Michael Buckwald

Michael Buckwald is an American entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO at Torch, and co-founder of Leap Motion. Buckwald is listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 (USA) in 2014.
Education
Buckwald pursued his higher education at George Washington University. He attended the university from 2006 to 2009 and participated in the North American Debating Championship and the APDA National Debate Championship.
Career
By the time he earned his bachelor's degree from George Washington University, he was already CEO of Zazuba.com, the business appointment service he launched while he was an undergraduate.
In 2010, according to the Wall Street Journal, Buckwald, together, with a friend from middle school in Florida David Holz, founded Leap Motion), a former American company that manufactured and marketed a computer hardware sensor device that supports hand and finger motions as input, analogous to a mouse, but requires no hand contact or touching. They designed Leap Motion Controller, a gadget that allowed users to control computers and devices by waving hands, without using a mouse, keyboard or touch pad. With the rise of VR, Leap Motion began to be used with head-mounted displays (HMDs), requiring it to be mounted on the front of the HMD for optimal performance. In 2013 Buckwald announced a deal between Leap Motion and Asus. The company raised over $130m of venture capital funding and was sold to the British company Ultrahaptics in 2019. The new company was rebranded under the new name Ultraleap.
In 2020 in San Francisco, Buckwald co-founded Torch, a technology company which designed sensors for early detection of outdoor fires.
In 2013, Time Magazine highlighted Michael Buckwald, CEO of Leap Motion, for his work in 3D motion control technology. Buckwald believes Leap Motion, which tracks finger motions in 3D, could revolutionize PC interactions. Leap Motion expanded its app store, Airspace, and partnered with Asus and HP, with HP embedding the technology in future products. The company is also working on Android support. Despite early challenges, Buckwald focuses on building a robust business and collaborating with NASA and robotics companies.
Further reading
* Jeff W Murray, Building Virtual Reality with Unity and SteamVR (2017, CRC Press, 276 pages)
* Nicole Cammorata, Words You Should Know 2013: The 201 Words from Science, Politics, Technology, and Pop Culture That Will Change Your Life This Year (2012, Adams Media)
* Rari Avora, Making Innovations Happen (2015, Allied Publishers Pvt Limited. 344 page)

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