Q&A
Howe Innovation Center community profile: Samantha Johnson
The founder and CEO of Tatum Robotics, a company revolutionizing communication for the deafblind community, talks about the thriving DisabilityTech ecosystem in Massachusetts - and where the Howe Innovation Center fits in
Meet Samantha Johnson, Founder and CEO of Tatum Robotics, the first company to join the Howe Innovation Center as a “Startup in Residence” as part of its pilot in-person incubator program for DisabilityTech startups in Massachusetts.
Innovation – especially in DisabilityTech – takes community, collaboration and communication. The Howe Innovation Center is working hard to connect and convene the folks like Samantha who are committed to creating a more accessible world.
Get to know her in this community profile.
Tell us about Tatum Robotics and how you came to the Howe Innovation Center.
At Tatum Robotics, we’re developing the first independent telecommunications system that prioritizes communication via tactile sign for the deafblind community. Essentially, it’s a device that serves as kind of a desktop computer for deafblind users. It uses tactile sign, and provides access to news, weather, messaging services, websites, educational content – just like a traditional computer,
The tech actually started as my master’s thesis at Northeastern. Then we spun it out and were working at MassRobotics, but we grew to a point where we needed more space.
I’ve known Sandy Lacey for a few years as she’s gotten the Howe innovation Center up and running, and we’ve always been excited about the potential for working together.
Perkins is home to iCanConnect, NEC (the New England Consortium on Deafblindness), and, obviously, its incredible Deafblind School.
So when Sandy and I began talking about Tatum becoming a Startup in Residence with the Howe Innovation Center, it just made sense. We could grow together in this place that is perfectly suited for people and projects that are tackling these kinds of challenges.
Being on the campus gives us the opportunity to come here and get even closer with these other organizations serving the deafblind community.
What sparked your interest in DisabilityTech?
When I went to college, I knew I wanted to pursue some sort of assistive technology – I didn’t know whether it would be prosthetics, wheelchairs… but I knew I wanted to be in that space.
Northeastern has one of the best interpreting programs in the country, so I took an American Sign Language (ASL) class because I thought it might be interesting and relevant to my path going forward.
Along the way, I also encountered the DeafBlind Contact Center (DBCC), a social organization for the deafblind community in and around Boston. And I just became fascinated with tactile signing and started to engage more and more with the community.
I stayed involved, but things really started to move forward during the COVID pandemic. Social distancing was extremely difficult for this community that relies on touch, signing and tactile communication. Interpreting services were becoming less accessible by the day, so I reached out to the DBCC to discuss how we could work together.
For my master’s thesis, I’d started early prototypes of the technology. And when I was about to graduate, I got a big push from the DBCC to keep working on it – I was really encouraged to get this solution commercialized so it could make a wide impact on the community.
Northeastern had written a small article about us, and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) saw it – they gave us a small check to get Tatum Robotics started, and we’ve been going for a few years ever since.
What’s funny is that, while I was doing my thesis, I was also doing a co-op in the Perkins Lower School. Now that Tatum is settling in here, I’m running into so many of the students I used to work with.
And it’s so exciting because, back then, I was just working on prototypes – I remember talking to people about this idea that was just in my imagination. And now that it’s real and progress is being made, it’s very special to be back.
What do you enjoy most about working with the Howe Innovation Center?
Based on my history with Perkins, I knew how strong the deafblind program was – plus, so many of the people I know in the Boston-area deafblind community were once Perkins students. They’ve always encouraged me to make that connection because they know that it’s an atmosphere focused on accessibility and inclusion.
The community members are so excited – they’re eager to come in to check out our new space and to collaborate with us and each other. And that’s what’s best about being here.
The Howe Innovation Center is doing the important job of educating people on how to develop assistive technology – and why it can’t be done in isolation.
I’m a hearing, sighted engineer, and I know I can’t design for deafblind people by myself – that’s not going to create technology that’s going to benefit anyone. Companies have to work closely with the disabled communities we’re designing for, making sure that the intended end users are involved in every stage of the design process.
I’m a hearing, sighted engineer, and I know I can’t design for deafblind people by myself – that’s not going to create technology that’s going to benefit anyone.
Companies have to work closely with the disabled communities we’re designing for, making sure that the intended end users are involved in every stage of the design process.
The Howe Innovation Center is driving that movement – not only are they asking a lot of important questions and leading the way on the research in the industry, but they’ve created a physical space for us to link the deafblind and DisabilityTech communities.
What’s a book that’s had an impact on you?
Actually, it’s right here on the company bookshelf in case other people want to read it! It’s called In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri. It focuses on the author’s love of Italian and how she learned the language by immersing herself completely in Italian culture.
I thought it was really interesting as I was learning sign – I related to it so heavily then. They’re obviously totally different languages, but the parallels are so interesting that I’ve been encouraging others at work to read it as well.
What do you like to do for fun?
I love to go hiking or to the beach, so summer and fall are really my seasons.
I also enjoy traveling, which has been a really cool part of my job. Working with the deafblind community, we prioritize in-person interactions in order to get that hands-on feedback, so I’ve had an opportunity to travel all over the U.S. to meet with people. Connecting with the community, visiting states I’d never been to before – it’s really nice that one of my favorite things to do is pulled into what we’re doing here, too.
If you had to eat one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Lasagna – a nice, delicious lasagna. Can’t beat it!
Samantha Johnson, Tatum Robotics and Howe Innovation Center is a power combo – what are you looking forward to most?
First, we’re really excited about working more closely with the deafblind community – students, teachers and staff – here at Perkins. We’re interested in feedback on the technology, but also insight into their day-to-day, their curriculum and other areas where we might be able to help.
To date, a lot of the work we’ve done has been with and for deafblind adults, so getting a different perspective that can help us focus on the needs of a different type of user will be really helpful.
But I want folks to see us in the role of STEM educators, too. Other students who are interested in learning more about 3D printing, for instance, are welcome to come by. We have so many 3D printers here! We want to show off and elevate STEM education in general, for everyone.
Overall, Massachusetts is on the forefront of so much innovation and cutting-edge technology. Places like Greentown Labs are working on climate tech. There’s MassRobotics. There’s the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
There are so many sectors that are being supported – the Howe Innovation Center and a DisabilityTech initiative fit into the ecosystem so well and uplift this community even more. It’s an amazing time to be a part of this.
Stay in the conversation
Innovation can’t happen without all of us. Together, we can solve real accessibility problems.
If you want more from-the-front-lines perspective on what’s happening across the DisabilityTech market, join the Howe Innovation Center community. You’ll get members-only access to resources and insight that’s not available anywhere else, including our white paper, Defining DisabilityTech: The Rise of Inclusive Innovation.
