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At Mountain View’s 10th annual Technology Showcase this week, the plaza outside City Hall bustled with live exhibits and interactive displays from local companies and research institutions at the cutting edge of robotics, artificial intelligence, sustainable technology and more.
The free event hosted by the city and the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce kicked off on Wednesday with an evening panel discussion, followed by interactive exhibits and another panel on Thursday. Beginning at 11 a.m. on Thursday, attendees could browse nearly 30 booths and chat with representatives from across the tech industry.
“We get a really varied attendance,” said Peter Katz, the President and CEO of the Chamber. “It may be a local high school kid who just wants to learn more. It could be someone who used to work in aerospace who wants to see what’s new and exciting. Or, it could be a small company that says, ‘I want to connect with another company.’ All of those things happen here.”
There were a number of autonomous vehicle companies present, with exhibits from the robotaxi company Waymo and the driverless truck startup Kodiak Robotics, among others. Showcasing a different side of autonomy were delivery robots like Polar Labs and Matternet, the latter of whom conducted a stage presentation.
At noon, a Matternet M2 drone flew across Mountain View, carrying a box of chocolates. Once it arrived at City Hall, the drone hovered in the air, using a tether to lower the box to the ground. Just as soon as they’d arrived, the chocolates were gone – gobbled up by eager spectators. There was also a scheduled presentation by Jinxbot 3D printing services and a live DJ set.
In addition to startups and well-established companies, there were exhibitors from nonprofit organizations and government agencies. At a booth shared by the cities Mountain View and Cupertino, in collaboration with the nonprofit Silicon Valley Clean Energy, people could learn about home electrification rebates and incentives. They could also play a virtual reality game called Cooper’s Clean Air Quest, exploring ways to update outdated equipment and reduce one’s carbon footprint with the help of the game’s eponymous robot Cooper.
It wasn’t just tech companies presenting at the event. Attendees could also learn about the offerings at the Mountain View Public Library.
“Libraries are here to stay,” said librarian Ashley Lang. “Even though technology changes over time, [the library is] still a big, important presence.”
With a library card, “you have access to a multitude of resources,” including audio and e-book platforms like Hoopla and Libby, Lang said. She added that the library plays an important role in breaking down barriers to access, offering computers, free wifi and portable chargers to those who might need them.
NASA Ames Research Center had a large booth with multiple tables, displaying different areas of research and engaging people of all ages about the agency’s work, including those curious about internship opportunities.
At one table, they had representatives from their Space Biosciences Research Branch.
“They’re trying to figure out how we can live in space,” said Jonas Dino, a NASA public engagement specialist. The researchers work includes studying how to mitigate the impacts of things like microgravity and space radiation on the human body for future space travel, Dino said.
Next to the NASA bioscientists was another table with a three-degrees of freedom platform on it, a part of NASA’s Vertical Motion Simulator, which can simulate flight in an aircraft or spacecraft. People could also learn about the many spin-off technologies developed with the help of NASA’s research like memory foam and scratch-resistant sunglass lenses. And for the youngest attendees, there were NASA’s Celestial Buddies, stuffed toys resembling the sun and planets.
“We’re more than just a space agency,” Dino said. “We do a whole bunch of different things that a lot of people don’t know about or don’t think that NASA works on, but we do.”
The Technology Showcase was bookended by two evening panel discussions – one on Wednesday about AI and the future of work, and one the following day about the aerospace industry and its impact locally and beyond.
“The whole purpose of the tech showcase is to shine a light on the tech that’s happening right in Mountain View and a little bit to the fringes,” Katz said. “Technology comes in all forms. We can’t escape it. It’s all part of our lives, and so the more that people can learn about it, and the more that they can hear directly from and interact with the companies that provide it, I think we all benefit from that.”
The Mountain View Voice was a sponsor of the 2025 Technology Showcase.
