ReadySight robot navigates rocks, rugs and all sorts of indoor and outdoor terrain.
Time takes time. I’ve heard that saying often, but have a new appreciation for it in recent weeks. I co-founded Company Six due to its important mission - keeping people with dangerous jobs and those they serve, safe. I, as much as anyone, want to get our rugged, low-cost robot out to our customers as soon as possible, to have their backs and to provide the situational awareness they need today.
Respect is one of the CO6 core values, and it takes many forms. Making a small and capable robot like ReadySight is very difficult - it requires optimizing for mobility, size, temperature and moisture, battery life, and a secure backend video platform. Our team is up to the challenge, but out of respect for first responders and others with dangerous jobs, we simply will not put a robot into their hands unless it meets our high criteria for reliability and performance.
We also respect the urgency facing those who are eagerly waiting for the services the ReadySight robot provides. We are thrilled to announce that our Special Insights Team (SIT) partners will begin beta testing the ReadySight robots in the coming weeks. For first responders, every day counts, every day brings a chance for circumstances where situational awareness could make a meaningful difference. We respect the urgent need that each and every one of our customers face, and want to meet that demand.
As my team and I face difficult decisions, we focus on the fundamentals, on our core values, and on how best to respect and honor our mission while maintaining the level of trust our customers bestow upon us. We take the time to earn our stakeholders’ respect and to deliver a product and program worthy of it. Thank you for your patience as each day the ReadySight robot takes one step closer to serving you, ensuring safety and awareness when you and your community need it most.
At Company Six, we are grounded in our five core values. They drive how we work, play and interact with our customers, our stakeholders and ourselves. The core value of Customer Focus & Innovation holds a special place for us, as it is the foundation on which the company is built.
In 2012, Paul Berberian, Jon and I were all working at Sphero, a company transforming how kids learn through robots. Paul was the CEO, Jon was our CTO, and I was COO. When we attended trade shows, we were often approached by first responders asking if we could build them a purpose-built robot to help them stay safe.
My team and I were struck by the repeated requests by first responders. Paul and I come from a background of service. Paul is a US Air Force Academy alumni and served in the Air Force, working on satellite systems. I graduated from the US Military Academy, serving in combat in the Middle East for the Army. Given both of our experiences we became committed to supporting our first responders. Luckily with Jon as our CTO and our experience building robots at Sphero, we had the skill and experience to help.
The problem we faced in 2012 was that the technology to make a small, low cost, cloud connected, powerful robot for first responders didn’t exist yet. Specifically, cameras, batteries, networks, and other important elements just weren’t in place to make a compelling product back then. The robot prototypes simply could not perform the mission being requested of them.
Fast forward to 2019 and that all changed. Rapid tech improvements gifted us with amazing new capabilities. Small high fidelity cameras to capture video, greatly improved battery density to last through missions, networks that could carry video traffic, ubiquitous cell phones to control robots, and cloud infrastructure to share and store video. The rapid improvement of all this technology gave us the confidence needed to let first responders know that we could build them an amazing situational awareness robot. So in May of 2020, with the help of Sphero and our investors, we spun out and founded an entirely new company to do just that. A small, but amazing group of engineers joined us and Company Six was born. We agreed our mission would be to provide vital situational awareness to first responders, people with dangerous jobs and the communities they serve through our ReadySight robot.
This year we will see the first ReadySight robots supporting the efforts of first responders around the country. I am proud that the Company Six team kept their focus on the needs of the customer, and harnessed the power of innovative technology to provide a reliable, affordable and effective robot to so many people serving their communities.