Chipscale Optical Sensors for Precision Positioning and Navigation

In our latest episode we talk to Dr Lia Li , CEO of Zero Point Motion an early stage start-up creating chipscale optical sensors for precision positioning and navigation. The science behind their technology, cavity optomechanics, harnesses the ultra-low noise properties of light, combining it with the high volume production capabilities of existing sensors found in cars, phones, and even inside robotic hoovers. Cavity optomechanics has already transformed the field of gravitational wave detection and redefined the limits of displacement sensing at a fundamental level. Zero Point Motion harnesses this new method to create sensors up to 10,000x more sensitive than those found in smartphones, transforming positioning and navigation, structural and health monitoring, and image and platform stabilisation.

Lia founded Zero Point Motion in 2020 during her Royal Academy of Engineering Intelligence Community Fellowship at UCL, where she also completed her PhD in cavity optomechanics that touched upon classical and quantum sensing. Her Bristol-based company has recently raised a £2.58 million seed investment which will be used to expand their team and fund the creation of initial engineering samples to be tested by drones, robotics, AR/VR glasses and many more applications.

Hear more about the technology, Lia's time in industry and academia, and her experience during the recent £2.58m seed investment raise!