis diagram for haptics research
Meta Research

Generating IP through SWAP analysis

Insight. Traditional haptics travel from electrical signal to mechanical energy to nerve stimulation — an inherently lossy chain.
Innovation. Direct electrical nerve stimulation, uncovered through electrophysiology research.
Impact. A new research project and an IP filing (US 63/583,221) built into a moat.
Case Study

IBM Research — designLab, c. 1999

Seeing the wearable future two decades early.

Case Studies

Medical & Surgical Robotics

Life-critical devices, from CPR to remote surgery to children's prosthetics.

Four projects

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Zoll AutoPulse CPR device
Revivant → Zoll

The Zoll AutoPulse

Insight. A circumferential compression device, prototyped with drill motors, Tyvek, and conductive velcro.
Innovation. Integrated directly into the backboard ER staff and EMTs already used — faster to deploy, easier in transport.
Impact. Became the Zoll AutoPulse, saving lives in thousands of hospitals worldwide.
Telepresence surgical robot arm, precursor to da Vinci
SRI · DARPA

The da Vinci Surgical Robot

Insight. Placing a computer between the surgeon's input and the instrument's output opens entirely new capabilities.
Innovation. Contributed to the initial prototype at SRI as a Stanford graduate student — the human-machine interface and the articulation translating macro movements into micro-scale robotic action.
Impact. Laid the foundation for the da Vinci Surgical System, now the global standard for minimally invasive surgery.
Child-size prosthetic hand prototype
VA Rehab · Stanford Children's

Child-size prosthetic hands

Insight. Kids developing motor skills mainly need something safer and more natural-looking while playing with others.
Innovation. A flexible endoskeleton with a "whiffle tree" for adaptive grip, and a silicone skin for a natural look and safer play.
Impact. A journal publication, patents, and manufacturer licenses — and real effect on a child's confidence and independent play.
Percutaneous vascular access training simulator
Immersion Corporation

Percutaneous training simulator

Insight. Tactile feedback simulating instruments and tissue helps trainees build real psychomotor skill.
Innovation. A system that tracks, measures, and scores puncture depth and angle to help trainees improve.
Impact. Simulation-trained clinicians achieve improved proficiency in catheter-based techniques.
Case Studies

DEKA Research

Mobility, dignity, and the accidental birth of a scooter — plus a competition that made engineering a sport.

Three projects

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Stair-climbing wheelchair platform prototype
DEKA

The stair-climbing wheelchair — and the Segway

Insight. We fabricated a tubular frame so we could stand on the control module and zip around the room just by leaning.
Innovation. Effectively a lightweight, agile, motorized scooter, born from a high-end wheelchair.
Impact. The self-balancing platform that seemingly took over the world overnight.
User testing of stair-climbing wheelchair in a social setting
DEKA

Designing for dignity, not just mobility

Insight. The most powerful feature wasn't technical — it was being at eye level with others.
Innovation. Shifted focus toward the social experience of the wheelchair.
Impact. Changed how wheelchair users are perceived — and how they perceive themselves.
FIRST Robotics competition
DEKA · US FIRST

Building the FIRST Robotics Competition

Insight. Kids love competing in sports. How do you make engineering feel like a sport?
Innovation. Helped build the challenges and the timing-and-scoring system — then worked directly with teams and mentored students as the competition grew into regional and national events.
Impact. FIRST Robotics Competition now reaches roughly 90,000 students across more than 30 countries each year — part of a FIRST ecosystem serving over 850,000 students worldwide.
Case Studies

Sport Tech

Sensing and imaging, from helmet safety to swing analysis.

Three projects

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Helmet sensor for Giro and POC
Checkit

Helmet impact sensors for Giro and POC

Insight. Impact damage comes through deformation, not just acceleration — so measure strain.
Innovation. A low-cost, flexible, 1-bit strain gauge in printable inks and electronics.
Impact. Helped POC's Skull Orbic Comp win ISPO Product of the Year 2013 and Popular Science "Best of What's New" 2014.
SwingShot golf swing camera
SwingShot

The SwingShot golf camera

Insight. Golfers want to see how their swing changes off the range — but it's hard to film yourself.
Innovation. A camera on a spike that fits in a golf bag, plus GPS to show where the ball landed.
Impact. Captured more than 302,000 golf swings.
P3Pro golf swing analysis camera system
P3Pro Swing

High-speed golf swing analysis

Insight. A high-speed sensor plus a bright LED strobe captures ball velocity and spin.
Innovation. A test fixture launching balls over 200 mph and a custom infrared strobe that won't blind the golfer.
Impact. The ProLaunch camera was genuinely revolutionary for its time.
Case Studies

Field, Security & Public Health

Technology in demanding, real-world conditions.

Three projects

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ID2 · FBI / ATF / SOCOM

Covert surveillance & intelligence equipment

Insight. Working directly with SOCOM operators to focus on what's essential and remove everything that isn't.
Innovation. Custom cameras from bare sensors with camouflaged optics; custom ASICs to cut size, weight, and power.
Impact. Refined across successive generations down to essential components.
Fleye

Not just POV — video of you

Insight. Instead of competing with GoPro's point-of-view capture, turn it inside out: capture video of the user.
Innovation. Integrated cameras and RFID readers to capture event video effortlessly, at scale.
Impact. Deployed across venues and events worldwide.
COVID Innovation Center

Solving a PPE shortage with idle equipment

Insight. The Boston Bruins had ozone sterilization equipment sitting unused during the pandemic.
Innovation. Ozone as a fast, safe way to sterilize and sanitize PPE.
Impact. Scaled UV-C lamp production with a local manufacturer for decontamination.
Method

Every project runs through the same repeatable process.

A human-centered process — and, increasingly, a framework for evaluating which emerging technologies are worth the bet.

01

Insight

Finding the unmet need and identifying the hidden potential of emerging technologies.

02

Innovation

Working with users and communities to create new solutions.

03

Impact

Making sure it works — and keeps working — for the users and communities it serves.

Publications & Patents

Selected work on the record.

Publications

Digital Jewelry: Wearable Technology for Everyday Life
ACM SIGCHI · January 2001
Pushing Functionality Into Even Smaller Devices
ACM Communications · March 2001
Design Concepts for an Endoskeletal Child-Size Hand
Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics · June 1997

Selected Patents

US 2025/0090079 A1 — Dual-purposing a sensing component to also perform haptic rendering (Meta)
US 7,056,296 — CPR device with pressure bladder feedback
US 6,142,962 — Resuscitation device, motor-driven compression belt
US 9,679,607 / 9,807,337 — Sensor-and-tag video capture systems (Fleye)
US 8,147,434 B2 — Resuscitation device and method
Let's talk

Working at the edge of research to maximize its impact.

Research becomes a solution only when it meets a genuine need and survives real use. That's the gap I work in — between what's possible and what actually helps. If you're working there too, I'd like to hear about it.

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