You're the President of Electra Studios. Describe the company and what it will do. What triggered you to start the company and what do you hope to achieve?
Automation, robotics and intelligent systems technologies have proven themselves in the field and are now expanding within and without their traditional markets, providing more companies and vertical industries with the opportunity to develop new products and markets, as well as enhance existing solutions and services. Yet these robotics solutions and associated services also carry with a sizable amount of complexity and adoption risk. As a result, implementation and business development rates are slow and in many cases go lacking. Much of the problem can be attributed to the nonexistence of research and advisory services that are commonplace in similarly sized marketplaces.
Electra Studios is a new start-up under development that provides business, technology and investment professionals with a single source for independent, accurate and in-depth analysis and proprietary research focused on the application of automation, robotics and intelligent systems technologies in multiple markets. The company delivers actionable, pragmatic advice communicated with deep understanding enabling our clients to improve efficiency, increase competitiveness and drive business.
You write analytic articles for the American news site Robotics Business Review. What topics are particularly interesting for you to cover and why? Could you please explain your view on the importance and impact of the news site for the robotics society?
I cover a large swath of the automation, robotics and intelligent systems industries. Some areas are more interesting to me than others and my interests change over time. For example, I am very well informed about the consumer robotics sector, including smart toys (the toy industry is an $80B+ markets) and homecare products (such as robotics vacuums), but now I prefer to focus on other sectors. Other areas are very interesting, but they are a bit beyond my purview. Unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned underwater vehicles fall into this category.
Personally, I am very fond of covering academic research, particularly breakthroughs that can be commercialized. Mobile ground systems for use in the workplace, such as hospital automation/delivery systems and mobile industrial robots for use in warehouses and distribution centers, are very compelling. I am very interested in the new generation of co-worker robotics, those industrial robotics systems designed to work in close approximation with humans. Interesting also are the efforts to bring the advantages of industrial automation with robotics to small-to-medium business (SMBs). Healthcare robotics, particularly robotic rehabilitation systems, assistive technology, prosthetic and orthotic systems, as well as robotics lifestyle enhancement systems, is a very important market sector given demographic trends and real social need. Cloud robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous transportation and the linking of industrial automation systems to traditional IT (information technology) architectures all fire my imagination.
You've had a great influence and part in events like RoboBusiness Leadership Summit. How important are these kind of events for the robot society?
I think events like the RoboBusiness Leadership Summit are extremely important and necessary for growth of the robotics industry. It is so important that I launched a number of events in the US that served different robotics communities. These include the RoboNexus Conference and Exposition (consumer and educational robotics), the RoboDevelopment Conference and Exposition (technical development) and the CES Robotics TechZone (consumer robotics).
The reason I founded the RoboBusiness event in 2004 was to bring together different groups that rarely interacted with each other. For example, there were academic events for academics, investment events for investors, defense related events for the military, toy events for the toy industry and on and on. These groups never interacted with each other. Certainly there are major technical differences between unmanned aerial vehicles, industrial robots, surgical robots and smart toys. Yet, in many instances the various systems share technologies (power and vision systems, for example). Also, the cross pollination in the form of information exchange and networking is good for everyone involved.
The second reason I founded the RoboBusiness event can be found in the name of the conference itself. At its heart, the RoboBusiness Leadership Summit is a business development event. Its primary purpose is business development. At this the event has been very successful. In the 8 years since RoboBusiness was launched, I have seen companies incorporate, grow, go public, acquire and be acquired. What was once speculation are now products. I have also witnessed researchers become business leaders, and companies partner with each other and with government entities across the globe to build better, stronger businesses, and in doing so build an industry. RoboBusiness played a role, often a key role, in much of this.
What do you see as the 2-3 most important challenges for the development of robotics, particularly for the industry and health care sector?
There are a number of challenges, of course. First is the technical complexity of developing robotics systems themselves, taking as it does expertise in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science. Then there are the business issues. For example, “Who pays for assistive technology for elders?” and “How can mobile telepresence systems be monetized?”. Also, investment for new robotics technologies and companies is very different than for other classes of technology. For example, compared to software start-ups, hardware start-ups are typically more costly, and it usually takes a longer time for investors to see a return on their investment. There is also the never-ending struggle to bring together different communities in the robotics and automation value chain – investors, business leaders, technologists and academics, and government groups - to share knowledge, work together and build a new industry.
What drew you to participate as a key note speaker at Robotdalen’s event Robotics Innovation Challenge in Sweden?
I have intently followed automation, robotics and intelligent systems research and commercialization efforts in Europe and that, of course, includes Sweden. What I find particularly compelling about Robotdalen is their emphasis on developing commercial class products and developing new businesses, often by partnering with others. The founders of Robotdalen understand that the best way to develop new, sustainable businesses (and new markets) is for government, academia, investment professionals and businesses to come together to work cooperatively. I also applaud Robotdalen’s clear eyed and pragmatic focus on a select number of markets, markets that are commercially viable (field and industrial robotics) or meet a larger social need (quality of life robotics).