Kozminski Techblog

In 2019, the robotics company Jibo filed for bankruptcy. Notably, Time magazine named Jibo’s eponymous social bot one of the best innovations of 2017. Failure to raise funding in time led to Jibo’s inglorious demise as well.

In April of that year, San Francisco-based robotics startup Anki closed up store, filing for bankruptcy. During its nine-year existence, the company developed such popular robot toys as Overdrive, Cozmo and Vector. CEO Boris Sofman blamed last-minute financial difficulties for the company’s closure.

Both Anki and Jibo were promising startups. Although Google-owned Schaft, Rethink Robotics and Mayfield Robotics showed great potential, they too eventually closed. If history is to be believed, robotics as a business is hard to sustain.

In 2020, a charming video of robots dancing to the 1962 hit “Do You Love Me” appeared on the Internet. The video featured robots from Boston Dynamics. The company is hugely popular for its nimble and smart service robots.

In recent years, however, Boston Dynamics has suffered major losses. In the fiscal year that ended in March 2020, the company posted a net loss of $103 million, a 60 percent increase over the year before. Later, automobile giant Hyundai came to the rescue of tBoston Dynamics and bought a controlling stake in the company.

So what explains the sad fate of some robotics pioneer companies?

Fresh Consulting analyzed significant case studies from Rethink Robotics to iRobot for its report “Why Robotics Companies Fail” and presented it on June 11 at a panel discussion moderated by James Dietrich of Fresh Consulting, with guest speakers Aaron Prater, senior advisor to the technology research and planning group at FedEx Express; Andra Kay, managing director of Silicon Valley Robotics and advisor on startup gas pedals, and Eric Klein, partner and founder of Lemnos Labs.

In a lively discussion, the speakers talked about what key success or failure factors were most likely in their experiences. Eric Klein says, “We are entering a golden era for applied robotics. It’s never been easier or cheaper from a technology standpoint to build robotics companies. But in terms of venture capital, there are still business barriers, especially in understanding customer economics.”

With his extensive experience at FedEx with robotics companies, Aaron Prater agrees that knowing and understanding the customer is the biggest reason startups fail. “One of the things we pay a lot of attention to at FedEx is making sure the technology fits the right use case. How well do you know your customer’s problems and needs?”

The struggle of robotics companies to keep their heads above water, as opposed to thriving AI companies, is a truly contrasting example. In the past 12 months, AI-focused startups have raised a total of $73.4 billion. In the same time period (through March 11, 2021), robotics startups have raised $6.3 billion, a paltry sum by comparison.

Andra Kay believes the lack of business fundamentals is the most critical mistake a young company faces. SM. SM. NEWS

First ride on Hyperloop, Apple chips in M1 and other top news this week Developing hardware is hard, and robotics is even harder. Developing robots requires knowledge and skills spanning several areas, including software, mechanics, electronics, electro-mechanics, and complex assembly. Getting machines to perform simple actions such as climbing stairs or moving around a room without encountering obstacles can be quite a challenge. This is one reason why most robots are limited to limited, repetitive tasks, as in the case of stationary industrial robots and semi-autonomous robots. The return on resources spent on R&D is far from optimal, making it difficult to sustain the business.

What’s next
Despite the looming uncertainty in the field, reports indicate that the robotics industry could grow from $76.6 billion in 2020 to $176.8 billion in 2025. The lack of demand for robots outside of a few areas, such as logistics and hospitals, has been cited as another major reason for the decline in growth.

Sources:

https://analyticsindiamag.com/why-we-dont-see-more-robotics-startups/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-robotics-startups-fail-andra-keay/

Intro

Recently I’ve been interested in watching interviews with people who have achieved something because their thoughts have led to results.YouTube recommendations came me across a video about a businessman, entrepreneur, owner of manufacturing, grocery supermarkets and the largest independent online bank in the world – Oleg Tinkov however this video was not about his successes, but about the illness that had recently appeared. It turns out that Oleg has blood cancer and has been undergoing rehabilitation in England for a year, which is only halfway. I was shocked and at the same time interested in this situation, because Tinkov is a man who can ride >100 km on a bicycle in a row, who does not deny himself to eat any and healthy food, who has a good family and friends relationships (at least what we can see). And then I was curious to look at other patients and their lifestyles in order try to find correlations, which can lead to such consequences.

Main

So he got Leukaemia which is one of the most health global problems, in other words, cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues, while hepatitis C infection is one of the drivers of blood cancer. Our exploratory data analysis aims to identify demographic characteristics, lifestyle/behavioural habits and risk factors associated with this infection and the resulting expected disease.

The database consists of patients (aged ≥18 years) in Kedah, Malaysia and their various hobbies or practices in which the patient or the potential patient may participate.

The analysis begins with a review of the Acupuncture, Piercing, and Tattooing columns, which are being analyzed from the side of the infected people. Each group had a different number of people, recalling particular columns, of which those who used foreign objects as a service were subsequently identified, the number of all people brewing in the range (~200). The results demonstrate that the greatest demand was made for the piercing (72), which is ~2 times higher than tattooing (31) and 6 times higher than acupuncture (12).

To identify non-standard factors influencing disease, we also identified more standard by association, but no less influential, such as the relationship of prisoners to drug use. The resulting group provides an opportunity to experiment with its interaction with more ethical groups and perhaps even ridiculous ideas for connection, such as cosmetic codifications or cupping.

Conclusions

The approach described above has led us to some interesting insights, as you saw in the title and: a large number of sexual partners will not be good, and especially if the person happens to be married. Blood transfusions in the body can only improve the situation, but the opposite is more likely to occur if it happened before 1992. People who have a spouse with hepatitis and use cosmetic procedures have a slightly higher likelihood of becoming infected. Single pierced health care workers would be better off finding someone to reduce the infection risk.

Lifestyle impact on disease likelihood EDA

Anhelina Pugach
Danila Kliachkovski

The full research: https://www.researchgate.net/project/Leukemia-EDA