Roboligent (formerly known as LinkDyn Robotics) designs robots that perform manual tasks safely using proprietary, cutting-edge force-control technology for automation. The robots behave like humans, making it easier to translate manual tasks into robotic behaviors in a way that’s safe and easy to interact with.

The first commercial application is robotic rehabilitation, where our robots can solve unmet needs in the clinical field. The first unit was shipped to our commercial collaborator for customer tests and marketing/sales activities. With another mobile robot variant, we are developing an autonomous mobile pick-and-deliver solution with advanced AI integration for the logistics automation market.

Many service industries that require demanding and repetitive work have long suffered from labor shortages and high turnover rates. Physical therapy centers and warehouses are looking for automated solutions to replace their repetitive tasks, but we believe industrial robots on the market are not safe for human interaction.

Tasks that require human vision, mobility and manipulation are quite challenging to existing robots. The current market of industrial robots provide limited compatibility with AI perception which can result in injury and task failure. Conventional robots use position/velocity-control technology that produces extremely rigid movement with virtually no compliance. This is problematic as most manual tasks require direct, physical interaction with objects and humans in an environment, and conventional robots cannot adapt to unplanned interaction. Even a small positional uncertainty can lead to task failure.

While roboticists have been developing new systems to improve performance for the past couple of decades, only a few laboratory-level systems have been introduced. In the commercial market, robots that operate purely based on force-control with practical sensitivity, payload, reach and reliability are rare.

At Roboligent we have developed a new robot that is safe and reliable for automating processes that can interact with humans. We designed an autonomous mobile manipulator system from the ground up based on proprietary force-control technology and integrated it with advanced AI algorithms. The system is equipped with a hypersensitive force-control manipulator robot that sits atop an autonomous mobile robot. It can automate a wide range of manual tasks that require human manipulation, mobility, and intelligence.

We have built three systems: the force-control robot arm, the mobile manipulator Optimo Regen, and the Optimo Dex integrated with robot control software and AI perception/autonomous navigation with application-level software.

The force-control technology allows our robots to behave like humans and translate manual tasks into the robot’s coded behaviors. Impedance or compliance control schemes can be applied for manipulation or guidance tasks even while lifting a heavy object or supporting the body. This allows for precise motion, compliance, and interactive behaviors. The robot generates an array of creative movements resembling human responses and behaviors to enable new automation with unprecedented performance and safety.

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The robot arm is highly sensitive and smooth for fragile object manipulation but strong enough to lift heavy objects. The mobile base autonomously navigates to reach targeted locations avoiding obstacles and humans. It is designed for utmost safety to work alongside humans and to interact with continuous physical contact. It is agile and versatile covering a wide work range.

We believe that our robots can help accelerate the sustained growth of the warehouse and physical therapy industries by alleviating the problems of high turnover rates and high intensity labor. The need for professional service robotics is on the rise.

With the increasing adoption of mobile robots, autonomous mobile manipulators are the next big wave expected to hit the service automation market. While the global autonomous robot market size was around $30B in 2019 and expected to reach $220B by 2030, the market size for pick and place automation is expected to reach $11B by 2025.

The market for global rehabilitation robots are on the rise due to rising cases of brain disease and an increasing aging population. By 2026, the market is projected to reach $2.6B with a CAGR of 22.1%. The market segments include therapeutic robots, exoskeleton robots, and assistive robots. North America is expected to dominate the global rehabilitation robots market due to the increasing demand for stroke rehabilitation. Each year 795,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke.

We are developing strong relationships with key organizations. Currently, we have established a contract with a Singaporean company, Seimitsu Factory Automation in Singapore (SFAS), for supplying our mobile manipulator as a robotic rehabilitation device toward the Asian market. They will conduct activities for a pilot study, marketing, sales, and customer relations, while we supply the complete product. The first unit was shipped in mid-April, 2021 for pilot study and pre-sales marketing. 

We have also provided our force-control actuators to a robotics lab at Purdue University.

Along with this crowdfunding campaign, Roboiligent will initiate marketing and sales activities to discover customers and potential partners. 

We won the SBIR Program from National Science Foundation (NSF) Phase I and II with a total of $1.2M of grant (the combined winning chance for phase I and II was around 3% at the time of our application). Under the SBIR Phase II that we are currently on, we are eligible to apply for 50% of matching funds ($500,000 maximum) to this crowdfunding investment. In addition, so far over 20 friends and family members have invested the company with a total of around $500,000.

Hardware sales

Roboligent sells the robot hardware to diverse robotic industries. Hardware includes force-control actuators, robot arms, mobile rehabilitation robots, and mobile picking robots. Companies are increasingly discovering new commercial opportunities that can be addressed by force-control or compliant robots. Our plan is to strategically partner with these companies to supply our robots, avoiding overlaps of target markets among these companies. While we supply our robots as a subsystem or a whole system, they modify the system as needed and proceed with customer discovery and sales. The collaboration with Seimitsu Factory Automation in Singapore is an example of this model, and we are in active talks with more companies at this moment for supplying our products.

Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) Model

In the long term, Roboligent expects to launch a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model with the mobile manipulator to which we are currently adding more functionality and intelligence. The first application with a RaaS model is robotic rehabilitation for the US and EU markets. The second application is pick-and-deliver automation for warehouses and factories.

With a tentative RaaS model, the monthly rate will range from the monthly salary of physical therapy assistants to those of warehouse laborers. During 5 years of expected life, we expect to be able to generate a margin of up to $200,000 per unit.

There are several companies that produce mobile manipulator robots and try to solve automation problems such as picking-transporting-placing in factories and warehouses. However, we believe there are not many strong use cases for commercial applications yet. Most of them are equipped with industrial robots on mobile platforms, which rely on AI perception and a moving base. This introduces positional uncertainty with rigid manipulation motions that cannot absorb those uncertainties. Even with safety measures, the rigid nature of motion generates a significant impact when collided. Robots have to be meticulously programmed for motion in human-collaborating environments for safety, leading to reduced productivity speeds. In our opinion, existing robots are more suitable to applications for semi-structured environments with objects arranged in particular ways limiting their application to broader human-robot collaborative tasks.

Our mobile manipulator, on the other hand, can work closely with humans as the manipulator can be stopped and pushed at any time. Our robots can even be stopped by an egg, as seen in the test video. The hyper transparent compliance makes it easy to automate tasks with caution-free physical interaction including touching, brushing, interrupting, pushing, pulling, hammering, etc. As a result, the manipulator performs tasks that robots struggle with. Its dynamically interactive and compliant manipulation is paired with AI perception for picking automation, not just stationary picking on conveyor belts in a quasi 2D environment, but mobile picking in full 3D situations with high variability. This allows the human body to maintain continuous physical contact with free or guided movements with precise support or assistance force, opening new possibilities of human-robot collaboration.

Note for force control manipulator: There are some laboratory-level force control robots for light payloads. Our product is a general, collaborative commercial-grade manipulator based on pure force control whose kind rarely exists in the commercial market. Some collaborative robot arms equipped with force sensors have a force control mode, but they are not sensitive enough to generate manipulation motion purely based on force control. They mainly operate in position/velocity control mode and switch to a force control mode when necessary with slow and cautious movement. One of the key traits of full force-control is the compliant and dynamic behaviors “during active manipulation motions”. Another aspect is how sensitive they are. For example, our robot arm responds to the weight of one playing card.

In the next five years, we plan to become one of the top players in the service robotics field. We believe that our force-control, compliant robot will set the industry standard for safe, effective robots with intelligent performance.

To achieve the goal, we’ll focus on ramping up Optimo Regen sales to the Asian market from 2021 to 2022 while we proceed with the FDA application for the US market. On the development side, we plan to complete a beta prototype for the autonomous picking functionality on Optime Dex and conduct a pilot test in actual warehouse environments to start customer development in the logistics industry.

We are a small team, but we’ve successfully created a compelling robotic system with a tight budget and secured initial customers without aggressive spending on marketing and sales activities. Now is the time to grow our team to pursue our goals of accelerating our production, sales, and business growth.

The management team members, Bongsu Kim, Ph.D. in robotics, and Seonhwa Shin (M.S. in statistics), have 25 years of cumulative professional experience in engineering and bio-industry. They have contributed to the development of a widely-known exoskeleton robot featured by multimedia and renowned journals, and contributed to marketing, project management, and large-scale survey research. Our advisors having extensive business experience with serial entrepreneurship add seasoned perspectives to the company management.

We believe Roboligent’s advanced robotic technology has great potential in human-robot interactive and AI-based automation areas where huge commercial demands exist but conventional robots struggle to solve. Our first product, Optimo Regen, the unique force-control robot, is on a solid commercial route with our collaborator to make rehabilitation clinics more efficient. We are not stopping there. With advanced AI integration, Roboligent is paving the way to the broader collaborative automation market. With your support, we expect that Roboligent will be able to significantly increase the chance of their commercial success and bring a positive impact to society.

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We envision a world where robots are part of daily life, as intelligent tools making the way we live and work better. Our team at Roboligent is working on advancing toward a new robotic automation era where robots will work alongside humans. 

We know entrepreneurial endeavors rarely bear fruit without universal public acceptance. With your participation, we believe we can create an army of ambassadors and early adopters who can amplify our innovation ripple into a large commercial wave.

Invest in Roboligent and help shape the future with us!

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