Five Elements Robotics, Wall, NJ

Company:Five Elements Robotics, Wall, NJ
Company Description:Five Elements Robotics™ is dedicated to transforming the human robot relationship. Our goal is to help launch the Era of Robotics, in which robots become a part of our everyday family life. Therefore, we have developed Budgee™, a user friendly robot that carries up to 50 lbs serving our wounded warriors, senior citizens, the disabled and anyone needing help with everyday chores.
Nomination Category:Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category:Technical Innovation of the Year - At Organizations With Up to 100 Employees

Nomination Title:Innovating for the Vulnerable - Meet Budgee the Robot

Tell the story about this nominated innovation since January 1 2014 (up to 650 words). Describe how the innovation was discovered, developed, refined and/or deployed. Provide an assessment of how the innovation has impacted or will impact your organization, your industry, markets or society.

In a world where the rapidity of consumer technology development may outpace the ability to find truly useful applications for it - some of our most basic needs – and some of our most vulnerable people, those with mobility challenges, including war veterans, the elderly, and the disabled, have been left behind.

Enter Budgee, Five Elements’ ultimate user friendly robot. Budgee™ won’t track your steps or how many hours you sleep, but he’s an innovative workhorse who will do the heavy lifting for you. Wounded warriors can use Budgee to ferry gear for them. The elderly and the disabled can expand their horizons when they can count on something more than a walker or wheelchair to accompany them and carry needed supplies and purchases.

Using a patented sonar-based technology, Budgee™ stays right behind you. The same technology keeps him from falling down stairs, running into obstacles, or falling off a curb. His top speed is 2.4 mph. if you walk too fast, he’ll let you know via an app on your smartphone, which you can customize to your needs.

Budgee™ is the only robot that uses patented Self-Propelled Robot Assistance sonar technology that helps him move and avoid obstacles. It’s also the most reasonably priced “follow” technology, enabling Five Elements to produce a more affordable robot than any on the market today - $1400 compared to $30k for the typical personal service robot using more costly sensors requiring sophisticated computer coding.

From the user perspective, Budgee™ was pioneered to look friendly and appealing, unlike many industrial robots that may appear threatening.

Budgee™ made his debut at CES 2015, where he was lauded by android info.net as one of the most “unique” tech devices at the show. Time magazine described it as one of the “coolest” smart home innovations, and Fox Business News labeled Budgee the “shopping companion of the future.”

Budgee™ has been featured on Discovery’s All-American Makers TV show, and just recently, Wal-Mart has invited Five Elements to submit a proposal for procurement. Budgee has been pre-sold in the U.S., Israel, the UK, and Finland.

Budgee also appeared at the RoboBusiness conference in Boston, where he assisted a wounded warrior using an exoskeleton to ambulate (an exoskeleton is a sophisticated medical device that enables the paralyzed to walk using crutches). Since the warrior must use both hands to move his or her body, Budgee is indispensable for carrying gear.

CEO and founder Wendy Roberts has always been devoted to protecting people. For years, she helped protect our troops, designing defensive software solutions for seemingly unsolvable technical challenges. Wendy will be giving away ten Budgees this year to people with mobility challenges. The first Budgee was given to a 37 year old young man in Houston, who has been disabled from the age of nine. With Budgee, he will be able to bring his personal items with him when he is out and about (he utilizes the Uber system and Metro Lift) and will be able to do his shopping more independently.

In a world where the latest gizmo is just that – a gizmo - Budgee’s ingenuity is getting back to basics, but with an applied better solution. He’s very user friendly, and simply gets the job done. He lugs what needs lugging – up to 50 lbs – and brings it wherever you go. It sounds simple, and in many ways, it is. Since humans have populated the planet, we’ve been lugging our stuff on a donkey or in a cart. Budgee never gets tired, kicks, breaks down, or needs to be fed. Innovative Budgee allows the elderly or disabled to keep performing tasks they might otherwise have to relinquish to others, preserving dignity and independence, and celebrating human resilience.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) chief characteristics or benefits of the nominated innovation.

1. Fox news hails Budgee as shopping companion of the future.
a. http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3087126275001/could-a-robot-be-the-shopping-companion-of-the-future/?playlist_id=933116624001#sp=show-clips
2. Named one of the Coolest Smart Home innovations at CES by Times Magazine.
a. http://time.com/3657940/ces-smart-home-innovation/
3. Android info .net names budgee one of the most unique tech devices out of CES 2015
a. http://time.com/3657940/ces-smart-home-innovation/
4. Budgee given to disabled man in Texas (5Elements plans to give away 10 to special needs people, he is the first)
5. Debuted at CES 2015
6. Appearance at RoboBusiness 2014
7. Appeared on American Makers TV Show
8. Wal-Mart invites Five Elements to submit Budgee for procurement consideration
9. Budgee’s patented Self-Propelled Assistance sonar technology upgraded for 2015 production
10. Budgees pre-sold in US, Israel, UK, Finland