Diligent Robotics is an Austin, Texas based company that is leading the transformation of hospital workflows. They help convert existing inefficiencies into robotics-driven fleet management protocols that allow nurses to regain over 30% of their day so they can focus on patient-facing activities. The Company’s flagship robot, Moxi, brings a socially intelligent robot into hospitals. Moxi performs repetitive chores so that hospital staff can spend their time doing more important tasks and focus on patient care. Moxi is unique in that it’s doing commercial mobile manipulation, picking supplies out of supply closets and delivering them to patient rooms, all completely autonomously.Diligent specializes in building interactive robots. They are focused on mobile manipulation robots designed for the future of work: people +robots. The Company has used state-of-the-art design and fully integrated technology platform that leverages advanced machine learning software and hardware enabling Moxi to operate in a busy, semi-structured hospitalenvironment. Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), smart sensors, and machine learning framework they are able to display features including social intelligence, mobile manipulation of a compliant arm and hand-grip along with human-guided learning.Diligent is already working with two of the largest hospital systems - HCAHealthcare and Ascension. Both of these healthcare systems are considered leaders in building "smart hospitals" and optimizing for efficiency and productivity.They also account for over 10% of the hospitals in the U.S. As the first Company to build a robot with social intelligence and mobile manipulation capabilities that help healthcare staff, they are able to provide immediate returns to the hospitals. Moxi works with hospital staff to re-prioritizing workflow for frontline teams, letting nurses make full use of their specialized skills and letting robots handle tedious fetching tasks and other routine work that can be easily automated.
Moxi addresses hospital system pain points and constrained resources. Now more than ever hospitals are under enormous stress, and the people bearing the most risk in this pandemic are the nurses and clinicians at the frontlines of patient care. Diligent’s mission with Moxi has always been focused on relieving tasks from nurses, giving them more time to focus on patients. In the current pandemic, that mission has a newfound meaning and purpose. Moxi is equipped with a flexible arm, gripper hand, and full mobility so it can hunt down lightweight medical resources, navigate hospital hallways, and drop them off for the nurse. It can also aid in secure delivery and management of lab operations. It can work 22 hours per day with 2 hours of deep charging time. Moxi operates like an intern rather than a gadget as it is built with social intelligence.
Moxi has the ability to integrate the technology into existing hospitals and replicate repetitivetasks which helps address the following areas:
● Hospital operation expenses and margins:
○ Shift to value-based care has elevated the need for hospitals to address ballooning expenses inoperations by risk-sharing arrangements for reimbursement, where both clinical outcomes andcost savings determine an entity’s financial compensation.
● Hospital yield and inefficiencies:
○ The rise of "smart hospitals" where robots can collaborate to optimize productivity and efficiencyof resources allowing nurses to regain hours in their day allowing them to focus on moreproductive tasks and patient care
● Shortage of Nurses and skilled healthcare professionals:
○ The enactment of the Affordable Care Act which provides millions more Americans access tohealthcare coverage combined with an aging population requiring medical attention, it isestimated that there will be a shortage of over 1M nurses by 2022.
● Overburdened work environments:
○ With few staff performing more work and working overtime leading to significant physical, mentaland emotional challenges along with burnout and high turnover rates.
● Hygiene and Safety:
○ With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting our health and burdening hospitals and front lineworkers, there is an increased focus towards employee and customer safety along with handlingsensitive materials in a hospital setting.
● Patient Care and expectations:
○ Patients experience several hours of delay for checkin and checkout procedures along withdelayed meals and accessing nurse’s attention along with risks of incorrect medication duringcare and checkout.
● Medical records integration, data and analytics:
○ With increasing expectations of on demand pharmacy delivery and medication and medicalrecords integration across units and systems to increase efficient data communication and limitrisks of incorrect diagnosis, treatment and patient care.
Software:Which includes an extensive AI framework encompassing (i) social intelligence: expressive face, social awareness; and (ii) human-guided learning: learns from human teachers. With embedded machine learning capabilities, Moxi continuously adapts to changing hospital workflows by learning and collaborating from human teachers along the way. The proprietary software is secure for medical operations and tasks with authorization requirements.Diligent is using a multimodal approach which includes sensors, computer vision, AI and continuous human guided machine learning. With the use of Moxi healthcare providers can focus on direct patient care, improving patient satisfaction, quality of service, and safety.Training data is a key element for deep machine learning systems. Diligent has developed more than 3,000 robot hours in hospitals of training data. This R&D data powers Moxi’s AI enhancements.
Hardware Moxi is equipped with:➔ Flexible arm➔ Gripper hand➔ Full mobility➔ Ability to carry lightweight medical resources➔ Differentiating round shape so it can politely share crowded hallways➔ Ability to travel via elevator➔ Integrated sensors Software Moxi is equipped with:➔ AI stack and machine learning➔ Ability to maneuver floors➔ Secure and authorized manipulation➔ Computer Vision➔ Autonomous mobility➔ Mobile manipulation: compliant arm ,hand, mobile base➔ Social intelligence: expressive face, social awareness➔ Human-guided learning: learns from human teachers➔ Voice recognition
What is Diligent Robotics product roadmap?Diligent Robotics' Moxi that is currently deployed today in hospitals is considered to beGeneration 5, with Generation 1 inception stretching back to 2008 with the launch of cofounder,Andrea Thomaz's first lab, the Thomaz Lab at Georgia Tech. The Company launched in Dec2017, and hit the ground on product development Jan 2018. They completed developments and achieved milestones over the past two years covering the following three product areas (please see product task details in the Company diligence folder):
1) Robotic hardware and software
2) Robot fleet management software
3) Application specific software for hospital stakeholders and hospital integrationsProduct areas that have already been de-risked (2018-2019):The Company’s Seed funding was focused on R&D, building generation 5 of Moxi, research trials to understand value drivers in hospitals, and securing first paying customers.
1) Robotic hardware and software- Completed and tested autonomous, secure and reliable functioning- Point-to-point navigation- Robot tasks execution- Social behaviors for Moxi coming “alive” when powered on- Audio detection for basic voice commands- Kinesthetic teaching (manipulation + navigation) with visual tag and human guided motion planning (human-guided IK)- control of crucial robot functions through easy to use front-end interface- Analytics and report generation- Autonomous detection of door state to know when to try to open/ask for help- Improve ability for the robot to traverse through entire hospital for longer periods of time
Connect robot to secure data transfer protocols which allows to remotely control the robot outside of the internal robot network- Upgraded arm: safer, faster and replacing 3rd party driver with Diligent proprietary driver- Increase capacity that Moxi can lift and increased arm motion reliability.
1) Robot fleet management software- Cloud based robot control- Remote Tele op System (path, goal, sensor visualization)- Network security and basic access point hopping
2) Application specific software for hospital stakeholders and hospital integrations- “Bed board” software system for information on patient rooms for supply deliveries- Logs and task time generated from robot logs for utilization and usage estimates- Diligent owned secure FTP server processing reports to auto generate tasks- Front-end interface (end-points) to interact with Moxi’s queue- Moxi Companion Application/Kiosk- High-powered integrated charging- Fully integrated lock tube badge access system
What was behind the genesis of Diligent?As roboticists and PhDs, the founders of Diligent Robotics, Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu, have spent more than a decade building robots. They are experts at the intersection o fhuman-computer interaction, machine learning and interactive robots. Andrea’s passion for social robotics began during her work at the MIT Media Lab, where she focused on using AI to develop machines that address everyday human needs. As a Robotics Professor at UT Austin and Georgia Tech, she directed the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab. Vivian completed herPh.D. in Robotics at Georgia Tech and this is where she was co-advised by her now co-founder,Dr. Andrea Thomaz (Socially Intelligent Machines Lab), along with Dr. Sonia Chernova (RobotAutonomy and Interactive Learning Lab). The day Vivian completed her Ph.D., Andrea and she registered the Company and co-founded Diligent Robotics.Andrea co-founded Diligent to pursue her vision of creating socially intelligent robot assistants that collaborate with humans by doing their chores so humans can have more time for the work they care most about. Having worked together in the lab, Andrea and Vivian's research andnexpertise is in building socially intelligent robots that function in care-oriented environments.
Q20) Who are the founders of Diligent and other key members of the Board?Diligent Robotics boasts deeply-experienced leadership with a team of 20 full-time employees based in Austin, Texas. The team is filled with PhD and MS experts in robotics and machine learning, with 9 members focused on the development and advancement of Moxi specifically.The leadership team includes:Andrea Thomaz, Co-Founder & CEO. Andrea has a PhD from MIT and B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UT Austin. She has earned worldwide acclaim as one of the top social robotics experts in the field. She has been recognized by the National Academy ofScience as a Kavli Fellow, a member of the US President’s Council ofAdvisors on Science and Tech, MIT Technology Review on its NextGeneration of 35 Innovators Under 35 list, Popular Science on itsBrilliant 10 list, TEDx as a featured keynote speaker on social robotics and Most Powerful Texans of 2018 list. Prior to co-founding DiligentRobotics, Andrea worked at IBM and led two robotics labs at GeorgiaTech and UT-Austin, where she was the director of the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab, while serving as an Robotics Professor.Vivian Chu, Co-Founder & CTO. Vivian completed her Ph.D. inRobotics at Georgia Tech while being advised by her nowCo-Founder, Andrea, in addition to an M.S.E. in Robotics from theUniversity of Pennsylvania and a B.S. degree in ElectricalEngineering and Computer Science from the University of California,Berkeley. Vivian has been recognized by the MIT Technology Reviewas 35 Innovators Under 35 list, honored as a Google Anita BorgMemorial Scholar, honored as a Stanford EECS Rising Star,awarded Best Cognitive Robotics Paper Award at ICRA 2013 andfeatured on Robohub 25 women in robotics you need to know list.Vivian has used her HRI and machine learning expertise on other robotic platforms includingPR2, Meka Robot and Kinova Jaco2. Previously, Vivian has worked at Google[X], HondaResearch Institute, and IBM Research at Almaden, IBM's Silicon Valley Innovation Hub.
Board Members:In addition to Co-Founders Andreaa and Vivian, Diligent has 2 board members that represent itsSeries A co-lead investors. They are experts in the field of robotics, hardware and medical. Rohit Sharma is a partner atTrue Ventures. His focus areas are: Hardware, Science/Biology,Robotics, and IndustrialAutomation. He also holdsMaster and Ph.D in electrical engineering. Motiwala is founding partner and managing director of DNX, investing in HardTech/DeepScience sectors after 11 years atQualcomm. He holds MBA fromUCLA and MSEE from VirginiaTech.
Q21) What is Diligent Robotics go-to-market strategy?Diligent Robotics launched the first Moxi trials in 2018 at several hospitals including TexasHealth Dallas, The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB Health) and Houston MethodistHospital. Moxi's initial deployment was designed to support clinical staff by augmenting logistical tasks that limit valuable patient care time. By executing these non-patient facing logistical tasks Moxi created a more efficient and thoughtful environment allowing for better patient care.2018 - 2019 Initial Research Trials: 3,000 Robot operation hours2019 - Present: Top Healthcare System DeploymentsDiligent is now working with two of the three largest hospital systems in the U.S. The company's go to market strategy is to focus on these large hospital networks as 10% of hospitals can be reached through their ownership and affiliated networks. With these existing contracts, theCompany has already secured $250k ARR with the near-term focus to attain regional expansion within the network that would achieve $2.5M ARR.Diligent estimates that national network expansion couldr esult in $150M ARR
Q23) What are Diligent’s operating revenues and growth projections?Diligent is expecting $1M in revenue by the end of this year with nearly $500k already achieved.They plan to scale to $5M by end of 2021, over $11M in 2022, and $30M in 2023.2021 FY - $5.307M REV 2022 FY - $11.178M REV 2023 FY - $30.225M REV.
Q25) How does Diligent think about potential exit opportunities?The Company is focused on building its customer and technology to be established as a leader in hospital service robots. Both co-founders want to utilize their expertise and technology to make an impact in hospitals with a vision that post full deployment and scale in hospitals they will look at new verticals to apply their socially intelligent service Moxi. They are focused on performance objectives that would allow for strong M&A and IPO driven metrics and KPIs. They believe that in the next 10 years the application of service robots will dramatically evolve with rapid adoption.The value to address labor shortage is also driving interest from AMN Healthcare which provides workforce solutions for hospitals nationwide and is one of the largest hospital staffing service companies. Their Chief Clinical Officer and CEO is ready for a nationwide sales channel partnership to offer Moxi to their clients.Diligent has already received interest and are continuing discussions with another channel partner that is interested in strategic investment and an acquisition.
Q26) Who are Diligent’s investors?Funding and Investors:Diligent has raised over $15M to date in equity financing from top investors including DNXVentures, True Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, E14 and others.Notable Investors - Series A Co Leads:● DNX Ventures: a $525M AUM, Silicon Valley-based VC with offices in Japan focused on investments in frontier tech, cybersecurity, fintech, enterprise SaaS/cloud, and retail tech.They are a part of the broader Draper Venture Network, led by Tim Draper.● True Ventures: a $2B+ AUM, Palo Alto and San Francisco-based VC that invests in education, consumer devices, infrastructure, mobile, software. Founded in 2005 with 551investments and exits include Peloton (IPO, 2019), FitBit (IPO, 2015), Ring (Acquired,Amazon, 2018), and Blue Bottle Coffee (Acquired, Nestlé, 2017) among others
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