As Chief Operating Officer at Bai Brands, Sojo Founder, Barak Bar-Cohen, had managed over hundreds of employees at the Company’s warehousing facilities across Central New Jersey which were dedicated to the production of variety packages.
As the business continued to experience exponential growth, Barak and his team implemented high speed and high-capacity automated robotic variety pack assembly and packaging lines in the Company’s distribution and logistics center. The Bai Brands business was sold in 2017 to Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (now KDP) and Barak transitioned out of his role, focusing on investing in innovative startups.
On October 10, 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Barak lost his father, Professor Avram (“Avi”) Bar-Cohen – a brilliant and internationally recognized leader in thermal science and technology and a legend in the field of micro-electronics packaging in the area of thermal management who authored more than 400 papers and books and holds 11 international patents.
As Barak was going over his fathers’ old files and photos, he found references to Dr. Bar-Cohen’s work with NASA involving mobile roving units used on the lunar and Mars missions.
The idea of transforming the highly manual variety pack industry by merging automation, mobility and modularity was inspired by the pioneering decades-long work of one of the smartest, most humble, and most beloved human beings the world has ever known – Avram Bar-Cohen.
Why The Name Sojo?
Sojourner is a robotic Mars rover that landed on July 4, 1997, in the Ares Vallis region.
The rover was the first wheeled vehicle to rove another planet and was part of the Mars Pathfinder Mission. The name of the rover was selected in an essay contest won by a 12-year-old from Connecticut. It is named for abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth. The name Sojo pays homage to the pioneering technical and robotic breakthroughs of those who accomplished this incredible feat in human history … and to a truly incredible woman.