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The mission of the Company Six Special Insights Team (SIT) program is to gain the highest level of integration and effectiveness between the CO6 ReadySight™ personal robot and the operations needs of law enforcement and public safety responders. Divided into three phases, CO6 will facilitate the SIT agencies in an in-depth development of physical factors and detailed use-cases identified by SIT agency user groups, conduct field testing of identified use-cases on-site at SIT agency facilities, and from these activities develop draft policies, procedures, and CALEA-compliant accreditation standard elements.
The intended outcome of the SIT program is to identify actual law enforcement officer needs and meet those needs with directed technologies and validated protocols that operate within constitutional, legislative, and agency requirements. The SIT program is also designed to provide agencies who chose to deploy autonomous devices and technologies such as robotics, with a well-validated and tested body of knowledge to present to community constituents upon introduction to agency use.
Timeline: November 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022, Approximate Phases are:
• Phase One: 1st Week through 6th Week
• Phase Two: 7th Week through 14th Week
• Phase Three: TBD
Locations: Special Insights Team Agency Location for phases one and two.
Mission: Phase One is a facilitated process for specific agency operational groups, including Patrol, Traffic, Tactical Operations, Investigations, Explosive Ordinance, and other relevant specialties. During this phase, CO6 facilitators will work with groups to record and rank the user-cases for testing prioritization.
Attendees: Representative groups with common needs, approved by SIT agency management. The ideal group makeup would include field operators, first line supervisors, and unit command, as available, as well as an agency legal advisor for the constitutional and legal segment.
Resources: Classroom setting and schedules to create minimal disruption to agency operations. Video recording for future training operations.
Meeting Outline: Topical areas to be covered:
• Introduction of the CO6 ReadySight personal public safety robot, including features, functions, and operational capabilities.
• Discussion of deployment methods and physical characteristics of mounting, charging, and other infrastructure.
• Presentation of pre-developed use-cases for the group to focus and define deeper “sub-use cases” (e.g., refining the larger category of building searches).
• Discussion of Fourth Amendment related issues that apply to each identified use-case and scenario.
Outcomes: In consultation with SIT agency staff, the results of Phase One will be curated by CO6 law enforcement advisors into demonstrable testing scenarios for Phase Two validation and assessment.
Mission: Phase Two of the SIT program is designed to subject the identified use-case responses and proposed operational capabilities to realistic operational scenarios, evaluate the results, and adjust as indicated. The goal is to identify and rate the effectiveness of proposed uses for the development of protocols, procedures, policies, and training aids.
Attendees: Representative groups with common needs, approved by SIT agency management. The ideal group makeup would include field operators, first line supervisors, and unit command, as available.
Resources: Agency internal resources, such as Academy and Tactical Training sites. External resources for application-specific testing and development of training videos and scripts.
Meeting Outline: Operational tests to be covered:
• Testing plan to optimize personnel time to cover the selected test scripts and locations.
• Test each prioritized use-case with the typical agency response staffing, including joint operations between patrol and tactical operators, EOD and other specialized groups. Include investigations personnel for scenarios that relate to surveillance, search warrant service, and other related activities.
• Immediate debrief of testing group and any designated observers, repeat operations as necessary.
• CO6 law enforcement facilitators will record the input and operational recommendations. Outcomes: As many of the use-case scenarios as possible, given the allotted time and staff availability. As with Phase One, Phase Two scenarios will be re-prioritized according to the testing results and SIT agency input.
Mission: Phase Three of the SIT program is intended to analyze the data captured in Phases One and Two, and create draft protocols, procedures, and standards to aid the SIT agencies in updating current policies on the operations of autonomous deices, specifically robotics.
Attendees: This work will largely be off-site, with some remote and on-site meetings to discuss operational and legal issues.
Resources: SIT agency supervisors and managers to review and respond to CO6 findings.
Meeting Outline: To be determined.
Outcomes: Comprehensive documentation for agency manuals, public information announcements, and liability mitigation.
BOULDER, Colo. (May 20, 2020) -- Sphero, the industry leader in edtech programmable robots and STEAM-based educational tools, announced today that it has successfully completed the spin-off of Company Six into an independent company to commercialize intelligent robots and AI-based software applications for first responders, government, defense, and those who work in dangerous situations.
Company Six started as Sphero’s Public Safety Division, brought to life from Paul Berberian’s and Jim Booth’s backgrounds in military service and their passion for providing innovative tools for first responders and those who put themselves in harm's way. By applying the experience used to bring more than 4 million robots to market at Sphero, the Company Six team believes it can create products that are not only robust and feature-rich enough for professional applications, but also affordable enough to be adopted by the majority, rather than the minority, of civilian and military personnel.
Former Sphero COO Jim Booth will lead the Company Six team as CEO, and is joined by several members of the original Sphero team.
“Our team is excited to build critically-needed robotic hardware and advanced software solutions that help first responders and people with dangerous jobs,” says Booth. “Our mission is to build powerful and affordable technology that we can put in the hands of as many people as possible.”
Booth was one of the early mentors to Ian Bernstein and Adam Wilson, Sphero’s two co-founders, as part of the Techstars Boulder Accelerator 2010 class. He joined Sphero after the Techstars program and helped launch and scale the company and managed numerous key areas, including operations, HR, legal, sales, finance, marketing, and business development.
In connection with the spinout and formation of Company Six, they also closed a $3M seed investment round led by Spider Capital, with participation from existing Sphero investors including Foundry Group, Techstars, as well as new investor GAN Ventures to fund commercialization and market entry of their initial products. At Company Six, the founding team is continuing to develop groundbreaking and affordable robotic technology as they have done over the past 10 years with Sphero. The products and services they will deliver to this new market are essential to maintaining safety, situational awareness, and improving decision making in the field for critical incidents and everyday operating environments.
In conjunction with Company Six spinning off, the board of directors has named Paul Copioli the Chief Executive Officer of Sphero, effective immediately.
Copioli joined Sphero in August 2019 after Sphero joined forces with New York-based littleBits, the company that invented the snap-together electronic building blocks that teach the foundations of circuitry and STEAM, where he served as President and COO. Before littleBits, Paul was the president of VEX Robotics for more than nine years. During his tenure with VEX, Paul led the company to become the largest and most successful of Innovation First International's (IFI) three wholly-owned subsidiaries, growing the business nine times over in under a decade.
“It’s an honor to lead the Sphero team as we continue to pave the way for accessible robots, STEAM and computer science education for kids around the world,” says Copioli. “With our focus on education and our mission to inspire the creators of tomorrow, Sphero has a long-standing place in our school systems and beyond. Paul Berberian’s immense contribution to the company leaves me with a strong leadership model to carry forward, and I look forward to Sphero’s continued success.”
Berberian, Sphero’s former CEO, will move into the newly designated role of Chairman after more than a decade leading the Boulder-based company. Berberian will also preside over Company Six as the team brings to market both advanced robotic products and a cloud-based analytics and monitoring platform designed to advance the awareness of those who put themselves into harm’s way.
“In my time as Sphero’s CEO I was amazed by the number of kids’ lives we positively affected by bringing our robots into classrooms and living rooms worldwide,” says Berberian. As Chairman of both Sphero and Company Six, this is an opportunity to continue to bring revolutionary robotics technology to new markets to improve the lives of more people, our future leaders, and people with essential and sometimes dangerous job functions. With Paul Copioli and Jim Booth’s experience, I’m confident both companies will flourish under their leadership.”
For more information on Company Six, please visit http://www.companysix.com/.
Sphero inspires the creators of tomorrow through remarkably cool, programmable robots, electronic building blocks, and educational tools that transform the way kids learn and create through coding, science, music, and the arts. Sphero goes #BeyondCode and drives kids to turn their imagination into reality. The skills students unlock through play-based learning prepare them to thrive, no matter what subject or career they pursue. Based in Boulder, CO, Sphero has become the #1 STEAM-based learning solutions company, loved by millions of parents, kids and educators worldwide. Learn more at sphero.com.
Company Six (CO6) is a venture-backed robotic and cloud technology company headquartered in Boulder, CO that is dedicated to advancing the awareness and protection of those who put themselves into harm’s way. By combining advanced robotic platforms with a highly secure cloud-based technology suite, their products will fundamentally transform the way first responders operate in dangerous environments. CO6’s products are based on nearly a decade of technology development, and are designed to deliver a lightweight, yet highly advanced robotic solution that provides critical awareness for those we depend on the most, including police, fire, EMT, military, and others with dangerous jobs.
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