GeckoSystems\' Mobile Robot Sensor Fusion Enables Person Following

Tag : Heat Resistant Wire

“We have worked for some years to develop the ability for ourCareBot™ MSR's to automatically follow, or find, a persondesignated for our fully autonomous mobile robots to be in constantand close proximity. This third leg of our three legged milk stoolof GeckoNav™, GeckoChat™, and now GeckoTrak completes thefundamental functional benefits needed to cost effectively provideutility to families for remote care taking of their members andother loved ones. This will benefit all our stakeholders andimprove ROI for our investors,” concluded Mr. R. MartinSpencer, President/CEO.
GeckoTrak has the ability, in conjunction with GeckoNav toautomatically follow Grandma (or other designated person) around intheir daily routine about their home. In addition to allowingroutine web cam video surveillance of the care receiver, GeckoTrakenables their CareBots to timely (using GeckoScheduler™)remind Grandma, or other care receivers, to take medications, offavorite TV shows coming on and other timely, routine reminders byalways being close by and within easy hearing distance ofGeckoChat™.
GeckoSystems uses advanced sensor fusion to merge machine vision,passive IR, and sonar to identify and/or locate the person ofinterest in GeckoTrak. Sensor fusion is a scientificallyhomogenized situational awareness system resulting from theimplicit synergies in aggregated, subsumptive detection and rangefinding systems. These deliberately blended detection systemsenable heightened, if not extraordinary, environmental perceptionsufficient to indicate common sense responses.
GeckoTrak software merges and interprets data from three different,layered sensor systems to automatically follow a designated personanywhere in their home. A scanning passive infrared (PIR) sensordetects a person's body heat and reports its orientation toGeckoTrak for further processing. Highly optimized machine visionalgorithms are employed to learn, remember, and identify the carereceiver's daily attire. A sonar range finder is instrumental inmaintaining a safe, predetermined distance between the CareBot andthe care receiver. GeckoNav provides the artificial intelligence toautomatically guide the CareBot to remain proximate while avoidingobstacles automatically to where GeckoTrak determines the carereceiver to be. The software portions of GeckoTrak run on twoseparate, low power 40Mhz and 1 Ghz onboard computers in theiradvanced biological hierarchical system architecture.
This brings a new level of situational awareness to their mobilerobots with actionable intelligence. Situational awareness is theenvironmental understanding resulting from blended sensor systemsand the common sense implications of those combined perceptions.
About GeckoSystems International Corporation:
In the ten years since founding, the Company has developed a suiteof proprietary, fundamental technologies that enable their robotsto automatically self-navigate the home or workplace using advancedsense and avoid technologies for reliable, unattended collisionavoidance while patrolling, following and/or errand running. Thesescientifically developed, tested, and proven hardware and softwarebreakthroughs enable the practical, low cost manufacture, sale andusage of mobile service robots in a variety of environments.
Their mobile robot solutions are appropriate for the consumer,professional healthcare, commercial security, public safety, anddefense markets. The consumer has needs for family care assistancewith remote monitoring and notification. Professional healthcareneeds nighttime errand running, portable telemedicine, etc.Homeland Security needs mobile robots patrolling public and/orprivate venues with WMD and small arms weapon detect. Manycommercial and military users desire the elimination of the“man in the loop” to enable unmanned ground and airvehicles such as driverless automobiles (or “cybercars”),trucks, and drone aircraft --presently teleoperated-- to notrequire any human intervention.
The Company's mobile robot solutions are appropriate for theconsumer, professional healthcare, commercial security and defensemarkets.
The consumer has needs for family care assistance with remotemonitoring and notification. This is for family care for theelderly, chronically ill, and children. Since GeckoTrak™enables the CareBot to automatically follow a designated carereceiver using sensor fusion; it allows the caregiver to remotelysee how they are doing using the onboard wireless webcam. Shouldthe designated family member not respond to their CareBot'sinquiries, GeckoChat™ would contact the caregivers forthwithby telephone.
Professional healthcare needs cost effective night time errandrunning, portable telemedicine, etc., enabling specialist nurses tobe more efficient and productive with less work by allowing them tovideo conference (telepresence) doctors for more timely, "on thespot," diagnosis of patients. The CareBotPro™ can carry allthe specialized supplies and equipment the IV or wound care nursingspecialists might need. At night the MSR can deliver bedpans,medications, even take vital signs, etc. to those in need while thenight shift nurses are busy with a crisis, or other importantduties on their wing or floor.
Homeland Security needs mobile robots patrolling public venues withWMD and small arms weapon detect. This deployment woulddramatically improve public safety in our post 9/11 world at lowercost and greater efficiencies than human guards only. For example,human guards would tire quickly hauling multiple WMD detectionsystems. GeckoSystems' SecurityBot™ MSR's would not.
Commercial and military users desire the elimination of the“man in the loop” to enable unmanned ground and airvehicles such as driverless automobiles, trucks, and drone aircraftto not require routine, constant or not infrequent, human control.GeckoSystems' advanced family of hardware and AI softwaretechnologies can enable MSR's that can explore urban dwellings withhigh levels of situational awareness due to multiple layers ofsensor fusion, while looking for human inhabitants--automatically-- without any human invention or control. This cansave lives by placing our troops back one or more steps from anunforeseen ambush.
Intelligent mobile service robots are over 80% software. What trulydifferentiates GeckoSystems from the rest of the world is theirincredibly fast, automatic self-navigation software, GeckoNav.Without going into the details of real-time mapping, cognizantnavigation, planned path patrol, sensor fusion, short-term memory,situational awareness, and other "buzz words," GeckoNav makespossible automatic patrolling and navigation in peopled or dynamicenvironments, “out of the box” automatic learning ofsurroundings, and safe control of the MSR. GeckoNav is the primaryartificial intelligence (AI) engine of all their mobile robotproducts. Regarding maintenance and technical support,GeckoZap™, the diagnostic and compliance software toolprovides critical calibration and diagnostic capabilities toservice personnel in a single package, further reducing maintenanceand support costs.
GeckoChat provides real-time voice synthesis and recognitioncoupled with scheduling, natural language processing and expertsystems to achieve a complete verbal interaction package. Developedfor use in the home environment, especially in the context of eldercare, the benefits of GeckoChat include programming by the family,verbal reminders of past, present, and future events, surrogateshort-term memory, verbal control of the robot, and verbalconfirmation of critical events such as medicine or other medicalregimes. However, GeckoChat can be easily extended to handle nearlyany verbal task for mobile robot control.
GeckoTrak is their real-time color machine vision system withobject tracking, motion vector detection using sensor fusion withsonar range finding, and body heat infrared detection. All thisenables an equipped MSR to, for example, recognize and followindividuals in the home or detect and pursue intruders in a publicsafety or commercial security setting, automatically, without humanintervention.
The CareBot:
For a non technical discussion of what a GeckoSystems' CareBotdoes, the short answer is that it decreases the difficulty andstress for the caregiver that needs to watch over grandma, mom, orother family members most, if not much, of the time day in and dayout due to concerns about their well being, safety, and security.
But, first let's look at some other labor saving, automatic homeappliances most of us use routinely. For example, needing to do twoor more necessary chores and/or activities at the same time, likelaundering clothes and preparing supper.
The automatic washing machine needs no human intervention after thedirty clothes are placed in the washer, the laundry powder pouredin, and the desired wash cycle set. Then, this labor savingappliance runs automatically until the washed clothes are ready tobe placed in another labor saving home appliance, the automaticclothes dryer. While the clothes are being washed and/or dried, thecaregiver prepares supper using several time saving home applianceslike the microwave oven, “crock” pot, blender, andconventional stove, with possible convection oven capabilities.
After supper, the dirty pots, pans, and dishes are placed in theautomatic dishwasher to be washed and dried while the familyretires to the den to watch TV, and/or the kids to do homework.Later, perhaps after the kids have gone to bed, the caregiver maythen have the time to fold, sort, and put up the now freshlylaundered clothes.
Much like these useful and cost effective appliances, a CareBothelps the caregiver as a new type of labor saving, time managementautomatic home appliance.
For example, the caregiver frequently feels time stress when theyneed to go shopping for 2 or 3 hours, and are uncomfortable whenthey have to be away for more than an hour or so. Time stress ismuch worse for the caregiver with a frail elderly parent who mustbe reminded to take medications at certain times of the day. Howcan the caregiver be away for 3-4 hours when Grandma must take herprescribed medication every 2 or 3 hours? If the caregiver istrapped in traffic for an hour or two beyond the 2 or 3 theyexpected to be gone, this “time stress” can be verydifficult for the caregiver to moderate.
Not infrequently, the primary caregiver has a 24 hour, 7 days aweek responsibility. After weeks and weeks of this sometimestedious, 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 thatmedication will be missed or the care receiver have an accidentrequiring immediate assistance by the caregiver, or someone theymust designate. And the care receiver may be very resistant to a“stranger” coming in to her home and “runningthings.”
So what is it worth for a care receiver to have an automatic systemto 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 thatscenario 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 prettyhandy, and potentially very cost effective from the primarycaregiver's perspective.
The care receiver's perception of a CareBot is much different fromthe caregiver's. It's a new kind of companion that always staysclose to them enabling family and friends to care for them fromafar. It tells them jokes, retells family anecdotes, reminds themto take medication, reminds them that family is coming over soon(or not at all), recites Bible verses, plays favorite songs and/orother music. It alerts them when unexpected visitors, or intrudersare present. It notifies designated caregivers when a potentiallyharmful event has occurred, such as a fall, fire in the home, orjust not found by the CareBot for too long a time. And it respondsto calls for help and notifies those that the caregiver determinedshould be immediately notified when any anticipated event occurs.
The family can customize the personality of the CareBot. Thevoice's cadence can be fast or slow. The intonation can be breathy,or abrupt. The voice's volume can range from very loud to verysoft. The response phrases from the CareBot for recognized wordsand phrases can be colloquial and/or unique to the family's ownheritage. The personality can range from brassy to timid dependingon how the caregiver, and others appropriate, chooses it to be.
Generally, the care receiver is pleased at the prospect of familybeing able to drop in for a “virtual visit” using theonboard webcam and video monitor for at home “videoconferencing.” The care receiver may feel much more needed andappreciated when their far flung family and friends can “lookin” on them any where in the world where they can getbroadband internet access and simply chat for a bit.
Why is Grandma really interested in a CareBot? She wants to stay inher home, or her family's home, as long as she possibly can. What'sthat worth? Priceless. Or, an average nursing home is $4,500 permonth for an environment that is too often the beginning of aspiral downward in the care receiver's health. That's probably$2-3K more per month for them to be placed where they really don'twant to be. Financial payback on a CareBot? Less than a year-Emotional payback for the family to have this new automaticcaregiver? Nearly instantaneous.
Mission Statement:
GeckoSystems' vision is to create practical mobile robot solutionsfor personal, business, and government use. We are committed todeliver service robots of high quality that safe, cost effective,and gratifying for all stakeholders.
Safe Harbor:
Statements regarding financial matters in this press release otherthan historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within themeaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21Eof the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is definedin the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except forhistorical information contained herein, the statements in thisnews release are forward-looking statements that are made pursuantto the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities LitigationReform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such statements aboutthe Company's future expectations, including future revenues andearnings, technology efficacy and all other forward-lookingstatements be subject to the Safe Harbors created thereby.Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks anduncertainties, which may cause a company's actual results,performance and achievement in the future to differ materially fromforecasted results, performance, and achievement. The Company is adevelopment stage firm that continues to be dependent upon outsidecapital to sustain its existence. Since these statements (futureoperational results and sales) involve risks and uncertainties andare subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results maydiffer materially from expected results. The Company undertakes noobligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to theseforward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events orcircumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrenceof unanticipated events or changes in the Company's plans orexpectations.
Contact:
http://www.GeckoSystems.com
or
Investor Relations: 1-866-227-3268
International: +1 678-413-9236
R. M. Spencer, President, CEO
GeckoSystems International Corp.
1640 B Highway 212, SW
Conyers, GA 30094-4255
USA
Phone: 678-413-9236
Fax: 678-413-9247
Source: GeckoSystems International Corp.
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