2/27/2017 Daniel Dexter, ECE ILLINOIS
Written by Daniel Dexter, ECE ILLINOIS
Pixels.io founder Grace Woo (BSEE ’05) was recognized by The News-Gazette as one of 10 female graduates that went on to greatness.
Woo’s company is changing the way people can interact with media with its invention of the video response (VR) codes, which provides a sleeker alternative to QR codes. Advertisers can embed VR codes unobtrusively into their digital content, and consumers would be able to interact with it by scanning the TV screen or magazine article on a tablet.
Woo envisions a day when VR codes are a part of all digital media. That day may be fast approaching as Pixels.io is already working with NBC Universal and global advertising firm Aegis Media to bring the technology to the public.
The News-Gazette featured Woo as a part of its celebration of Illinois’ sesquicentennial. The ECE alumna shared her some of her memories of the University, including how one unfortunate morning turned into a stroke of luck in one of her first ECE classes.
"I remember missing the bus one semester and showing up late on my bike to the final lab challenge in ECE 110,” Woo told The News-Gazette. “The extra-credit assignment involved getting an autonomous car to catch a ball while following a windy path using infrared sensors and TTL logic. With a great stroke of luck and a minor miracle, our car caught that ball in class and I still have the toolset we won with me today."
Read the more about Woo and the nine other featured alumni here.