Speaker 0 00:00:00 With the pandemic we saw, there is a huge increase in term of like needs for disinfection, especially in hospitals, right? And so we designed and developed a brand new, uh, UV disinfection robot. Speaker 2 00:00:23 Hello everyone. And welcome to the robot industry podcast. My guest for this edition is took view. Who's the CEO of Omni labs in Santa Clara, California. They're at telepresence and mobile robots as a service company. He previously founded cat tango and TAPPI, which were acquired by Google and by weebley.co respectively took as a deep expertise in game theory, machine learning, tournament design, and multi-agent systems here in his PhD from Stanford and a bachelor of science from Carnegie Mellon, both in computer science in 2017, took was named as one of the 40, under 40 of Silicon valley by the Silicon valley business journal for his tireless efforts to bring about a significantly positive impact in the business world. Hey, welcome to the podcast took Speaker 3 00:01:11 Hello, Jim. Uh, it's got to be here today. Speaker 2 00:01:14 Yes. Thank you for joining us. And today we're gonna do something kind of fun. We're gonna have a bit of a virtual tour of your facility using one of your robots. And I just started, uh, learning how to drive and unfortunately I was crashing into the walls, so we're gonna let you not crash into walls. So can you tell our audience what is a telepresence robot? Speaker 3 00:01:32 Yeah, Absolut please. So, um, you can think of it as like a, a zoom on will. So basically it's a robot with a screen and a mobile base, uh, that allow you to dial in remotely from anywhere in the world over the internet. Um, your face will show up on the screen and you can control the robot to drive around and have two way video and audio communication with the other side. And so you might ask like, what's the difference between this versus, you know, FaceTime, uh, or zoom, right? Uh, but it's actually a completely different, uh, experience, basically the, with the, our tele robot, uh, you have the full control mobility independence. And so, you know, you can initiate the call. You don't have to wait for someone to pick up your car. You don't have to ask someone to put you, you know, on iPhone, on iPad and move around with it. You can actually do all moving yourself. Um, and you know, you're not just like stuck on, on a screen. Right. And so it is actually make the communication a lot easier and more engaging. Speaker 2 00:02:39 So simple. Really? Speaker 3 00:02:41 Yeah. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:02:43 So, uh, can you tell us a little bit more about the company? Like how did you get started? Speaker 0 00:02:48 Yeah, we started army labs in 2015, Jared, my CTO and co-founder and I, we went to cut email together and we did a lot of research projects in robotics. And so our general interest was in this field. And so in 2015, when we got together, we were looking at the space, right. And one thing we realized was that even though the promise of robots, helping people, making the world a better place had been around for like decades. Uh, but you don't see robots running around doing task, right. Uh, only, you know, some robots, uh, in the manufacturing, industrial setting, uh, and you know, sort of having the stigma of taking away jobs. And so we wanted to change all of that by making robots that can be deployed in social settings, like in hospitals, restaurants, in the home schools. Right. So that, um, they can do different tasks and, you know, bring value to our end users. And so that's how we started Omni labs. Speaker 2 00:03:49 And we're gonna do this fun thing that we talked about in the, in the intro, but where you're gonna actually give us a little bit of a tour, uh, and now for our audience that are listening as a podcast, they're not gonna hear this. So we're gonna have to have you both drive and kind of narrate a little bit. So why don't you share your screen? Absolutely. And you're gonna log into one of your robots. Uh, this is the one that I crashed into the wall and crashed into your Plex OS door before we started. So I'm gonna expect that you won't crash as much as I did. Speaker 0 00:04:15 Yep, absolutely. Speaker 2 00:04:16 And this is your factory in California that we're going to be, uh, touring right. Using your telepresence robot. Speaker 0 00:04:23 That's correct. So this is our lab and also our manufacturing, uh, space. One thing really interesting about our robots is that, um, they are all made in USA. You know, one of the very few companies can truly say that, uh, we, uh, you know, we use a farm of three printers to print out the parts and then we assemble them all in, in here in Silicon valley. Um, so, uh, can you see my screen now? Speaker 2 00:04:49 I can. Speaker 0 00:04:50 Yeah. Great. So what are you looking at is, uh, the camera view, the front facing camera of the robot. And so basically allowing you to see what the robots are, uh, seeing and then heading, and then, you know, at the, uh, bottom in the middle, um, you can see a smaller view of the floor so that you can avoid obstacles. Um, and then you can see some of these arrows that's showing the direction that robot, the robots are going, uh, with our robots. You can actually control it by many different ways. Um, you can use joysticks, you can use your laptop, um, iPhone, iPad, um, you know, to control the robot. Uh, right now I'm using my key, uh, keyboards and, you know, I can, uh, turn around 360 degree. Um, I can actually look up and down and, you know, the robot can look all the way up to the ceiling, uh, all the way down to the floor. And so, yeah, the, the range, um, uh, view is quite large. Speaker 2 00:05:49 And so I'm just gonna describe a little bit of what I'm seeing for those folks at home. So we're seeing, uh, the big view of the facility and we're seeing robots on the right hand side robots, the front, you've got a lot of robots as well as a desk and a big screen in the back and, uh, you know, fairly open space. And I assume that's kind of for this, uh, ability to do demonstrations. Speaker 0 00:06:09 Yeah, absolutely. And these are the, uh, UV disinfection robots, uh, that you are seeing, uh, that, you know, lying here on, on the right hand side, um, getting ready, uh, to, to be shipped out. Speaker 2 00:06:23 And, uh, what types of parts are you manufacturing using 3d technology at your place? Like, are they wheels or are they the case casements? Uh, what type of parts? Speaker 0 00:06:34 Yeah, so we tend to use the, um, the three printers to print out the complex parts. You know, the parts that have intricate design or, you know, have, uh, complex structure that can support, uh, more weight on the robot, um, in term of, uh, the wills, you know, like, or things that need sort of like commoditized. We just use either buying off the shelf or use injection molding for those. And so this is the way that we can combining, you know, the best both for right with the injection mold and reprinting, Speaker 2 00:07:09 I assume it's, it's a business decision to say, right. We're gonna, this is a low volume part, so we're gonna print it ourselves versus like you say, we're gonna buy this, it's a commodity. We can, we can buy it very inexpensively and maybe better than we can make it ourselves. Speaker 0 00:07:21 Yep. That's correct. Yeah. And then, you know, we, we decide on this, uh, in a way that, you know, optimize for cost, but also speed, right? Speaker 2 00:07:30 Yes. And so what's very cool is that you're using your own technology for your own and demoing it right here on the internet. Right. And so it's, it's very simple to, uh, I think once, you know, the layout of the, of your, uh, facility to be able to drive around. Speaker 0 00:07:44 Yeah, absolutely. And I just show you, uh, the zoom, um, capability, right. You can actually zoom in, uh, to, to look more closely at different, um, you know, either the boards or like the parks or the machine. So the parks come out, you know, on trade like this, and it's getting carried down the line, um, through the manufacturing floor, uh, we have four or five different production lines set up in this facility so that, you know, you can like make different parts and then different line, different robotics products as well. Speaker 2 00:08:21 So you've got the line of telepresence robots, but you also have a line of UV disinfectant robots. That's your, that you've, I've assume you've just launched these recently. Speaker 0 00:08:31 Yes, that's correct. Yeah. Well, with the dynamic we saw, there is a huge increase in term of like needs for disinfection, especially in hospitals. Right. And so we designed and develop a brand new, uh, UV disinfection robot best in the market right now, uh, working with central hospitals, um, you know, with a couple other partners and spend a lot of time, uh, few testing, this product. Um, and so, yeah, so far we got really good feedback from, uh, all of our, um, partners and, and testers, people love, uh, our solution Speaker 2 00:09:09 And to what is the, um, market size for telepresence robots and for these UV disinfectant robots. Speaker 0 00:09:16 Yeah. So the market size, uh, for tele present, um, people estimating that it will increase to, you know, about billion, um, in the next five years, uh, and for the UV disinfection, uh, is an explosive market. Uh, people are, are projecting it to be growing from 200 million in 2019 to over 5.5 million by 2027, um, you know, significant growth just because the need, it's just like so strong right now. So this type of product, Speaker 2 00:09:49 So I can see the immediate need, right. I can be anywhere in the world and I can see, I can kind of meet people. I can see what's happening on the outside of, uh, production. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, I get a big view and I can go wherever I want to go. Yeah. But what are some of the other benefits of telepresence? Speaker 0 00:10:04 Uh, so actually we have seen an explosion of new use cases of the tele present robot, especially after the pandemic may. One thing really cool about our robot is that basically you're taking away the physical distance, so you can be, you know, instantly somewhere else without, uh, the need for flying. And so you can imagine that you'd be sitting, uh, in the comfort of your home, say in California, and then dial into a robot in Paris to go shopping. Right. <laugh> and then talk to like, you know, the, the sales rep, um, looking at items just like you're there. And then once you're done shopping, you can dial into a robot in the museum, uh, to check out the latest exhibition and then go visit your parents. Um, you know, the, the different place, uh, spend some time with them and then, you know, lock out, um, room you back to your home. So all of this can be done, you know, within an hour. Right. Which is amazing. And so that what we've seen people using our robot four, Speaker 2 00:11:05 I can imagine the social benefits are just huge when I think of aging parents, uh, parents, maybe who not so good with phones or with, uh, Google or any other technology. Speaker 0 00:11:15 Yep. Yeah, definitely. Um, and, and not just, you know, like, uh, in terms of like, uh, getting people together, we've seen companies using our robots for their manufacturing floor as well. Right. Let's say you have a customer, uh, that need to check out the production line, you know, approve changes, uh, or, you know, looking at, uh, you know, different processes. Right. Um, and with the C situation, sometimes it's hard to travel and our robot is just a perfect solution for that. Uh, because now the customers can just use a robot to, to drive around and looking at, you know, for example, like what we're doing right here. Right. <laugh>, uh, that's a broken line. Speaker 2 00:11:55 And can you talk a little bit about, I think one of the huge value propositions of your technology is connecting patients to other people, whether it's a doctor or a specialist, or even, uh, uh, some other, uh, person in the medical field. Can you talk a little bit about that? Speaker 0 00:12:10 Yes. Uh, so when the pandemic happens, uh, you know, several hospital actually acquired a large fleet of our robots to help connect their patients with family members and especially COVID patients in quarantine. Right. Um, you know, some of the people, you, you might have heard all the heartbreaking stories of people passing away without even being able to say goodbye to the next one. Um, and so we, uh, we glad that we could have connecting the patients with, um, the family members. Um, and then the other way around, uh, you know, children, hospitals have been using our robots to allow, you know, these children, patients to actually, you know, go outside. Right. Sure. Because, you know, some of them are stuck in, in the, the patient rooms. Um, you know, they feel lonely and, you know, excluded from the normal activity. Uh, but you know, the hospitals and some of the schools have been deploying our robots, you know, within the normal social setting, like at school. Right. So that the children, these patient children, children, patient can, uh, go to class and, you know, join their friends and hang out with their friends. Um, you know, uh, always have, uh, I, we always see like big smiles from the children, so, you know, make it all work awhile. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:13:30 Yeah. I bet kids would love this technology because it's, they'll be driving it in minutes. Right. Speaker 0 00:13:35 Right. And then this is like, you know, playing a video game in, in the real life for them. Right. You know, they can, you know, racing down the hall and you hanging out with their friends. So yeah. It just, yeah. A lot of fun for them. Speaker 2 00:13:47 Yeah. There's not only just fun, but there's a bit of education and a bit of entertainment. Like there's, it's kind of a nice little package. Um, what are some of the big challenges that you face, um, in the industry? Is it, uh, communication protocols or, uh, wifi or, Speaker 0 00:14:01 Yeah, so basically we developed an entire technology St. File robot. Uh, and so we have a lot of, you know, um, sort of like ways to, you know, for us to, to fix some of these challenges now, for example, like the cheap shortage, right. You know, you last year, that was a huge, um, disruption in the, the gym industry. Uh, and, you know, we had to mobilize and quickly come up with a new design for our boards and, you know, to reduce, uh, the dependency on, on the chips. Um, that's one thing, uh, and, you know, I think in term of, um, robotics and hardware, right, uh, is always very difficult area because there's so many different technologies that need to get together and then work well together. Right. Um, to deliver that value. Um, so I think that's always, you know, the, the challenge is how to make everything work <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:14:55 Yes, of course. And so where are you finding a lot of the interest in your, uh, in the robots? Is it, is it manufacturing, is it at home? Is it in the hospitals or is it just a little bit of everywhere? Speaker 0 00:15:06 Yeah, so right now, uh, what we've seen so far is the, uh, healthcare, uh, you know, industry, uh, and, uh, education and business. Uh, so those are the three, uh, you know, main verticals for us, for example, the UV disinfection robots being in very high demand, uh, especially for operating room, right. Because, you know, hospital will need to have like a terminal lean, uh, of the operating room before, um, they can admit the next patient. Um, and you know, our robot can really cut down the time, uh, to make sure is safe. Uh, but also, you know, the ability to audit, uh, the, uh, cleaning work is actually very important because you want to know, you know, like, you know, the room has been clean and, you know, all the smart make sure that all the smart are, are, you know, like, um, jump free. Right. And so, you know, that's something that, uh, we see in a lot of, um, demand for, Speaker 2 00:16:04 And I had a note to, and we kind of chatted on the pre-call about data and kind of the importance of data. And what kind of data are you gathering and how do you store it or, or share it, or where's, where's the value there Speaker 0 00:16:16 Mm-hmm <affirmative> yeah. Um, privacy and security, um, are to, you know, very important topics for us. And so we try to not store any, uh, sensitive and private, uh, information from our user. Um, we do collect, uh, usage data, you know, like how long the robots have been, um, driven for a, um, you know, call time, uh, of course, you know, all anonymized so that we can keep the istic. Um, and then on the other hand, um, you know, like we also have like autonomy, uh, basically the robots, uh, have the ability to navigate around the space by itself, avoiding obstacles, you know, remembering the route, uh, for example, like the UV disinfection robot, um, the operator can actually just set out, you know, the, the route, uh, to clean and the robot will just repeat that, you know, whenever it's getting into that room. Um, and so those kind of things, uh, we do need to collect data, but of course, with the permission, uh, of, uh, the user. Speaker 2 00:17:18 And I imagine that, uh, TelePre robot, like, let's say I owned a big factory or warehouse, and I just wanted to do a security sweep, I suppose. That's one of the things where autonomy makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Speaker 0 00:17:30 Yep. Definitely. Speaker 2 00:17:31 And so what are some of the future trends like you're, you're in the midst of this exploding market, but you must also be thinking a little bit about, okay, what's next? Is it bigger batteries or higher resolution cameras or other sensors? Speaker 0 00:17:44 Yeah. So, uh, for us, we, yeah, the way we think about, uh, the robotic space is that, you know, to truly make a robot useful, right. Uh, and, you know, have massive option, uh, the values of the robots need to be higher than the cost, uh, of the robots to the user. Right. And so we've been thinking a lot about how do we improve the, the value right. Of the robots, uh, basically allowing it to do, you know, um, more interesting and complicated task, for example, uh, for the user. Um, so in order to do that, the robot need to have couple of things. One is the mobility, the autonomy that, you know, we have already built. Um, so that's done. Um, the next one is the perception, the understanding the robots need to be able to understand the environment they operate in. Right. Uh, you know, need to understand, you know, what kind of objects are they seeing, uh, you know, are, is that a person, you know, are they approaching right? Speaker 0 00:18:42 Um, is that person, what are the persons doing? You know, anything abnormal or does that person need help? And so that part is, you know, the next milestone. And then the third one is the, um, sort of like the manipulator of the robot. How can the robot, you know, manipulate objects in the environment? Um, so we have some prototype for robotics on, uh, mm-hmm, <affirmative> also three printed. So, which is, you know, really exciting, uh, that allowing the, uh, robots to, uh, move around objects and interact with objects in, in the, um, environment. Uh, so these are the sort of the, the roadmap that we have in mind in order to, um, make the robots become a lot more useful for our users. Speaker 2 00:19:26 I imagine there's a lot of, um, people out here who will be thinking about their elderly parents and about putting a robot into their, their house. So they can, like, it's one thing to talk to your parents, or parents-in-law, it's quite another thing to actually see them and see the environment and see what's happening. So I, I kind of imagine that there's a lot of people who will be very interested to look at Omni labs and go, Hey, what, what does this look like? And so this is a segue to another question that I have. How do people buy your robot? Do they go through dealers? Do they buy them from your website? How does that happen? Speaker 0 00:19:57 Yeah. Uh, they can buy the robots directly from our website, which is, you know, only labs.com. Om, I labs with s.com. Uh, and, you know, you can just buy that directly from the store, uh, or, you know, just, uh, reach out to us and, you know, send us the email or your other form we always get to, uh, help. Speaker 2 00:20:19 And so then you just, literally I order the robot. Is there any options or is it pretty much a standard tele robot? If that's one of the things I'm buying? Speaker 0 00:20:28 Uh, it is right now, uh, the standard, uh, robots, uh, but, you know, we have the ability to really customize robot to the need of, of our, you know, customer, uh, because of the three printing. Right. Uh, and so, you know, um, if you have some special ideas or projects in mind, uh, please do reach out, uh, and we can, you know, chat more <laugh> Speaker 2 00:20:48 Oh. And that's, uh, that's really, really interesting. And, um, have we, have we forgotten anything in our conversation today? Speaker 0 00:20:56 Uh, no. I think we covered pretty much, uh, everything. Um, I haven't had a chance to drive into the, uh, three printing, uh, factory. Speaker 2 00:21:04 Yeah. Oh, well, let's do that. Speaker 0 00:21:06 Yeah. So let me, uh, do a quick view Speaker 2 00:21:11 Of that. I'm assuming that there's a charged pad that comes with your robot. Speaker 0 00:21:15 Yes, that's correct. Yeah. Um, you can see, yeah, actually there's one right here that I can show you, uh, very small compact, uh, and, you know, uh, the robot will, uh, when you get closed and then, you know, you press a button, the robot will navigate itself, uh, to find the doc and, and to, you know, uh, charge itself. Speaker 2 00:21:35 <laugh> and what, how long does the charge last typically took? Speaker 0 00:21:39 Uh, typically it would last for three to five hours, you know, uh, enough for, for you to have a meaningful conversation. Sure. Uh, even watch a movie or a game together <laugh> yeah. Within quite a few of that, as well, Speaker 2 00:21:54 As long as the kids aren't playing with the robot too much. Right. Speaker 0 00:21:57 Yeah. <laugh> so here, right here, we, yeah. Yeah. The robot is find the, to the doc and, and you start charging, Speaker 2 00:22:05 Will the robot automatically go to doc at, or, or do you have to manually do that too? Speaker 0 00:22:10 Uh, automatically. So if you, you know, go close enough to the dock and you can just press button, like what I, I check the, um, yep. And, and the robot will actually navigate itself, um, to the, uh, Speaker 2 00:22:22 So right now we're going into your 3d printing, uh, lab Speaker 0 00:22:26 Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. So these are the three printers. Uh, we have rows and row of them, we design and build these printers ourself, um, so that, you know, we can have, um, improve on the, finish on the zoom and, you know, make it easier for us to do maintenance and we can actually customize the size of the printers as well. Speaker 2 00:22:47 Wow. That's great. So you not only build the robots, but you build your own 3d printing robots, right? Speaker 0 00:22:53 Yeah. <laugh> yeah. And the three printers are printing the next batch of three printers as well. Right. And so <laugh>, uh, it's, Speaker 2 00:23:00 You know, so on, it goes, so how many 3d printers do you have? Speaker 0 00:23:04 Uh, we have over a hundred printers now that, that we have in this facility, Speaker 2 00:23:08 Are you hiring as well? Is that a challenge for you in, uh, Southern California? Speaker 0 00:23:12 We are hiring, uh, and so answer it. Yes. I, you know, it's always, uh, you know, hard to, to find talent. Luckily we have been able to find a lot of, uh, great people joining our team. Speaker 2 00:23:26 That's great. And what kind of talent are you typically looking for? Is this, I assume a lot of programmers, vision people, uh, this kind of thing. Speaker 0 00:23:33 Uh, yes. Uh, across the board. So, you know, mechanical engineers, um, robotics, uh, mm-hmm <affirmative> electrical engineers. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:23:43 Well, that's great. Well, thank you very much for the tour and thank you for, uh, coming on the, uh, podcast today and, and, and sh for sharing your screen. I really appreciate it. And I know we've been waiting a couple a little while to go ahead and do this, but, uh, uh, it's been my pleasure to have you Speaker 0 00:23:57 Thank you so much for having me and, and thanks for joining us, uh, at our office. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:24:03 Our sponsor for this episode is Airhart automation systems Airhart builds and commissions, turnkey automation solutions for their worldwide clients. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing, they understand the complex world of robotics, automated manufacturing, and project management, delivering world class custom automation on time and on budget contact one of their sales engineers to see what Airhart can build for you. And I'd also like to thank and acknowledge our partner, a three, the association for advancing automation. They're the leading trade association for robotics, vision and imaging motion control and motors, and the artificial intelligence technologies visit automate.org to learn more. And I'd like to thank our partner painted robot painted robot builds and integrates digital solutions. They're a web development firm that offers SEO, digital, social marketing, and can set up and connect CRM and other E R P tools to unify marketing sales and operations. And you could find [email protected]. If you'd like to get in touch with us at the robot industry podcast, you can find me Jim Beretta on LinkedIn. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. Be safe out there. And today's podcast was produced by customer attraction, industrial marketing, and I'd thank my nephew, Chris gray for the music, my partner, Janet, our partner's a three and painted robot and our sponsor Airhart automation systems. Thank you. Took Speaker 0 00:25:26 Right. Thank you, Jim.