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GeckoSystems to Discuss Expansion Capabilities of CareBots(TM) at "Mobile Robots in Motion" Conference
CONYERS, GA, Mar 03, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GCKO)
(http://www.geckosystems.com/) announced today that they will be
discussing and demonstrating the realization of their long time
design goals for mobile service robot expandability, extensibility,
and non-obsolescence of their "Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety,
Security and Service(TM)" at their "Mobile Robots in Motion"
conference March 24-25, 2010.
"Through out the world, many countries (such as the U.S., Japan, the
U.K., etc.) are very concerned with reducing health care costs,
particularly in the delivery. The now common access to the Internet
by the consumer and professional health care organizations has
enabled easy data communication between people, their homes, and
commercial workplaces. Just as it was, and remains important, that
personal computers be easily upgraded and expanded into new
productivity boosting tasks, so is GeckoSystems' CareBot.
GeckoSystems' mobile robot solutions use a multi-layered 'biological
hierarchical' hardware and software architecture. Virtually all forms
of life in our world have this innate capability.
"One might ask: 'What vital signs data can the CareBot collect and
who gets to see that data?' GeckoSystems' CareBot has an onboard
local area network (LAN) that enables literally dozens of computers
and devices to be used concurrently on board. (Presently there are
over ten.) The CareBot has Internet accessibility. It can send and
receive email with files attached. It can read email out loud for the
care receiver using GeckoChat. And it can forward files to authorized
persons via the Internet.
"If a healthcare professional deems (and is authorized by the primary
care giver) that the CareBot should request a blood pressure reading,
and it has that third party system incorporated, it can take that
data and send it to the parties designated by the primary caregiver.
If the health care professional determines that blood sugar should be
checked, and the CareBot has that third party system incorporated,
once again it can take that data, perhaps using voice prompts from
GeckoChat(TM) to assist the care receiver in that reading, and once
again send it to the parties designated by the primary caregiver.
"If there is a need for video conferencing between the caregiver (or
a medical professional) and care receiver, the robustness of the
CareBot's 'biological hierarchical' architecture enables that to
readily be employed over the Internet just as we presently use
webcams and the Internet for spontaneous video conferencing.
"One might also ask: 'What enables the CareBot to do this?' It is a
guided process for vital signs using appropriate third party sensor
systems using GeckoChat to interact verbally and GeckoScheduler(TM)
to know when to perform a timely guided body temperature, blood
pressure, pulse rate, oxygenation level, or blood glucose level
measurements. If the care receiver does not comply with the guidance
from the CareBot, the personal companion robot may be programmed to
notify the primary care giver, and/or others, of the care receivers'
refusal or inability to assist in the needed vital sign updates,"
explained Martin Spencer, President/CEO, GeckoSystems.
From a hardware and software standpoint, the short answer is the
multiple onboard computers in a LAN configuration layered on top of
the GeckoSPIO(TM), our advanced mobile robot controller board. For
example, GeckoChat can communicate not only with people, but also
literally dozens and dozens of different sensors and/or sensor
systems using the GeckoSPIO. These 'expansion cards' can be for blood
pressure, pulse rate, oxygenation level, blood sugar level, etc. and
be physically mounted on board the CareBot. The GeckoSuper(TM)
coordinates data from all the sensor systems by way of the GeckoSPIO
in concert with verbal interaction with GeckoChat such that the
CareBot can respond in appropriate and timely ways.
"The GeckoSPIO is the critical interface between the robot's physical
platform and higher AI functions. This interface provides a level of
abstraction for the commands sent to, and the data sent from, the
robot platform. The abstraction and hierarchal architecture the
GeckoSPIO provides simplifies interacting with the platform and the
real world for the high-level software, along with enabling a wide
array of sensor fusion techniques," stated Mark Peele, Vice
President, Research and Development, GeckoSystems.
The GeckoSPIO enables sensor fusion and management with seven
eight-bit MCU's with eight pulse width modulation (PWM) outputs; over
two hundred digital, forty analog to digital, seventeen serial, and
two 10/100mhz Ethernet ports. Sensors worn by the care receiver can
be accessed by the CareBot wirelessly for transmission to the primary
care giver and other authorized parties via the Internet. Vital sign
sensors such as blood pressure, pulse rate, etc. can be on board the
CareBot and that data transmitted to suitable parties.
"Since we began our world's first in home evaluation trials for
eldercare capable personal robots late last fall, we have received
many inquiries as to 'how are they going?' Very well and better than
expected in some significant ways, so all of us here at GeckoSystems
are excited about this upcoming "Mobile Robots in Motion" stakeholder
conference to publicly demonstrate our state of the art mobile
robots, their technologies and our first product, a personal
companion robot, the CareBot.
"We will be having this conference in our new (since Jan. 1 this
year), 4,000 square feet R&D and manufacturing facility in the Honey
Creek area of Rockdale County, just south of Conyers, Ga. We believe
our attendees' planned presence is due to not only our flagship
product, our proprietary automatic self-navigation software,
GeckoNav(TM), but also the reality that we have a complete
multitasking personal companion robot, the CareBot, with verbal
interaction and 'command and control' capabilities arising from
GeckoChat, and the ability to routinely follow a designated family
member with GeckoTrak(TM) that has been in limited evaluation trials
for over two months now," reminded Spencer.
Discussions and live demonstrations of many, if not most,
GeckoSystems' mobile robot solutions such as GeckoNav(TM), GeckoChat,
GeckoTrak, GeckoScheduler, GeckoZap(TM), GeckoOrient(TM), GeckoSPIO,
GeckoMotorController(TM), the CompoundedSensorArray(TM), etc. will be
presented during this two day conference. This conference, with its
live demonstrations, will enable many industry observers and
investors to witness and determine for themselves the proximity to
market and consumer acceptance GeckoSystems' first product, the
CareBot, will enjoy. Additionally they will be better able to
evaluate the probability of income streams from technology licensing
and applicability in other markets besides the consumer, such as
commercial security, commercial cleaning, public safety, professional
healthcare, government systems, agriculture, and education.
Like an automobile, mobile robots are made from steel, aluminum,
plastic, and electronics, but with ten to twenty times the amount of
software running. The CareBot has an aluminum frame, plastic shroud,
two independently driven wheels, multiple sensor systems,
microprocessors and several onboard computers connected in a local
area network (LAN). The microprocessors directly interact with the
sensor systems and transmit data to the onboard computers. The
onboard computers each run independent, highly specialized
cooperative/subsumptive artificial intelligence (AI) software
programs, GeckoSavants(TM), which interact to complete tasks in a
timely, intelligent and common sense manner. GeckoNav, GeckoChat and
GeckoTrak are primary GeckoSavants. GeckoNav is responsible for
maneuvering, avoiding dynamic and/or static obstacles, seeking
waypoints and patrolling. GeckoChat is responsible for interaction
with the care-receiver such as answering questions, assisting with
daily routines and reminders, and responding to other verbal
commands. GeckoTrak, which is mostly transparent to the user, enables
the CareBot to maintain proximity to the care-receiver using sensor
fusion. The CareBot is an internet appliance that is accessible for
remote video/audio monitoring and telepresence.
"One of the many reasons we had our conference last fall, and perhaps
several this year, is that 'the proof of the pudding is in the
eating.' In other words, very few people have ever seen a personal
companion robot in action and consequently do not understand how
difficult our many inventions are to achieve. However, live
demonstrations give our suite of enabling, proprietary technologies
credence and value. We have several large markets before us due to
our 'first mover' advantage in them. We are hopeful that some of the
firms with which we are having licensing discussions regarding usage
of some our technologies will also be in attendance," concluded
Spencer.
Journalists are encouraged to contact Mr. Spencer regarding the
progress of GeckoSystems' in home evaluation trials and potential
attendance at their upcoming invitation only "Mobile Robots in
Motion" conference. Journalists and other interested parties may
submit their request for an invitation at their website or call
678-413-9236.
About GeckoSystems International Corporation:
Since 1997, GeckoSystems has developed a comprehensive, coherent, and
sufficient suite of hardware and software inventions to enable a new
type of home appliance (a personal companion robot) the CareBot(TM),
to be created for the mass consumer marketplace. The suite of primary
inventions includes: GeckoNav(TM), GeckoChat(TM) and GeckoTrak(TM).
The primary market for this product is the family for use in
eldercare, care for the chronically ill, and childcare. The primary
distribution channel for this new home appliance is the thousands of
independent personal computer retailers in the U.S. The manufacturing
infrastructure for this new product category of mobile service robots
is essentially the same as the personal computer industry. Several
outside contract manufacturers have been identified and qualified
their ability to produce up to 1,000 CareBots per month within four
to six months.
The Company is market driven. At the time of founding, nearly 12
years ago, the Company did extensive primary market research to
determine the demographic profile of the early adopters of the then
proposed product line. Subsequent to, and based on that original
market research, they have assembled numerous focus groups to
evaluate the fit of the CareBot personal robot into the participant's
lives and their expected usage. The Company has also frequently
employed the Delphi market research methodology by contacting and
interviewing senior executives, practitioners, and researchers
knowledgeable in the area of elder care. Using this factual basis of
internally performed primary and secondary market research, and third
party research is the statistical substance for the Company's sales
forecasts.
Not surprisingly the scientific statistical analyses applied revealed
that elderly over sixty-five living alone in metropolitan areas with
broadband Internet available and sufficient household incomes to
support the increased costs were identified as those most likely to
adopt initially. Due to the high cost of assisted living, nursing
homes, etc. the payback for a CareBot(TM) is expected to be only six
to eight months while keeping elderly care receivers independent, in
their own long time homes, and living longer due to the comfort and
safety of more frequent attention from their loved ones.
"We project the available market size in dollars for cost effective,
utilitarian, multitasking eldercare personal robots in 2011 to be
$74.0B, in 2012 to be $77B, in 2013 to be $80B, in 2014 to be $83.3B,
and in 2015 to be $86.6B. With market penetrations of 0.03% in 2011,
0.06% in 2012, 0.22% in 2013, 0.53% in 2014, and 0.81% in 2015, we
will anticipate CareBot sales, from this consumer market segment,
only, of $22.0M, $44.0M, $176M, $440.2M, and $704.3M, respectively.
We expect these sales despite --and perhaps because of -- the present
recession due to pent up demand for significant cost reduction in
eldercare expenses," opined Spencer.
The foregoing forecasts do not include sales in non-metropolitan
areas; elderly couples over 65 (only elderly living alone are in
these forecasts); those chronically ill --regardless of age-- or
elderly living with their adult children.
The Company's "mobile robot solutions for safety, security and
service(TM)" are appropriate not only for the consumer, but also
professional healthcare, commercial security and defense markets.
Professional healthcare require cost effective, timely errand
running, portable telemedicine, etc. Homeland Security requires cost
effective mobile robots to patrol and monitor public venues for
weapons and WMD detection. Military users desire the elimination of
the "man in the loop" to enable unmanned ground and air vehicles to
not require constant human control and/or intervention.
The Company's business model is very much like that of an automobile
manufacturer. Due to the final assembly, test, and shipping being
done based on geographic and logistic realities; strategic
business-to-business relationships can range from private labeling to
joint manufacturing and distribution to licensing only.
Several dozen patent opportunities exist for the Company due to the
many innovative and cost effective breakthroughs embodied not only in
GeckoNav, GeckoChat, and GeckoTrak, but also in additional, secondary
systems that include: GeckoOrient(TM), GeckoMotorController(TM), the
GeckoTactileShroud(TM), the CompoundedSensorArray(TM), and the
GeckoSPIO(TM).
The present senior management at GeckoSystems has over thirty-five
years experience in consumer electronics sales and marketing and
product development. Senior managers have been identified for the
areas of manufacturing, marketing, sales, and finance.
While GeckoSystems has been in the Development Stage, the Company has
accumulated losses to date in excess of six million dollars. In
contrast, the Japanese government has spent one hundred million
dollars in grants (to Sanyo, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC, etc.)
over the same time period to develop personal robots for their
eldercare crisis, yet no viable solutions have been developed.
By the end of this year, the Company plans to complete productization
of its CareBot offering with the introduction of its fourth
generation personal robot, the CareBot 4.0 MSR. The Company expects
to be the first personal robot developer and manufacturer in the
world to begin in-home eldercare evaluation trials.
What Does a CareBot Do for the Care Giver?
The short answer is that it decreases the difficulty and stress for
the caregiver that needs to watch over Grandma, Mom, or other family
members most, if not much, of the time day in and day out due to
concerns about their well being, safety, and security.
But, first let's look at some other labor saving, automatic home
appliances most of us use routinely. For example, needing to do two
or more necessary chores and/or activities at the same time, like
laundering clothes and preparing supper.
The automatic washing machine needs no human intervention after the
dirty clothes are placed in the washer, the laundry powder poured in,
and the desired wash cycle set. Then, this labor saving appliance
runs automatically until the washed clothes are ready to be placed in
another labor saving home appliance, the automatic clothes dryer.
While the clothes are being washed and/or dried, the caregiver
prepares supper using several time saving home appliances like the
microwave oven, "crock" pot, blender, and conventional stove, with
possible convection oven capabilities.
After supper, the dirty pots, pans, and dishes are placed in the
automatic dishwasher to be washed and dried while the family retires
to the den to watch TV, and/or the kids to do homework. Later,
perhaps after the kids have gone to bed, the caregiver may then have
the time to fold, sort, and put up the now freshly laundered clothes.
So what does a CareBot do for the caregiver? It is a new type of
labor saving, time management automatic home appliance.
For example, the care giver frequently feels time stress when they
need to go shopping for 2 or 3 hours, and are uncomfortable when they
have to be away for more than an hour or so. Time stress is much
worse for the caregiver with a frail elderly parent that must be
reminded to take medications at certain times of the day. How can the
caregiver be away for 3-4 hours when Grandma must take her prescribed
medication every 2 or 3 hours? If the caregiver is trapped in traffic
for an hour or two beyond the 2 or 3 they expected to be gone, this
"time stress" can be very difficult for the caregiver to moderate.
Not infrequently, the primary caregiver has a 24 hour, 7 days a week
responsibility. After weeks and weeks of this sometimes tedious, if
not onerous routine, how does the caregiver get a "day off?" To bring
in an outsider is expensive (easily $75-125 per day for just 8 hours)
and there is the concern that medication will be missed or the care
receiver have an accident requiring immediate assistance by the
caregiver, or someone they must designate. And the care receiver may
be very resistant to a "stranger" coming in to her home and "running
things."
So what is it worth for a care receiver to have an automatic system
to help take care of Grandma? Just 3 or 4 days a month "off" on a
daylong shopping trip, a visit with friends, or just take in a movie
would cost $225-500 per month. And that scenario assumes that Grandma
is willing to be taken care of by a "stranger" during those needed
and appropriate days off.
So perhaps, an automatic caregiver, a CareBot, might be pretty handy,
and potentially very cost effective from the primary caregiver's
perspective.
What Does a CareBot Do for the Care Receiver?
It's a new kind of companion that always stays close to them enabling
family and friends to care for them from afar. It tells them jokes,
retells family anecdotes, reminds them to take medication, reminds
them that family is coming over soon (or not at all), recites Bible
verses, plays favorite songs and/or other music. It alerts them when
unexpected visitors, or intruders are present. It notifies designated
caregivers when a potentially harmful event has occurred, such as a
fall, fire in the home, or simply been not found by the CareBot for
too long. It responds to calls for help and notifies those that the
caregiver determined should be immediately notified when any
predetermined adverse event occurs.
The family can customize the personality of the CareBot. The voice's
cadence can be fast or slow. The intonation can be breathy, or
abrupt. The voice's volume can range from very loud to very soft. The
response phrases from the CareBot for recognized words and phrases
can be colloquial and/or unique to the family's own heritage. The
personality can range from brassy to timid depending on how the care
giver, and others appropriate, chooses it to be.
Generally, the care receiver is pleased at the prospect of family
being able to drop in for a "virtual visit" using the onboard webcam
and video monitor for at home "video conferencing." The care receiver
may feel much more needed and appreciated when their far flung family
and friends can "look in" on them any where in the world where they
can get broadband internet access and simply chat for a bit.
Why is Grandma really interested in a CareBot? She wants to stay in
her home, or her family's home, as long as she possibly can. What's
that worth? Priceless. Or, an average nursing home is $5,000 per
month for an environment that is too often the beginning of a spiral
downward in the care receiver's health. That's probably $2-3K more
per month for them to be placed where they really don't want to be.
Financial payback on a CareBot? Less than a year- Emotional payback
for the family to have this new automatic care giver? Nearly
instantaneous-
Safe Harbor:
Statements regarding financial matters in this press release other
than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company
intends that such statements about the Company's future expectations,
including future revenues and earnings, technology efficacy and all
other forward-looking statements be subject to the Safe Harbors
created thereby. The Company is a development stage firm that
continues to be dependent upon outside capital to sustain its
existence. Since these statements (future operational results and
sales) involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at
any time, the Company's actual results may differ materially from
expected results.
Contact:
http://www.geckosystems.com/
or
Main number: 1-866-CAREBOT (227-3268)
International: +1 678-413-9236
SOURCE: GeckoSystems Intl. Corp.
http://www.geckosystems.com/
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