Hoaloha Robotics and Robosoft announce on an agreement to work collaboratively on the design of a socially assistive robot that can enable individuals who require assistive care to address the challenges to daily living that may come as the result of chronic illness, injury, or aging and empower individuals live more independently, with dignity, and at more sustainable costs.
"With an increasing population needing assistive, rising costs, and shrinking available resources, defining solutions address this challenge is the primary objective for Hoaloha Robotics," says Tandy Trower, CEO of Hoaloha Robotics. "Teaming up with Robosoft and their experience in robotics is a perfect complement to the software and services that Hoaloha is developing."
"The market for assistive robots is one of the most likely opportunities for the emerging personal robotics industry," says Vincent Dupourqué, CEO of Robosoft. "We see the collaboration with Hoaloha as a major plus in working to address this market."
Trower, a 28 year Microsoft executive, founded Microsoft's robotics group, leading to the release of Microsoft Robotics Development Studio, before to focus in 2010 on his own company to create the user experience, applications, and services for PC-based personal robots.
Dupourqué, founded and leads the French company Robosoft, who introduced their first assistive care robot design called Kompaï, at ILTCI 2010 (Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference). Intended to help foster research, the company announced in May 2010 the Open Source release of the robuBOX-Kompaï Software Development Kit for the Kompaï R&D robot at ICRA (International Conference on Robotics and Automation).
In this announced collaboration, the two companies will pool their mutual experience and market data toward the design and prototyping of a next generation assistive care robot and focus easy-of-use, utility, safety, and the ability to support autonomous and user-directed interaction. The resulting effort could lead to the definition of a potential commercial product within the next 3 years.
The Trower-Dupourqué working relationship goes back to the release of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio in 2006, when Robosoft began using the Microsoft robotics toolkit to develop its robuBOX technology to enable a wide variety of robotic solutions including robots being used today in hospitals, theme parks, and defense applications.
About HOALOHA
Hoaloha is Hawaiian for "caring companion". Believing that personal robots offer the opportunity to help enable and empower individuals who require assistive care, Hoaloha Robotics is developing software and services that will speed innovation in the development of socially assistive robots. Based in Seattle, Washington, Hoaloha Robotics was founded in 2010 by Tandy Trower, an experienced, long-time executive in the personal computer industry and a leader and proponent of user centered design. Having founded Microsoft's robotics initiative, he has also been a featured speaker at conferences and events on the market and opportunities for emerging robotics technology.
About Robosoft
Robosoft is the European leader in service robotics solutions. With over 20 years of recognized scientific and industrial
expertise in this field, Robosoft has supplied advanced robotics solutions since 1985 in the transport, cleaning, security, health,
and research markets.
Now beyond professional applications, the era of personal robotics has begun. Robosoft thinks that its service robots, known as "robuTERs®" will be part of everyday life within 5 years. RobuTERs will make everyone's lives easier in activities of leisure, education, culture, health, and in particular for the elderly and dependent. In order to provide these applications in daily life, Robosoft has developed its own assistive care robot, Kompaï R&D, which is a robot to assist seniors and dependent persons at home.