From a young age, Andrea, the founder of Cosito, was fascinated by the intersection between technology and the physical world. Her journey into sensors started not in a lab but on a tennis court. She loved playing tennis but disliked collecting the balls after practice. So, she built a robot to do it for her, using multiple sensors to geolocate itself and identify the balls.
Andrea studied electronics engineering, and after graduating, she got a job at SAP (the German business software applications company), where her role was initially unrelated to sensor applications. However, she found a creative way to incorporate sensors into her work. As a technical sales specialist for SAP databases, she realized that using sensor applications as examples would make it easier to explain database features. So, she started building sensor demos for every customer she visited. This approach not only helped her become an expert in IoT (Internet of things) solutions but also allowed her to assist SAP customers in over 20 countries with their IoT initiatives. Through these interactions, she identified a major gap: business users had many ideas for sensor-driven applications, but their technical teams lacked hardware expertise, and the fragmented IoT ecosystem made the execution of these ideas impossible.
Marketing teams, for example, had grand visions for interactive store experiences beyond traditional posters and brochures. They wanted physical installations that could engage customers—sensors, lights, sounds, and smartphone integrations—but couldn’t implement them due to the technical complexity. The same challenge applied across industries, from logistics companies to public sector initiatives. People had ideas, but execution was daunting.
Andrea saw the problem clearly: IoT solutions were often too complicated. In an era where AI simplifies tasks, deploying sensor applications should be just as easy. What if users could describe their needs in plain language, and AI could handle the rest? No need for coding, no technical expertise—just simple, fast implementation in under three minutes. This vision laid the foundation for Cosito.
Her time at MIT reinforced her belief in democratizing technology. While volunteering Ghana, she taught robotics and IoT to high school students, introducing them to Arduino. The creativity and problem-solving abilities of these students amazed her. In just three weeks, they built devices tailored to their own needs—solutions for dormitories, classrooms, and daily life. This experience highlighted a significant reality: while STEM education provides some exposure to technology, most adults have no access to tools that allow them to bring their ideas to life. Sensors technology should not be limited to enterprise users or kids in school projects—it should be accessible to everyone.
Andrea’s journey continued at AWS, where she worked as a Senior Technical Product Manager for AWS IoT. There, she observed another gap: AWS provided powerful IoT features, but they were tailored for technical users. People wanted ready-to-use, end-to-end solutions that allowed customization based on their businesses. She realized that for IoT to be truly democratized, the power to create applications had to be placed in the hands of those who truly understood the pain points and challenges they needed to solve.
Determined to bridge this gap, Andrea moved to China, immersing herself in Shenzhen’s thriving hardware ecosystem. Despite her limited Chinese, she visited factories, met vendors, attended meetups, and used translation tools to communicate. Shenzhen, often called the Silicon Valley of hardware, gave her direct access to cutting-edge IoT manufacturing and innovation. Seeing the vast potential of sensor technology up close solidified her vision: sensors should be as common and accessible as smartphone chargers.
Cosito was born out of this mission—to make sensor technology available to everyone, not just enterprises or STEM students. With AI as an enabler, Andrea set out to build a company that empowers anyone to implement sensor applications easily. Whether for marketing campaigns, workplace monitoring, artistic projects, or personal convenience, Cosito turns ideas into reality with minimal effort.
Andrea believes that creativity shouldn’t be limited by technical barriers. By making sensors simple to deploy and use, Cosito is opening doors for people to innovate in their physical spaces—just as Andrea once did with her tennis ball robot. And this is just the beginning.
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