Our engineering team is working hard to put the power into the hands of our manufacturing techs by creating a new battery testing and calibration tool. This tool allows our techs to safely test and calibrate our custom-made Dax batteries without engineering resources.

Battery safety is our number one priority when designing the Dax electrical system. Each battery is fully tested for many characteristics to make sure each battery pack is high quality. During this process, each pack is measured for performance and calibrated so that Dax can plan long routes without abruptly running out of juice.

In the past battery packs were meticulously tested and programmed by Engineers. This new automatic testing machine allows Dax production technicians to perform the same tests with confidence and safety!

Our internal release date for Project Thor is 1-2 weeks.

Benefits to the "Thor" Automatic Testing Machine:

• Brings down manufacturing cost for batteries
• Standardizes manufacturing pipeline and prepares for scaling
• Empowers Daxbot technicians (pun intended)

When Dax is out on delivery, he connects to his home base via a SIM card, just like your phone does. Recently Engineering updated Dax’s SIM card capabilities by upgrading his modem to allow for a backup SIM card, and redesigning for space to make the SIM card easy to swap out when needed.

Benefits:

• Adding back-up SIM means that Dax is more dependable in new locations
• SIMs can be changed out quickly when needed
• This change has implications for tradeshows, demos, and could potentially decrease time for mapping new delivery areas

Last week our engineering department updated the Nvidia drivers that Dax runs on, allowing Dax to complete software updates over the air and preparing for Nvidia’s next evolution from Xavier to Orin.

Benefits include:

• Robots “wake-up” more quickly when activated from a cold boot
• Allows for over-the-air driver updates
• Positions drivers for hardware upgrade upon release of Nvidia Orin

'...this new module is described by Nvidia as an "energy-efficient AI supercomputer", which they say is six times more powerful than its predecessor and is intended to support large, complex AI models for natural language understanding, 3D perception, and multi-sensor fusion. ' –  impulse-embedded.co.uk (photo credit plus quote)

This is a demo of one of our delivery robots and his collision avoidance system: Collision avoidance gives Dax the ability to navigate safely while driving autonomously. 

We might have presented some unlikely scenarios to this Dax...

Recently we modified our localization algorithm, splitting it for two use cases: Calibration and Standard operation. 

If you've ever woken up in the night and been confused as to where you were, you'll be familiar with the concept that there is a difference between the process of figuring out where you and the process of navigating to the bathroom after you identify your surroundings. 

Dax has an algorithm that uses GPS to tell him where he is, and that algorithm has been updated to optimize for these two phases. In this way we can get more dependable, more accurate results, and work towards our goal of reaching 10:1 autonomy (10 Dax managed by 1 operator). 

We recently released an internal upgrade for Dax's POV. 

In the video below you can see the stats for Dax's GPS connection on the screen. GPS can go from "fixed" (Dax uses this to drive himself) to "float". 

Update Features: 

• Bug Fixes
• Cleaner Interface
• Specific GPS Information

We recently deployed our GPS station 2.0 in Philomath, OR, where we run most of our beta tests.  

Thanks to this new base station our Dax delivery robots in Philomath can now correct GPS coordinates and get a very precise idea of their location (used in autonomous driving) without having to use the ORGN (Oregon Real-time GNSS Network) local systems. As good as ORGN has been to us, owning the process end-to-end gives our system greater dependability and allows us the freedom to go anywhere in the world without having to rely on external systems. 

This step builds into our year-end goal of a 10:1 operator overseer to robot ratio in Philomath. Since our operator-to-robot ratio directly affects the cost of a Dax delivery, this is crucial to our long-term business plan. 

Thanks to all of you beautiful people we broke 400K on our Raise! 

When we break 500K we'll have five real Dax take a break from field duty to perform a dance, and then post the video!!! Promise. 

Our sales team has been focusing lately on getting Dax onto local college campuses: Campuses are an easy win-win for delivery because of their controlled nature and the amount of demand they have from all of those hungry students. The turn around time for a contract is much larger because of the moving pieces, but we decided that it's a good next-step focus for us. 

Here is our sales team taking a break from showing Dax off, but definitely keeping the focus on Dax, where it should be. 

Dax operates on DaxOS, a patented new kind of parliamentary operating system that we designed for robots that mimics the way that humans handle competing motivations.

DaxOs becomes increasingly important to the future of Dax as he becomes more interactive–  Imagine a Dax is driving down a sidewalk and someone waves: Dax’s “interactive” chip requests that Dax stop and interact with this human. All other chips vote on this action, with various degrees of certainty. If Dax’s Delivery Chip is certain that Dax needs to continue driving then Dax nods at the human but continues driving, but if Dax is already stopped, say at a crosswalk, then driving is less pressing and the interaction chip wins the vote. 

We want to make DaxOs a standard framework for robotic systems, opening up the door for new more complex solutions and advancements in the robotics community as well as in other tech circles. 

GPS base stations along with internally developed systems allow us to take GPS drift down from several meters to several millimeters. Engineering is releasing version 2.0, which is our first GPS Base station to hit the manufacturing stage! 

Improvements over our first working prototype include:

• Now Runs On POE 
• Upgraded Antenna
• Detects Tampering and Issues Alerts
• 50% Less Drift in GPS Signal

^ Screenshot from GPS station collecting data for post processing as part of the surveying-in process.

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Hello! Recently, a change was made to the Daxbot offering. Here's an excerpt describing the specifics of the change:

Company has extended their offering and updated the campaign page

When live offerings undergo changes like these on StartEngine, the SEC requires that certain investments be reconfirmed. If your investment requires reconfirmation, you will be contacted by StartEngine via email with further instructions.

This last week part of our team attended the 2022 Curbivore event in LA! This year's event included a focus on restaurants adapting to changing trends and last mile delivery. It also included a delivery robot "foot" race, which was possibly the first of it's kind.

^Our CEO Jason Richards, Sales Director Shawn Fallon, and Operations Manager Kevin Tegan hanging out with Dax, Coco, Kiwibot, and Serve Robotics  at the 2022 Curbivore Event

Our engineers are working on our new ordering system in Philomath, OR, which will give us the ability to offer more tools to our delivery partners. 

In the past we have only integrated with our partner's already existing point-of-sales systems to offer delivery. This new option makes the set-up process for new customers more turn-key, as we will be able to offer our own delivery ordering tools: We will now be able to insure a smooth and customer-centric experience for our partners and their customers. 

Shown below is a screenshot of our mobile-friendly Where's-My-Dax page, which allows end-users to track the movements of their Dax delivery. 

Nourish + Bloom and the Dax delivery robots providing delivery for them were featured on NBC's Nightly News late last week, in a story that covered the autonomous grocery store's mission to provide healthy foods to isolated and disadvantaged areas. Also mentioned was the futuristic emphasis that Nourish + Bloom presents with it's combo of automated shopping experience, QR codes, and Dax delivery robots, making it the "supermarket of the future". 

Our sales team has been busy approaching universities to provide contactless robotic delivery:

The photo below is a sneak peak of Dax at a university during one of our recent sales demonstrations for university executives; we're very excited to see where this goes and what partnerships will come out of this in the future! 

What does a robot do when he needs to drive at night? This is our "Night Burrito" test from last summer, when we tested out Dax's (then prototype) IR Night Vision system. https://youtu.be/DhHNbr_KfK4

Dax was in the news again this last week as Nourish + Bloom, an autonomous grocery store using Dax robots to deliver their wares to customers, opened their first store in Trilith, GA. Jamie and Jilea Hemmings, the owners of this new autonomous grocery store, are working toward their goal of having 400+ stores of this kind across the country, and we're excited to see Dax be part of that future. 

"The technology at Nourish + Bloom also includes delivery robots for residents of Trilith. These bots deliver a variety of food and packages with the ability to regulate hot and cold temperatures. In addition to their high-tech learning abilities, robotic deliverers use digital facial expressions and sounds to add “an element of fun and opportunities for interactions with curious residents and visitors.”

-- What Now Atlanta | Read Full Article

"Like Amazon and FedEx, the market features delivery robots (think chirpy little R2-D2s programmed with...  temperature-controlled bellies) roaming the sidewalks of Town Centre carting grocery orders to people living within the development."

-- Eater Atlanta | Read Full Article

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As you might know, Daxbot has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Daxbot be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

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There are some Starship robots delivering for a nearby college campus, and meeting other delivery robots seems like something Dax would enjoy. Last year we had some fun taking one of our robots down to the campus and stalking a Starship robot... 

It generated quite the stir on campus. Why have an urban robot if you're not going to create a ruckus from time to time? 

Engineering just finished their prototype design for a backpack for Dax! The backpack is being created to add extra storage room, as requested by our delivery partners, who are the customers we deal directly with.

When designing anything for Dax we have to take two groups into mind: the end user (general public) who will receive Dax deliveries, and our customers (businesses) who we complete Dax deliveries for. This addition benefits both of those groups.

Featured in this backpack design is a stiff frame for packing convenience, and an electronic latch to keep the delivery secure in transit.

Dax delivery robots worked for several advertising agencies at promotional events in 2021, but one that was especially fun involved Jim Beam and the San Francisco Giants! Jim Beam Black brought Dax robots on to deliver drinks for a San Francisco Giants event in Napa Valley, which was the perfect fit for robots as sophisticated as Dax! 

[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].

Hello!

As you might know, Daxbot has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Daxbot be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

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Autonomous driving is complicated, and not a lot of companies have been able to make it work and put it to use: Our Lead Engineer, Jonathan Van Schenck, PhD, explains Dax's autonomous driving and navigation systems, and how Dax delivery robots use "invisible rails" to map out new areas and navigate them safely.  

Dax robots are currently semi-autonomous, mapping areas and then driving themselves along delivery routes. Dax quality control operators oversee the robots and take over when things get too big for Dax's smart chips. Dax's GPS 'rail' systems let him know when to slow down or speed up for terrain changes, where crosswalks are, and where there might be hazards. This, combined with a collision avoidance system, allows Dax to navigate safely. As our programmers make the Dax crews autonomous skills more robust, Dax robots have a greater self-autonomy to remote-navigation ratio!

This is a full physics simulation of Dax's tracks and motor using Project Chrono as the physics engine and Unity for visualization. 

Dax's tracks are modeled as close to 50 small (gray) pieces that are joined together as an elastic chain. By modeling the static and dynamics frictional forces of the rubber with the ground and the internal motor we can simulate how the tracks slip and slid and grip across different surfaces: Additionally the bottom four (blue) rollers have simulated deformation that allows the tracks to more realistically conform to the surfaces that they're driving over, illustrated here with a series of bumps. 

Accurately modeling how Dax's tracks interact with driving surfaces is critical to maintaining knowledge of Dax exact position over time, a key component to navigation. 

What sort of robots do we want in our future?

The Action Lab, a Dax robot, and an anti-Dax came together for this video. The Action Lab did a phenomenal job of presenting Dax from a sociological and technical perspective, but if you're prone to anxiety, be advised!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsEwzv1_vuU

Will the real robot age look like what we see in Sci-Fi?

In this Daxbot article, now live on Tech Crunch, our CEO, Jason Richards, looks at the future of Pedestrian Space Robots like Dax and what our society might look like in the future. 

Robots are becoming part of our daily lives. Should these Urban robots have a voice in our society?

https://techcrunch.com/sponsor/daxbot/should-robots-have-a-voice-in-society/

In our hometown of Philomath, OR, there is a lumber store built in one of our more historic Philomath buildings. Above the lumber store there's a bookstore, with some of the best deals on old books that we've seen. 

An interesting way to look at new technology, like Dax, is to realize that he's really a continuum of the history that's been lived out before us. In every generation there are new ideas, some better than others, and the things that we now take for granted were once as novel as something like Dax is today. 

And yes, we did pester one of our local robots and load him up with books. 

[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].

Hello!

As you might know, Daxbot has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Daxbot be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

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One person can build a Dax in 80 hours: this is a line-up of some of the Dax that are currently near completion, and each has his own name: We have names from Porky to Lucky to Smoav to Larry, usually based on series of characters from popular shows (if you couldn't guess). 

Internally we use these names to tell the bots apart. Each bot also has his name on a QR code next to his battery pack: Strangely Dax tend to end up with their own "personalities". Someday we might open up Dax naming to suggestions, but in the meantime this is something that falls to manufacturing. 

Sneak preview of Dax getting to know some of the people in Fayetteville, GA. 

We're currently working on uploading some of our best "Dax Home Videos" to YouTube. Like this one, these videos come from Dax's perspective and show what the world looks like as a Dax Robot.

Benzinga introduced their readers to Dax yesterday, in this article comparing him to R2D2: The article goes on to point out some of the interesting tech advancements that have been "foretold" in sci-fi movies. We've been looking forward to them dropping this article, and were excited to see that happen and to share Dax with more of the world! 

Seeing people form relationships with Dax is one of the ways that we know we're succeeding in making a "who" instead of a "what": When we see all the people waving at Dax as he passes, or saying "hello" when he rolls in it keeps us excited, because we're not bringing sci-fi to real life unless people can feel like they have a connection with Dax, and imagine a whole personality around his AI programming!

https://www.benzinga.com/markets/emerging-markets/21/11/24216112/this-company-wants-to-bring-r2-d2-to-life-to-help-with-your-day-to-day

As part of the integration process with new customers Dax robots are sent to new deployment locations to pre-map the entire delivery area and note possible hazards before deliveries begin. This usually attracts a lot of attention from the locals, and Dax gets a lot of publicity. 

Dax robots are now in Georgia, preparing to pre-map for delivery with Nourish + Bloom!

The Operations department has an unusual perspective on Dax, since they oversee all of his deliveries and interactions. This Dax Rap is the product of a coalition between Marketing and Operations, with most of the credit going to Operations. 

The Dax Rap Lyric Video, Now Available on YouTube.

Dax does deliveries in the dark, so he needs to see in the dark. Street lights don't supply sufficient lighting for a robot to drive itself, and they don't cover all places that Dax might have to drive through.

To solve this problem Dax has IR filters, so that he can see at night without annoying everyone around him. He can see at night almost as well as he can see in the day, and headlights don't blind him. He also has hazard lights that blink to show where he is in the dark, but aren't annoying for passers-by. 

Below is a comparison of what can be seen by the naked eye on a dark street, and what Dax robots can see:

We've been making and sending out more Dax, which means we need more space. Fortunately, we have a new office building in mind, in a business development that's currently being built nearby!

The plan is for manufacturing to stay in our current buildings, while our offices and operations move into the new space. The new build location is across the street, which makes this pretty convenient! For now we just have a sign on a construction fence at the new place, but we're pretty excited about what's ahead! 

Over the last year we've worked with several marketing agencies who wanted to use Dax for ads. Dax has been in several marketing videos, including one of his most recent appearances in an ad promoting Tacoma FD. 

We've also made some of our own shorts with Dax, including this one. We sent three Dax into a bar. You can hear the nod to Star Wars near the end of the video. 

It's hard to say how big a part of our future marketing appearances might be, but it's an unexpected and interesting way to use Dax's interactive design!

This week we made our final preparations to ship bots to Georgia where they'll be working with Nourish + Bloom to complete grocery deliveries! 

We also made our first engineering podcast (it'll be posted to YouTube next week, and next time we'll do YouTube live as well), and gave lots of candy away in Dax's first Trunk Or Treat. 

The Operations team which oversees Dax's delivery was in charge of costumes for Dax, and they outdid themselves. They even got "pumpkin" eyes made for Dax's LED display! We sent three Dax, who were immediately swarmed by children. Most of the candy was gone in the first 30 minutes, so we made an emergency run to get more! 

How would you react to sharing a sidewalk with a robot? Jason Richards, (Daxbot CEO), and Wilkins White, (Daxbot Sr. Firmware Engineer), will be talking about how we engineered a robot that people like having around, and why the kind of robots that we make matters! 

This event will be live on Facebook, Oct 28th at 5pm PST

https://www.facebook.com/events/178867371072257/

We posted a webinar we did last month on common questions we've been asked about investing, and added chapters so that you can easily find answers to questions you might have. Link is here

Some of the topics that we go over are:

01:09 - The Daxbot Story

02:02 - What Makes Dax Exciting? 

03:48 - Where Do You See Robotics In 20 Years? 

07:15 - Opening Daxbot for Investment 

08:51 - Celebrity Dax 

11:02 - Daxbot Patents, Dax OS, and Open Source 

14:50 - Ongoing Deployments 

17:10 - Scaling Daxbot 

18:09 - Dax and the Job Market 

23:28 - How Quickly Do You Expect Revenue To Climb? 

28:50 - Why Would A Technophobe Invest In Daxbot? 

32:16 - How Do We Keep Dax Safe? 

34:49 - Have the Daxbot Employees Invested In Daxbot? 

37:45 - Wrap Up

If you have questions we didn't address, feel free to contact us at invest@daxbot.com 

We have our own in house manufacturing, with the ability to create a new Dax every two weeks. This includes our Manufacturing Manager, Rick Drulard, and several techs that work for him. Something people don't think about when considering new avenues for robotics is the possibilities it can open up for new jobs. Our techs and quality control operators are a vital part of the Daxbot Team. 

Investing in Daxbot is investing in the future of US made robotics. 

[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].

Hello!

As you might know, Daxbot has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Daxbot be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

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A few months back Engineering created an environmental chamber to test new changes in Dax's design; It can re-create a heavy rainfall or a hot day, and is part of our QA process to make sure bots are ready for deployment. If you want more info on cool things that Daxbot engineering has turned out, this is one of them.

It's been in use for the past several months as we work on Dax deployments and send Dax to different climates (Oregon, Dax's hometown, is pretty mild).

Here's a link to a video of Sean, who's the engineer responsible for QA tests around here, running a bot through a heavy rainfall test. 

Check it out!

https://youtu.be/gygNRC39H-U

We’re preparing to ship out perks to all y’all who invested before October 1^st (we ship out perks every time a disbursement is confirmed, and that was the cut off for our first batch), and these are the 1/10 scale resin Dax models that are going out to our Lithium Class investors.

Dax seems less than pleased with these mini versions of himself, although we're sure he'll get used to them. 

GPS can be used to tell what block you’re on, but it “drifts” and is accurate within a few meters; hardly exact enough for a robot to use for staying on the right side of a sidewalk. Part of the way that Daxbot enhances the accuracy of GPS measurements is by using positional corrections (called Real-time Kinematic Positioning, or RTK) from local GPS base stations to “correct” the GPS signal that Dax receives and give him his real-world position within a few centimeters. Which is insanely cool (shout out to our engineering team!). The problem is base stations aren’t available in every state. 

For our upcoming deployment in Atlanta, the engineering team has been working hard to develop our own custom GPS base station solution to enable Dax deliveries. Many state governments, like Oregon, maintain a network of publicly available GPS base stations for RTK. Unfortunately, Georgia does not. Enter Daxbot engineer Sean Sullivan, who is using his past expertise with GPS systems to design a lightweight, low cost and portable GPS base station to be sent with our fleet of Dax to Georgia in the next few weeks. 

With this portable base station, Dax can delivery anywhere with open sky!

We've raised over our minimum raise amount and requested our first disbursement, and we're finishing up the first batch of perks that are going to be going out! 

One of the things that we designed for this raise was a Dax plushie. There are actually three models or "modes" of plushie, each with a different expression; This seemed appropriate for how interactive Dax is, and it was fun to help design. The plushies are hand sewn right here in Oregon.

We're also preparing to ship out some 1/10 scale mini Dax along with keychains and tees. Our team has been enjoying seeing all of this Dax merch around here!

More photos to come! 

[The following is an automated notice from the StartEngine team].

Hello!

As you might know, Daxbot has exceeded its minimum funding goal. When a company reaches its minimum on StartEngine, it's about to begin withdrawing funds. If you invested in Daxbot be on the lookout for an email that describes more about the disbursement process.

This campaign will continue to accept investments until its indicated closing date.

Thanks for funding the future.

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Joseph Sullivan is the visionary and founder of Daxbot: He’s started several successful companies, including Active911, which is a leader in emergency response and emergency coordination software.

Inspired by robots from sci-fi, he wanted to create a human space robot that could fulfill everyday errands for humans with the same kind of easy interaction that R2D2 has. In other words, he wanted movie robots in everyday life, so he took a team of engineers and designers and made one.  

It looks like robotics are going to be a larger and larger part of the future, and we think they should be more than just functional— that they should be fun to interact with. We think this also makes money sense, since given two equal options people tend to buy what they like, and having happy customers is important to most business owners. Dax has also proven so far to be an instant celebrity wherever he goes.  

We opened the crowdfunding raise so that we can make a lot more robots and scale our vision of friendly everyday robots that we can interact with on a daily basis.

We are inviting you to join us in this endeavor and invest in Daxbot!  

Last 21 hours to invest with early bird bonus shares! We're answering questions tonight at 5:00 pm in a Q&A webinar. Join us at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86063074772 

We're hosting a live webinar on Tuesday the 28th (tomorrow) at 5:00 PM (PST) to talk about the Raise and answer any questions!

You can come to watch, or participate! Send us your questions beforehand at contact@daxbot.com, or ask your questions live during Q&A! No need to register, link to join is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86063074772

If you'd like to learn more about these people, you can find them on LinkedIn! If you'd like to get updates on what is new with Dax, sign up for the Dax Lowdown: https://daxbot.com/dax-lowdown

Our crowdfunding campaign just completed the end of its first week, meaning that there are 6 more days left for our early bird perks! So far we have 150+ investors and almost a quarter-of-a-million dollars invested! So thanks for a strong first week :-) 

For the next 6 days there's a 5% bonus for being one of our first investors: If you know anyone who might like to think about investing before those extra perks end, now's the time for them to start considering that! 

There are also amount based perks that we're offering as a kind of welcome-to-the-Dax-fam: 

We’re overwhelmed by all the support we’ve received in the first couple days of our funding round!

Thank you to all of our early investors - we now have over 115 investors who have participated so far!

This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.