ALUMNI/AE
Out of the Box, Into the Skies:
MARY MA ’15 AND THE FUTURE OF SMART DRONES When Mary Ma ’15 graduated from Millbrook, she had no idea she’d end up helping revolutionize warehouse logistics with autonomous drones. In fact, at Barnard College, she majored in art
more than 99%. “That really speeds things
history. “At the time, I don’t think there was
up,” Mary says, “because if somebody is
any way I could have foreseen myself going
going to that location expecting something,
into robotics,” she laughs. But the path from
they will find it.”
the art world to artificial intelligence, as
At Corvus, Mary’s title is production lead,
unexpected as it was, felt natural in retrospect:
but she has worn many hats: recruiter, head
curiosity, adaptability, and a deep desire to
of manufacturing, booth staffer at trade
build something useful fueled her transition.
shows, and product ambassador. “We’re still
After college, Mary stayed in New York,
a small team, so if something comes up or somebody needs a hand, I jump in,” she says.
exploring career paths and spending time with
“I would call myself kind of a jack—or I guess
her partner, Jackie Wu, who in 2020 was launching a startup, Corvus Robotics. “I
‘Jill’—of all trades.”
decided to help him out with his startup, which
Though the tech industry remains male-
was still very lean,” she recalls. “We were still
dominated, Mary finds the robotics space
working on R&D. It was me and three or four other people, including him.” During the early days of the company, which also coincided
designed from the ground up by the
cares about what you’ve done or where you
with the COVID pandemic, Mary taught herself
Corvus team.
went to school. They just love geeking out
web development and dove into the world of warehouse robotics and automation through hands-on learning and research and development with those who understood the technology, including one of the founding partners who studied aerospace
nerd,” she says with a smile. “Nobody really
about stuff.”
“These drones don’t rely on Wi-Fi or GPS, which is a game-changer in the concrete-
Today, based in the Bay Area, Mary remains
and-metal environments of warehouses,”
driven by the potential of mission-driven
Mary explains. “There’s a basic map with
innovation. “We’re focused on growth and
measurements onboard the drone…and
providing real value,” she says. “We want to
engineering at MIT.
it builds on top of that using sensors all
make a positive contribution to one of the
around it to create a digital twin of the
backbones of the world—the supply chain.”
Fast forward a few years, and Corvus is now a
physical space.”
What’s next? Mary won’t say exactly, but
growing startup—still under 50 employees—
The results speak for themselves.
teases: “We have many exciting ideas coming
developing fully autonomous drones that
Warehouse clients—some of the largest
perform cycle counting in warehouses. This
retail brands in the U.S.—have seen
once manual, dangerous job (often requiring
inventory accuracy rise from 80–85% to
employees to ride scissor lifts 40 feet in the
78
refreshingly meritocratic. “Everybody is a
air) is now done by AI-powered drones,
• SPRING 2025
up…not just drones, but solving other big problems, too. I’m excited for it.”