Describes the history of Integrated Surgical Systems (ISS), the US company that created ROBODOC, a surgical robot system used to perform total human hip replacement surgery, and ORTHODOC, a computer workstation that enables orthopaedic surgeons to examine a patient’s bone more accurately and perform a pre‐operative plan prior to total hip replacement (THR) surgery. ISS recently went public on the NASDAQ Small Cap market. ORTHODOC has received US FDA approval, while ROBODOC’s approval is still pending. More than 850 patients in six hospitals worldwide have received surgical procedures performed by ROBODOC.
Purpose – This paper aims to present a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experiences of a prominent robotic industry engineer-turned entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market. Design/methodology/approach – The interviewee is Russ Angold, Co-Founder and President of Ekso™ Labs. Mr Angold has a bachelor’s degree in BioResource and Agricultural Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He is a California-registered Professional Mechanical Engineer and has two granted patents and another seven pending. Findings – In 2004, two weeks after Mr Angold was hired by a former colleague to work on exoskeletons (Exos) at the University of California, Berkeley, one of Mr Angold’s six brothers has an accident that leaves him as an incomplete quadriplegic. This is the catalyst that eventually leads him and the company to design and create robotic Exos for medical applications in addition to military applications. Originality/value – Russ Angold, via a personal tragedy, becomes a bionic entrepreneur who provides many of the concepts that shape the current inventions and intellectual property of Ekso Bionics, a pioneer in the field of robotic Exos. Ekso was selected as WIRED magazine’s number two “Most Significant Gadget of 2010”, was included in Time magazine’s “50 Best Innovations of 2010” and was also featured in Inc. Magazine as one of the “5 Big Ideas for the Next 15 Years”. Ekso is listed on the US over-the-counter QB securities.
Sony’s AIBO entertainment robot has broken all records for the number of robots sold in the shortest time period. The AIBO is an autonomous home entertainment robot with artificial intelligence. Its behavior simulates a dog’s in its ability to walk and play, with built‐in functions for emotions, instincts, learning and growth. Yet AIBO was not intended by Sony to be a dog substitute, but to further the man‐robot interaction. It has received an overwhelming response worldwide and it appears as if AIBO may be just the beginning of Sony’s home entertainment robots.
Purpose – The following paper is a “Q & A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned successful business leader, regarding the commercialization and challenges of bringing technological inventions to market while overseeing a company. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The interviewee is Dr Steve Cousins, a seasoned executive, entrepreneur and innovator with a strong track record for managing research and development organizations and realizing a significant return on investment. Dr Cousins has dedicated the past near-decade of his life to the mission of building and deploying personal and service robotic technology to assist people. In this interview, Dr Cousins discusses some of the technical and business insights that have led to his most recent robotic advancements as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Savioke, a company that is creating autonomous robot helpers for the services industry. Findings – Dr Cousins received his BS and MS degrees in computer science from Washington University, and holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University. Dr Cousins managed the Advanced Systems Development Laboratory at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and then went on to lead the IBM Almaden Research Center, one of the top human–computer interaction research groups in the world, as the Senior Manager of the User-Focused Systems Research Group. While at IBM, Dr Cousins earned a micro-MBA. Originality/value – Dr Cousins is spearheading a new business model for robotics, Robots as a Service (RaaS), with Savioke’s flagship mobile robot, Relay. Based on the information technology industry service trend of improving customer experiences, Savioke is successfully applying RaaS to the hospitality industry with about 10 Relays at half a dozen US major hotels. Before founding Savioke, Dr Cousins was the President and CEO of Willow Garage, where he oversaw the creation of the robot operating system (ROS), the PR2 robot and the open-source TurtleBot. In the last three years of his tenure at Willow Garage, Dr Cousins spun off eight successful companies: Suitable Technologies (maker of the Beam remote presence system); Industrial Perception, Inc. (acquired by Google in 2013); Redwood Robotics (acquired by Google in 2013); HiDOF (ROS and robotics consulting); Unbounded Robotics; The Open Source Robotics Foundation; The OpenCV Foundation; and The Open Perception Foundation. Dr Cousins is an active participant in the Robots for Humanity project.
Purpose The following paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned successful innovator and leader, regarding the challenges of bringing technological discoveries to fruition. This paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The interviewee is Martin Haegele, a renowned expert in industrial and service robot applications, technologies and markets. He is Division Director “Intelligent Automation and Clean Manufacturing” and Head of the department “Robot and Assistive Systems” at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA). In this interview, Haegele details some of the robotics projects he led and provides his outlook on the European robotics industry. Findings Haegele received a Dipl.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Stuttgart in 1989 and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from George Washington University, Washington DC in 1989. Haegele has led the Robot Systems Department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany since 1993, and is a member of the Fraunhofer IPA Board. Originality/value Inspired by the book Robotics in Service written by Joseph Engelberger in 1989, Haegele spearheaded ground-breaking applications in the service robot industry. He led a German study on the market potentials and challenges of service robots. He was the project leader and supervisor of numerous service robot developments including a fuel-refilling robot resulting in a fully operational gas station and several generations of mobile robots developed for museums, shopping centers and home applications. Haegele coordinated many publicly funded research projects to develop robot technologies for industrial and service applications. He was coordinator of two large-scale European initiatives (SMErobot and SMErobotics) for the creation of technologies and a new family of robots suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. He has published more than 80 papers and book chapters and holds four patents. He is a 2007 recipient of the prestigious Joseph Engelberger Award. Furthermore, Haegele is active in the International Federation of Robotics and the euRobotics association.
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