Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 21 | Page 35

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY Jacky’s as a distributor but for us it’s much more than somebody that is taking your product and reselling it in the market. We are developing a relationship where we train them in developing solutions and to do all the repairs to the robots. This requires a tight relationship because we are giving them access to really technical information that few people have access to. But also Jacky’s has the role of managing the ecosystem of partners. What sort of verticals are the end- users operating in? The robot has to be used in places where the public is. The fastest growing industry is certainly retail. Banking is another, also tourism, government and enterprises. We have a lot of companies who are taking the robot to assist in receptions. The next tip will certainly be healthcare. INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 21 We are confident that we have selected the right partner in Jacky’s. There is an interesting use case with the police in the UAE who use the robot to ask questions of kids who have been wrongly treated. That is another value of the robot, not only are they engaging but they are making easier interaction between a human and another human through a machine – they are a perfect channel. The robot has also been used with autistic kids to help them develop their communication behaviour and that works well because there is no judgement from a robot. Our robots are humanoid, they are nice looking but they still look like robots. They don’t look like a human so people know they are dealing with a machine. They know they can tell anything to a robot and there won’t be any judgement. Even in retail that’s why people are interacting with the robots. When I enter a shop and I see a sales guy I try to avoid him. If I see a robot I know I can interact with him because I can leave it at any time without offence. How will the robots develop? The robots have a life cycle of about three years after that you just get a new device. Robots in three years time will be really different. I guess the change will be the same as between the first Motorola mobile phones and today’s phones. ˜ 35