William Sachiti

Pasi William Sachiti (born May 1984) is a Zimbabwean-born [1] British entrepreneur and inventor. Sachiti is the founder and CEO of Academy of Robotics, an autonomous technology company which is primarily known for developing street-legal self-driving vehicles[2][3] and solutions for road maintenance.[4][5]

William Sachiti
Sachiti on London Live 2017
Born1984 (age 38–39)
Harare, Zimbabwe
EducationArtificial Intelligence & Robotics
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, Inventor
Known forDragons' Den, Kar-go, mycityvenue, Academy of Robotics

Career

Early ventures

William Sachiti appeared on the BBC investment programme Dragons' Den in 2009 seeking investment for his company - Clever Bins. Clever Bins manufactured solar-powered digital advertising bins intended for public spaces. The Dragons did not invest in the business (with Dragon Peter Jones describing Sachiti's pitch as "infuriating and complete rubbish", and "the biggest load of bull I've ever heard in the Den"),[6] but the business continued trading and secured a partnership with Keep Britain Tidy [7] and trials with local councils in Manchester [8] and London.[9]

In 2015, Sachiti began studying Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Aberystwyth University. Sachiti and Ariel Ladegaard developed a robot (Hugh) for navigating users around the Hugh Owen library at the university.[10][11] In 2017 Sachiti won the university’s InvEnterPrize for the Car-go (later Kar-go) project. Sachiti, Ladegaard, and Aparajit Narayan developed the Car-go concept to tackle the last mile problem, and the project was subsequently awarded £10,000 in seed funding from the university.[12]

Academy of Robotics

Sachiti founded the Academy of Robotics and the InvEnterPrize cheque from Aberystwyth University was used in part to manufacture the first Kar-go vehicle in collaboration with Pilgrim Motorsports.[13]

The green, futuristic-looking Kar-go autonomous delivery vehicle driving on the roads through RAF Brize Norton air base during trials in 2021. RAF personnel are walking alongside it and cars are parked beside the road
The Kar-go autonomous delivery vehicle driving through RAF Brize Norton air base during trials in 2021

In July 2019, Sachiti unveiled the Kar-go vehicle at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.[14][15][16][17]

Personal life

In early 2022, William Sachiti purchased a former RAF base (RAF Neatishead),.[18][19] In the summer of 2022, Sachiti initiated a discussion on Reddit seeking advice on his personal interest in restoring a T84 Cold War-era military radar.[20]

References
  1. "This Zimbabwean has built a self-driving car in the UK. And it will be on the streets in 6 months". Techzim. 10 July 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. "UK's first robot delivery vehicle completes landmark journey". The Independent. 2020-11-10. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  3. Davis, Anthony (2020-10-29). "Kar-go Delivery Bot approved for use on British roads". Highways Today. Archived from the original on 2022-08-13. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  4. "Eurovia trials robo-cars to ferry tools to highways sites". Construction Enquirer. Archived from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  5. "Academy of Robotics and Eurovia to trial Kar-go for road maintenance". www.roadtraffic-technology.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  6. Robertson, Charles. "BBC - Dragons' Den - Entrepreneurs - William T Sachiti". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-05-20. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20120314053650/http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/News/Default.aspx?newsID=944
  8. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/dragons-den-clever-bins-coming-905719
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20110708155501/http://www.citizenspace.com/local/lbhf/LitterBins
  10. "Meet Hugh, the robot librarian - Aberystwyth University". Aber. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  11. "Library Robot Coming to Welsh University". Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  12. "Car-go delivers £10,000 InvEnterPrize - Aberystwyth University". www.aber.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  13. "Robot parcel deliveries are coming — but very slowly". Sifted. 2019-07-24. Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  14. "Kar-go is go". www.goodwood.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  15. Editorial, Reuters. "Futuristic driverless vehicle offers 'last mile' delivery solution | Reuters Video". reut.rs. Retrieved 2023-03-17. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  16. "Autonomous delivery van drives at Goodwood Festival of Speed | Computer Weekly". ComputerWeekly.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-08. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  17. Scammell, Robert (2019-07-06). "Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019: The top tech on show". Verdict. Archived from the original on 2023-03-30. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  18. "BBC One - Look East". BBC. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
  19. Newton, Simon. "Heart of Britain's Cold War defences gets new life as launch pad for cutting-edge tech". Forces Network. Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  20. "A Tech Millionaire Bought a Giant Cold War Radar to 'Find UFOs'". www.vice.com. Archived from the original on 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
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