People

Meet the Octopus Robotics team.
Ivar Thorson, Ph.D.

CEO, Founder

Ivar has been a lifelong participant in academic research labs and startup companies. After completing his Ph.D. in Advanced Robotics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Ivar founded Octopus Robotics to pursue his passion of making research robotics technologies available to a wider group of creative people.

Sterling Hooten

Lead, Business Development

Sterling brings to Octopus his valuable experience in business development, contracting, and intellectual property law. He is interested in the commercialization of robotics technology and loves the open-ended possibilities of a startup company.

Interns of Past and Present

Alexi Ehrlich

Intern / BSME

Chock-wearing master of the stonehenge lathe, a cnc lathe so primitive that it predates metalworking.

David Ehrlich

Intern / BSEE, JD

“Anybody have a question? Wait, let me rephrase: Anybody have a question besides Dave?”

Henry Cooney

Intern / ME, EE

Basement-dwelling minion who first cranked the Enigma Machine…just don’t get into a soldering competition with him.

Austin Morlan

Intern / EE

Gold Medal Winner for Most Linux Distributions Taste-Tested in One Weekend by a New Linux Enthusiast.

Evan Sprecher

Intern / CSE

Inspiration for the test software “MOCAF”, because for this project…we are going to need some mo’ caffeine.