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GeckoSystems Eyeing TI's ARM Processors for Mobile Robot Sensor Fusion
(Market Wire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CONYERS, GA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/08/09 --
GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GCKO)
(http://www.geckosystems.com) announced today that they plan on evaluating
Texas Instruments' Luminary Micro products for inclusion in the next
generation of the GeckoSPIO? mobile service robot controller. GeckoSystems
is a dynamic leader in the emerging Mobile Service Robot (MSR) industry
revolutionizing their development and usage with "Mobile Robot Solutions
for Safety, Security and Service?."
"We are excited about the potential performance gains and power saving of
switching to Luminary Micro's family of Cortex-M3 based microcontrollers.
Given their extensive selection of microcontrollers I believe it will be
possible to replace all of our current 8-bit processors with their far
superior 32-bit ARM based chips. This would increase data throughput,
enable us to monitor far more sensors and potentially reduce our platform's
reaction time. Along with those technical benefits, there would be an
increase in code portability, code reuse and allow us to move to industry
standard development tools," stated Mark Peele, Vice President of Research
and Development, GeckoSystems.
"Texas Instruments is once again demonstrating what makes them a visionary
industry leader with the acquisition of Luminary Micro, an innovative
company providing the industry's first and widest range of Cortex-M3
products. Adoption of this technology could shorten development time of
future platforms, help ease the move into high volume production, increase
the actionable situational awareness of our MSRs using our proprietary and
internationally recognized sensor fusion technologies and increase ROI for
our stockholders," concluded Martin Spencer, President/CEO, GeckoSystems.
According to Wikipedia: "Sensor fusion is the combining of sensory data or
data derived from sensory data from disparate sources such that the
resulting information is in some sense better than would be possible when
these sources were used individually."
Everyday we use "sensor fusion" in our routine activities. For example, we
smell smoke and then look for a grayish cloud to determine the source of
the smoke, its proximity, and consequent degree of danger to us. In noisy
crowds when we talk with someone, we use lip reading to enable us to
understand what we don't hear clearly. Humans use sensor fusion every day
to make choices based on data that is interdependent, or incomplete, versus
using only one of our five senses. The better the sensor fusion, the better
the choices and the more "actionable" the "situation awareness" is.
GeckoSystems employs proprietary sensor fusion technologies not only in its
flagship automatic self-navigation software, GeckoNav?, but also in
GeckoTrak?, the GeckoSPIO?, GeckoOrient?, etc. GeckoTrak uses advanced
sensor fusion to merge machine vision, passive infrared, and sonar to
identify and/or locate the person of interest such that GeckoTrak can
inform GeckoNav automatically as to the whereabouts of the designated
person for continuous proximate monitoring.
The GeckoSPIO, a sensor/power input/output mobile robot controller board,
enables faster, more graceful self-navigation through loose crowds of
moving people as in airport, bus, and train terminals, shopping centers and
other public areas. GeckoOrient automatically and intelligently merges
sensor data from odometry (dead reckoning), a solid-state compass and
accelerometer based gyroscopes (IMUs) for enhanced orientation accuracy
while errand running, patrolling, or following a designated person.
The GeckoSPIO has (2) eight-bit CPUs with (8) PWM outputs, (5) eight-bit
MCUs, (3) DC to DC power supplies; and over (220) digital, (40) analog to
digital, (17) serial and (2) 10/100mhz Ethernet I/O ports.
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 robot) the CareBot?, to be created for the
mass consumer marketplace. The suite of primary inventions includes:
GeckoNav?, GeckoChat? and GeckoTrak?.
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? 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.
Using U.S. Census Bureau data and various predictive statistical analyses,
the Company projects the available consumer market size in dollars for cost
effective, utilitarian, multitasking eldercare personal robots in 2010 to
be $74.0B, in 2011 to be $77B, in 2012 to be $80B, in 2013 to be $83.3B,
and in 2014 to be $86.6B. With market penetrations of 0.03% in 2010, 0.06%
in 2011, 0.22% in 2012, 0.53% in 2013, and 0.81% in 2014, we will
anticipate CareBot sales, from this consumer market segment, only, of
$22.0M, $44.0M, $176M, $440.2M, and $704.3M, respectively. The Company
expects these sales despite -- and perhaps because of -- the present
recession due to pent up demand for significant cost reduction in eldercare
expenses.
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?"
are appropriate not only for the consumer, but also professional
healthcare, commercial security and defense markets. Professional
healthcare requires 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?, GeckoMotorController?, the GeckoTactileShroud?, the
CompoundedSensorArray?, and the GeckoSPIO?.
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 Caregiver?
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 caregiver 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 caregiver, 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 caregiver? 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:
www.GeckoSystems.com
or
Main number: 1-866-227-3268
International: +1 678-413-9236
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