The Jerusalem Post has partnered with ExitValley, a digital platform that enables anyone to invest in Israel's startup ecosystem and share in its success. In this article, we are pleased to introduce Xtend Robotics, Inc. a US robotics company, with all R&D developed in Israel by its Israeli subsidiary.
Xtend Robotics has developed patented robotic technology, which the company uses to produce modular service robots that can be adapted to any industry at a lower cost and faster than conventionally developed Robots.
Using a "Lego"-like technological platform consisting of hardware, software, and advanced AI with object recognition, Xtend Robotics manages to achieve time and cost efficiencies, enabling all robots it develops to share at least 80% identical components, regardless of the industry for which they are intended.
Xtend Robotics is led by a veteran management team with decades of experience in high-tech development and electronic entrepreneurship. Among them is the company's founder and CEO, Harry Fox.
"We are in a unique position as a startup in this field," Fox explains. "We are in the go-to-market phase, we have already signed a significant contract with Sterling Healthcare, which is led by Dr. Purna Prasad, the former CTO of Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider. Dr. Prasad has over 40 years of experience in the rollout of medical device technology before forming Sterling. Initially, Sterling will be deploying Xtend’s robots, packaged with their workflow solutions to Ambulatory Care facilities and will be positioning robots using Xtend’s Medical Dispenser patented technology in hospitals throughout North America when they become available in 2023. As part of the contract, Sterling is investing a substantial amount in the current round and has agreed to become the lead investor. They will actively introduce Xtend to prominent strategic Health Care investors.
"For years, even prior to COVID, health facilities have faced chronic shortages in skilled labor. When every new patient comes to a clinic or hospital, he has to complete a detailed admission form that can take up to 25 minutes per patient and has also proven to be inaccurate. Our multitasking intelligent robots interact with the patients by automating the process and increasing efficiencies by more than 70%. The robot also eliminates the need for a Doctor or nurse to update a patients record via keyboard or tablet, as the robots take dictation and then automatically update the patient’s file locally and on the facility’s EMR system.”
"All our robots feature Telepresence and Telemedicine servicers, that enable the local doctor to remotely consult with medical specialists around the world.”
Xtend Robotics has signed pilot agreements with three leading healthcare companies in Nursing Home and outpatient care in the United States – Tapestry, Libertana and Regal Care – that will start as early as next year. An additional 25 healthcare and assisted-living companies have indicated their interest to deploy these robots in their facilities.
The company has already developed an extensive IP portfolio which includes 4 registered patents and 3 pending patents for enabling technologies that differentiate Xtend Robotics from the conventional single task, non-intelligent Service Robots. These technologies are currently being deployed in robots Xtend is developing for the restaurant, hospitality, retail and security industries. These developments beyond the rest of the market have attracted great interest worldwide among Healthcare, Hospitality, restaurants, room service and security.
“These patents include the world's first robotic development system and the robot's modular framework, which allows the assembly of robots from different modules to significantly reduce production time and costs, and the ability of our robots to fully operate off-line when connectivity to internet is lost by storing our complete AI suite of face, voice, and object recognition in the robot’s ‘brain’ in the robot itself.”
With the increasing demand for service robots in many industries, due to their efficiency and accuracy, many companies are developing robots adapted to a particular sector in order to meet a specific need. To this end, the companies invest a great deal of time and tens of millions of dollars to create an expensive niche robot for the customer, which cannot be upgraded over time and does not know how to initiate actions on its own. Companies invest significant sums in the development of passive robots, which become obsolete quickly and focus on a limited number of operations.
"The world of industrial factory automation robotics began and were quickly adapted when they entered factories," says Fox. "It was necessary to perform precise, agile actions and lift heavy things, tasks that are difficult for human workers. It took decades for this field to develop and reach the state we have reached today, where everyone actually uses robots. Robots clean the houses for us, in Japan are receptionists in hotels, make deliveries and perform countless other tasks.
"We took it one step further," says Fox. "We built an infrastructure that allows us to produce robots according to what the customer needs and deliver them within a few months. The service robot knows how to study every room and its needs on every floor of the building, and it knows how to schedule its actions and move between obstacles. In addition, we rent the robot to the customer, which significantly reduces the cost for the customer. As soon as an organization or company comes with their needs, we know how to assemble the appropriate parts and software on top of this infrastructure and produce smart, collaborative service robots."
Xtend Robotics operates in the global service robot market, which is currently valued at over $40 billion and is expected to reach approximately $200 billion in 2027. The main markets in which service robots are used are telemedicine, healthcare, hospitality, restaurants, industrial security, and customer service – all of which the company plans on engaging simultaneously, thanks to its unique proprietary technologies and architecture.
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