Meet the Team
We believe Motus Labs is the company that will dramatically change robotic technology applications using an innovative new design.
Joe Pollard
CEO / Co-Founder
Joe is a highly experienced technology executive with over 30 years of technology management and technical sales in the areas of computer hardware, telecom, communications and IT. Over his career, Joe has been involved in technology startup companies with a focus on business development in the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia Pacific. Through 2017, Joe was CEO and Founder of Vedero Software (Acquired by Murata Electronics) where he was responsible for strategy, operations, sales, marketing, support and was also a member of the Board of Directors.
Additional experience includes CEO of Permeo Technologies (acquired by Blue Coat), EVP of Worldwide Sales for MetaSolv Software (acquired by Oracle), VP of WW Sales for Ignite Technologies, Director of International Sales for Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM), Director of International Sales for Visual Information Technologies. Joe has a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Memphis.
Carlos Hoefken
CTO / Co-Founder
Carlos has spent the past 20 years involved in design and development of factory automation custom machinery including motion control, vision systems, and robotic devices. Carlos’ exposure to robotics began at an early age when he won 1st place in a physics contest with an invention of a balsa wood robotic arm. Since 2006, Carlos has been President of MacroLever, Inc., a company focused on the design and manufacture of factory automation and custom machinery.
Carlos developed his breakthrough gear drive technology over the past 5 years in parallel with running his full-time business. Prior to MacroLever, Carlos also served in a variety of mechanical engineering and management positions including Associated Air Center, which served major aircraft manufactures such as Boeing and Airbus. Carlos studied Industrial Engineering at Universidad de Lima Peru, graduated first in his class with a Plant Machinery Degree from the Instituto Superior Tecnológico Tecsup Lima, and holds an MBA with an Engineering Technology concentration from the University of Dallas.
Dr. Jeffrey Smith
Technical Advisor / Founding Investor
Dr. Jeffrey Smith
Technical Advisor / Founding Investor
Jeff is currently Adjunct Robotics Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington and CEO of QuantumIOT, an Internet-of-Things Systems Integrator. As a scientist for Motorola, The Robotics Institute, and the SuperCollider, he has worked on wireless sensor and control systems developed for the FBI, CIA, DOD, DOE, NASA, and USPS – from autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles to particle accelerators.
Until 2016, Jeff served as Chief Strategy and Technical Officer and on the Board of Numerex (NASDAQ:NMRX). In 1993, Jeff co-founded and served as President and CEO of OnRamp Technologies (acquired by Verio). During Jeff’s tenure at Verio, the company grew to be one of the largest web-hosting companies in the world. Verio was acquired by NTT for $5.5B. Jeff has also had executive leadership positions, board membership, or co-founded technology companies including MSensorLogic, Winning Habits, VIA, Vericenter, and Vaultnet. Jeff is a distinguished Alumni at UTA and serves on the Development Board at UTA and Advisory Board at the UTA College of Engineering. He is a member of IEEE, Tau Beta Pi, Upsilon Pi Epsilon, EO, and YPO. Jeff has a BS in Engineering from Trinity University, and an MS and PhD in Computer Engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington.
Dr. Mark Spong
Technical Advisor / Founding Investor
Dr. Mark Spong
Technical Advisor / Founding Investor
Mark is currently a Professor and Past Dean of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas. His career has been focused on transforming robotics from fiction to fact. Mark’s work has been instrumental in establishing the theoretical foundations of robot control. He has produced innovative solutions in robotics that have become now-classic results in robotic control.
His record of achievement earned him the 2011 Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award from the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Robotics and Automation Society, that organization’s highest honor. Mark is past president of the IEEE Control Systems Society, a Fellow of the IEEE, and has served as editor in chief of the IEEE Transactions on Control System Technology. His other notable honors include the first IROS (Intelligent Robotics and Systems) Fumio Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies. Mark also directs the Laboratory for Autonomous Robotics and Systems (LARS) at UTD.
Mark began his academic career at Lehigh University and from 1982 to 1984 taught at Cornell University. Mark received his BA magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in mathematics and physics from Hiram College, his MS in mathematics from New Mexico State University, and an MS and Ph.D. in systems science and mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis.
