Innovating the Future

Chapter 1: Holographic Teleportation: A New Frontier 0:00 We created something called holographic teleportation. Something that I can see you in a three-dimensional way, but also I can feel you at the same time. 0:08 We sent a NASA surgeon to the space station to perform some medical evaluations of the astronauts. That sounds easy. 0:17 However, the space station is a very fast moving target, 17,500 miles per hour. 0:24 So first of all, we need to send him to space very fast. The second part is we don't have a lot of bandwidth. 0:31 So you can imagine that we have the fastest internet on a station. That is not the case. 0:37 We have the same internet that you had in 2007 using your cell phone, 5 megabits per second. 0:49 you Welcome to the Degrees of Success podcast. 0:57 I'm your host, Freda Richards. And today we have an incredible guest, Dr. Fernando de la Peña. 1:04 This gentleman is out of this world and we can't wait to dive in and find out more about him. Dr. Fernando, how are you? 1:12 Very good, thank you so much for inviting me. Absolutely, thank you so much for joining. For those who are watching and listening who don't know you, how would you introduce yourself to them and tell us more about your mission? 1:24 Well, first of all, I'm alumni from the University of Phoenix. I'm very proud, twice. 1:29 But also, I'm a guy that create uh new technologies. I'm not waiting for someone to tell me what they want to. 1:39 I would rather just to create something new. And a couple of examples, and we're going to dive, is something that I did for NASA that gave us two awards, also for the Department of Defense. 1:50 So instead of just playing catch, I always love to lead we can tell that due to the fact that you've actually broken history, tell us about this incredible accomplishment that NASA's awarded you for. 2:04 So during COVID, NASA was looking for new technologies. Right now, you and I, we're talking through a screen, but it's not the way that we communicate. 2:15 It's flat. 2:17 During COVID, I believe that everyone experienced that problems like isolation and just will not be able to touch your family, your friends. 2:30 So we created something called photographic teleportation, something that I can see you in a three-dimensional way, but also I can feel you at the same time with something called haptics. 2:40 And we made this possible. We sent a NASA surgeon to the space station to perform some medical evaluations for the astronauts. 2:50 That sounds easy. However, the space station is a very fast moving target, 17,500 miles per hour. 2:58 So first of all, we need to send him to space very fast. second part is we don't have a lot of bandwidth. 3:06 So you can imagine that we have the fastest internet on a station. That is not the case. 3:11 We have the same internet that you had in 2007 using your cell phone, five megabits per second. Plus it needs to be safe. 3:20 It needs to be secure. We don't want someone hacking into the space station. So what we did... 3:26 we send Air Force General to the space station to perform medical evaluations of the astronauts. And the astronauts could interact with him. 3:35 And then we did it two way. And then at some point, what was interesting is one of the crew members uh believed that he was really there. 3:45 She was waiting for her medical evaluation. For some reason, there is no up and down in the space. They are floating. 3:53 She got distracted. She was checking her email, move her head back, and NASA surgeon was in front of her, and she shouted like, hey, go back, you're invading my personal space. 4:06 Then she stopped. She laughed. She said, Houston, I'm sorry. I never believed that a hologram can invade my personal space. 4:14 How did that happen? Guess what? The space medicine division called me at NASA and if she believed that he was there, this is very powerful. Chapter 2: The Drive for Innovation 4:24 NASA gave me two awards, which are NASA JSC Directors Innovation Award for the best technology and JSC exceptional software. 4:36 It's very hard for a technology to receive two awards. 4:41 So it's exciting, but at the same time, I decided to say, this has a lot of future. 4:49 So I decided to create a second company. and start commercializing this technology. And I was like, let's make it available for everyone. 4:57 Let's make it uh with devices and they already have smartphones, tablets, something like they can have it. 5:05 And I will tell you more about this. But essentially, I decided to split paths. 5:10 I'm still working with NASA, the Department of Defense, the government, selling technology, selling this technology, actually, that we are planning to put it on Mars. 5:20 But at the same time, put it in everyone's devices, smartphones, to help a lot of people. 5:28 And we're really needed that. Where do you get this drive to be so innovative? Because clearly these ideas are definitely out of the box. 5:38 Where do you get that drive to be able to just, you know, this sounds impossible, but I'm absolutely gonna be able to do this. 5:48 Where does that come from? 5:50 was uh joking with my wife, it's like, I never allowed that child in me to pass away, to get rid of me. 6:03 So I still have this child with me. And I was like, now I have the knowledge. And I was like, hey, I have this idea. Let's make it happen. 6:10 Whatever I dreamed when I was a child, now we can make it for real. And that's how I kept that child in me. 6:19 And now with the family, with two children, I have my real kids also saying, okay, let's do this, let's push it. 6:28 I always had a desire to lead instead of just waiting, just lead with technologies that I can imagine. 6:35 You mentioned your kids. When we were offline, we chatted about them a bit. We have to brag about them. 6:41 Tell me about your two awesome children and what they're doing, not only hanging out at home and amazing at school, but with your company. 6:50 Well, my son Fernando is 17. He wants to study business. My daughter, Maya, she's 14. 6:58 She wants to be an aerospace engineer. And what's happening is in my work, I travel a lot. 7:06 NASA has 10 centers. The Department of Defense, have different military bases, Global Air Force High Command. 7:15 We go to Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Dakota, California. And then I have customers that are defense Fortune 500 companies. 7:24 So they travel with me all the time. We take it as an adventure, but they are learning a lot. 7:31 They already sent samples to the space station in the past. So now they are taking a more active role. 7:39 So my son, I believe three weeks ago, he was named project manager in one of our projects with the Air Force. 7:47 So the Air Force is our customer. and now he's a project manager. My daughter is also trying to create new technologies. So this is really helping me. 7:56 they keep me ah in a way to be honest with me, but also keep pushing forward and be open to new technologies. 8:06 And I want to give you one example. Behind me, if you see a, it's a creator award. My kids told me that you should be an influencer. 8:15 Use your holographic technology. And I was like. check my accent. I might be a citizen , but English wasn't my first language. 8:23 I'm not an influencer. I'm not like Freda, so successful. But I was like, you know what? I'm going to give you a lesson. 8:30 I'm going to launch my YouTube channel. I'm pretty wrong. I launched my YouTube channel, started interviewing friends at NASA, colleagues in other companies. 8:41 Guess what? We passed 750,000 subscribers. YouTube gave us a free award. 8:48 ah If we add all of our social media channels, we pass like two million followers. 8:56 And I was like, yeah, you are right. So having my kids involved is keeping me fresh because they see things that I don't see. 9:08 And it's really helping me to keep innovating. ah I may have the knowledge, but they have that spark that helped me when I was a child. 9:18 Clearly, I mean, it definitely comes from you. Chapter 3: Journey from Mexico to NASA 9:21 Tell me more about, you told me that you were from Mexico City and it wasn't until 2002 that you would come here to America. 9:32 Tell me about that journey and what the goal and the plan was. Well, um I always want to be involved in aerospace and with NASA. 9:41 So my dissertation in college was about space propulsion, antimatter propulsion. was like, combustion is very slow. 9:50 It takes a lot of rocket fuel to take like maybe 100 pounds of rocket fuel just to take one pound to space. 9:59 So it's not efficient and it's very slow. 10:02 So I came with an idea to use something that is available in space called Antimatter. 10:08 So you can go to Mars in a matter of minutes instead of months. 10:12 m And after I submitted my dissertation and I received my degree, I also created a patent. 10:21 And that really helped me to pave my way here to come to the US because I had something unique. 10:27 And then I was working with NASA as a contractor. 10:32 um I was learning, I learned from so many companies, so many friends. And in 2012, I decided to create my own company. 10:41 Like, okay, I may have enough knowledge, now I can start chasing my own dreams instead of chasing other's dreams. Wow. 10:51 It's blowing my mind how your drive and your innovation, your innovation led you to America. 11:00 Was it always space or was it always different ideas? You saw something wasn't working and you wanted to, you came up with an idea to fix that thing. 11:08 Well, first of all, um I was born in Mexico City. I live in a city close to Lansing, which is very close to Mexico City. 11:17 But they had two huge satellite dishes that they use to broadcast the Olympic games. 11:27 I was telling to my people over there, like, hey, we always look to the sky because we have those huge dishes looking to space. 11:35 Then my father, he passed away when I was 10, but when he was alive, filled with technology. It was early 1981, 1982. 11:44 We already had computers, touch screen. It was green and black, pretty ugly. My dad already had a watch that was a radio. 11:54 He has all kinds of gadgets. 11:56 So in my mind as a kid, I was watching TV shows and I was like, In my mind, I didn't realize that there was like a huge gap between living in Mexico and watching those TV shows. 12:08 And because I experienced those gadgets with my dad, was like, yeah, that's possible. I'm going to make it. 12:14 um Then I had my first video console and my first computer and we use some cartridges. 12:22 I literally opened every single one to figure out what was inside. And I was very good opening the stuff. I opened my computer, put it back. 12:30 And that really helped me. Let me tell you a story. I'm very good understanding technology and reverse engineering stuff. 12:41 One of our contacts with the Air Force, they invited a couple of companies. It was my first time trying to get a contract. 12:50 And at the end, it was like five companies and they show us an electronic warfare device, like a magic box. 12:57 And it was classified and they just told us like, you need to create the next generation. And I was like, I'm lost. 13:06 I don't have the knowledge of the other big companies. I need to find a competitive advantage. So I told them, can I open it and break it to understand it? 13:17 Every single attendee from the other companies looked at me like, are you crazy? For some reason, I really convinced them. 13:24 They are very open. They allow me to open it. I understood how it works. 13:28 I told them like, How can I offer you the next generation if I don't understand how it works? 13:34 Otherwise, we're going to offer you uh a different version of what you have. So they allow me and that helped me to understand it. 13:43 And we want that contract because we could really propose something new, something unique, a different share. So just making that connection with that child. Chapter 4: Challenges and Breakthroughs in Technology 13:52 I was telling my mother, like, I was always breaking stuff and putting the stuff together, but that really helped me. to understand how things work. 14:00 So, and that really gave me a unique skill like ah I will make it work. Two, I'm very good putting things together. 14:09 I will always try to have people as smart as I can learn from them. And that's very smart. 14:18 And three, I love challenges. People stuff like no one did before and just make it happen and make it happen pretty quick. 14:27 Well, clearly you love challenges based off of the career path you took. Tell me, give me an example of one of the things you took apart at your mom's house. 14:37 So I took everything. 14:38 uh I took from computers, video game consoles, and every single device that my mom had at home, including a TV, a Betamax VCR recorder, ah put it back together. 14:54 And at some point, they were like mad. They like, are going to break it. And I was like, no, I'm going to fix it. But that really gave me a unique set of skills. 15:05 And I want to show you another um experience if I can. Of course. When we performed our first holographic teleportation was October 2021. 15:17 And October is always has a lot of meaningful is when my dad passed away. But something good always happened to me in October. 15:25 December before Christmas, NASA called me. I was like, oh, they're going to give me an award. I was like, yeah, what can I do for you? 15:33 And they say, hey, there is a new company. They are going to send that first private mission to the space station. 15:40 And I was like taking notes and they want to do to use your technology in a two way. 15:46 But back in the day, was like as a surgeon could call a port from mission control to the space station as a hologram. 15:54 But it was one way and say, no, now these guys want to do it two way. 15:59 I was just taking notes and like, OK, uh they want to do something meaningful and they want to do it for April. 16:08 Most of the projects with the government take like years, four or five years. And I was like, was December, 2021. 16:16 was like, oh, do you want this April, 2025, 2026? 16:22 And they said, no, they want that for April, 2022. This guy is a billionaire. He wants to make this happen. 16:31 I was just taking notes and I was like, let me see if you, if I... If I get it right, so you are telling me that you want me to create a new technology. 16:42 Here I can test it because he's on the ground. Be sure that is working, flying to the station without prove it, make it work. 16:50 And this guy want to make it in April. he said, yeah, we want to do that. And I was like, uh well, I just want to be sure that you mentioned and you say billionaire and millionaire with a B. 17:01 And said, no, it's a millionaire with a B. And I was like, OK, so money is not an issue. We launched some components to the space station. 17:08 We tried to put all that technology together. And at some point we had a couple of hiccups. 17:13 NASA is one of the most proactive and positive organizations. 17:20 We tried to figure out an issue we couldn't communicate away. 17:25 And we spent a full day, a bunch of people online, just trying to throw solutions, solutions, solutions. 17:31 It was a Friday that didn't work. I said, you know what, Fernando, we need to say on Monday, then we will not be able to do it, or to do a job. 17:39 And I was like, no, no, no, hold on. Give me until Monday, let me see if we can figure it out. 17:46 So with my team, we replicate the computers and the environment of the space station in my office. 17:53 We figure out how to fix it. And we arrive on Monday, say, we figure out what was wrong, we fix it. 18:01 Literally they told me, hey, that was a Hail Mary. We didn't expect that. 18:06 So, months later, April 22, we were able to perform these two-way holographic teleportations to the space station. 18:14 So that's the kind of challenges that I love because you don't have like a reference. You are trying to do something that no one did it before. 18:24 And you're pushing that technology and your people and your, my own limits. pushing out of my comfort zone. Chapter 5: Building a Legacy through Technology 18:31 So it's pretty amazing. What else is driving those challenges? I know that you were here and you started the company in 2012. 18:41 How did you go from starting the company to being a trusted partner and contractor with NASA, so much so that they appreciate your work and you're moving so quickly with them that they're giving you awards? 18:53 What does that look like? What quality and value do you and your company have that would somehow quickly align you to one of the most powerful companies? 19:05 I saw your first question. Yeah. What motivates me is legacy is just my last name is is my brand. 19:15 So it's how I want my company and my last name to people remember me for that. um But it's very easy. 19:24 One, people love something new, something that will give you a lot of advantages that will solve a problem that they have or they don't know that they have or they may have it. 19:34 Two, is quality. You need to make it with quality and you need to make it better than anyone. 19:43 Three, because I'm a small company compared with the big ones, small company for now, I can move faster ah and I don't have any red tape. 19:53 The way that we work and I learned that from a book called Team of Teams, like everyone in my team, they can take executive decisions. 20:02 So we try to move very fast. No restate. And something that I learned is when we have a problem, it's like, it is not my fault, but it is my problem now. 20:14 So now let's figure out how to solve it. And we have like failure is not an option. 20:19 So they like me because A, we move fast, high quality. 20:25 We try to bring a lot of value to the agents in case of NASA or the Department of Defense of any of my customers. 20:32 uh And that's why we try instead of the traditional stuff that you know, what's going to be the output, to bring something unique that they didn't have. 20:43 NASA loves innovation. The Air Force loves innovation. And a lot of organizations, they really love innovation. 20:50 you have innovation, quality, and great customer service. Game over. 20:57 It sounds like some incredible leadership is coming from your company as well. I know you have two degrees here at University of Phoenix. 21:05 Has University of Phoenix in your degrees and your journey with us, has it helped you become a stronger leader? 21:15 First of all, I have my masters and my doctorate at University of Phoenix. When I took my doctorate, that really changed my mind. 21:24 You're going to be a doctor in a couple of years and you will know how that comes from your mind. 21:30 And also now in these projects, I can be principal investigator because I have my degree. I can be PR. 21:38 What's the meaning of that? I can say we can move this technology. We can make these changes to these proposals. 21:48 and literally give me more freedom to move and learn from projects. So that's a unique capability. 21:55 That's a huge differentiator because now I have a different mindset, but also um being a PI, a principal investigator, give me a lot of freedom. 22:08 And after you complete your doctorate, your mind is going to work in a different way. You analyze, you understand things in a different way. 22:17 And that's huge. When you received your doctorate here at the University of Phoenix, how did you see that education changing your perspective? 22:28 It really changed my mindset, but that didn't end there. um I made multiple publications. 22:38 the doctorate is the beginning of what showed me. It really helped you to have your degree and change your mindset. 22:47 However, the University of Phoenix, they had another kind of workshops. One that was very useful is about how to make your first publication. 22:55 My dissertation was about to use holographic teleportation to reduce the stress in astronauts on the space station. Chapter 6: Commercializing Holographic Technology 23:05 But then as I moved forward, I decided to complete more research and then publish those as white papers. 23:15 So that was the beginning of the journey. And I learned and I made my first publication thanks to the University of Phoenix workshop. 23:22 So after I held my diploma, that's not the end of the journey. It's just the beginning. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. 23:30 Well, I want to dive deep, not only into the business that you opened in 2012, but you said that there's a new one. 23:38 Tell me more about this. So when we have this huge success with this holographic teleportation, my company works with the government and government contractors. 23:52 I say like, this is powerful. I decided to create a second company called AEXA Tech. And we decided to commercialize this technology and make it available for anyone. 24:00 Not everyone has these fancy glasses for $4,000, but everyone has these, like a cellphone. So what I did is like make this technology available for anyone. 24:10 Right now it's pretty universal. can use a cell phone, a tablet, glasses, anything to create a project, a hologram. 24:19 We have physicians helping and training people in Africa about medical procedures. 24:26 So this technology is really helping people. And then I learned how to raise money, which is pretty interesting. 24:34 That's the best part. 24:36 During the round B ah of investment, one of our new business partners, he's very powerful with AI. 24:44 And he was like, if you combine your technology with AI, that's going to be a game over. So it's what we did. We blended AI with holographic teleportation. 24:54 And it's really changing a lot of fields that I wasn't aware of. So right now, just to give you an example, next week I'm selling this at a hospital. 25:04 So it's going to be like a tele-doctor. 25:06 essentially, you The doctor can see you, the hologram can see you and hey, I have a bruise here or my eyes are red. 25:13 And it can give you real feedback, like if you are talking with a real person. We're installing these at the Hotel Rats. It's going to be focused here. 25:22 So we're installing these in the Emirates, United, I believe in Dubai. 25:28 So when people arrive, we're going to tell them about what to do, what not to do. So this is growing exponentially. 25:34 uh and it's helping to communicate. We develop our own brand of holographic projectors. 25:41 if you don't like glasses, you can interrupt with those holographic projectors. When will we see these in market? That was an interesting question. 25:49 what happened is as we move forward every time someone see an application and we were defined more for the market. 25:59 So my idea was like, is perfect for all the guys and we're doing that for training and some post some physicians. I like that. 26:08 Okay. I will make it for you and say, but I don't want tiny screens. I want to see the person like real size. 26:13 So we develop our real size holographic, two-way holographic projection system. 26:19 So the physician can see the person in a three-dimensional way. It's a six-foot tall device. You can see it. 26:28 It's transparent. Like the person is there. And it's the way each of them can see us holograms. 26:33 And every day we have someone new telling us, can we use this in this industry? Can we use it here? Can we use it there? 26:41 So what we decided is like, let's just make this. open and if people want to use it that way then they want to the it is going to be that way. 26:50 So right now my technology you can download it there's a free version there is a paid version for these is working like an app and if you want to buy the machines you can buy it. 27:01 So I'm making this available instead of me trying to evangelize the market I'm allowing the market to tell me what they want me to modify. 27:11 We are close to also create our own social media platform, they can literally see three dimensional reels and interact in a different way. 27:22 So we are moving very fast ah and it's what is keeping us leading this market. 27:30 I'm so excited about your new social media. What made you want to immediately share this? 27:35 Because your idea is going to change the world. You could have kept this private. 27:43 You could have controlled the technology and the AI and how it moves forward. But you have it available for people to use on their cell phones. 27:52 They can download it. They can get the larger device for the human size hologram. 27:59 What made you want to share so freely? As I told you, people will not remember me about how much money that I have in my bank account. 28:10 People will remember about what we gave back to the society, what we gave back as humans, and that's part of the legacy. 28:17 So that's my answer, legacy. Legacy. My goodness. Before we go, I want to make sure that I give you the floor. 28:26 Is there anything that you want to make sure that our viewers and listeners walk away with today? 28:31 Yeah, I believe that everyone at the university trying to get that degree is because they have dreams. 28:38 Take your dreams, keep your dreams alive, and you will make it happen. 28:42 It's hard, but a lot of people achieve their dreams and they realize that they only need to keep pushing and pushing forward and never give up. 28:52 And they will say, ah I only slept like two, three hours and I really pushed it. But after they got their degree. 28:59 They can pursue their dreams for a better life. Just keep pushing, keep dreaming and praise Christ. Incredible. 29:07 Dr. Fernando, thank you so much for joining us. This has been an incredible interview and I'm excited to watch your YouTube channel grow. 29:16 I'm excited to see your social medias, the holograms. my goodness. I know that there'll be a follow up just because it seems like there's literally nothing you can't do and you're not stopping. 29:25 So we're looking forward to seeing you again. Thank you so, so much for joining us. Listen, you heard it here first from Dr. Fernando. 29:33 Hold on to your dream, protect your dream and Everyone has the same 24 hours. 29:41 Somehow this is the end of this episode of degrees of success. I'm your host Freda Richards reminding you that your next chapter might just be your best one yet. 29:51 See you soon.