Robots to Help The Impaired

 Labrador Systems Inc. wants to make it easier for the physically impaired to move around in their homes. 

So the Calabasas company has developed two robots – the Caddie and the Retriever – to do just that. 

Chief Executive Mike Dooley said the robots are designed to carry large loads from place to place within the home and to bring objects within reach. 

“For folks who are still moving, we want them to stay as mobile as possible,” Dooley said. “The robot can really help them do more on their own, to be more independent.” 

Labrador is taking orders on both robots and plans to have them in full commercial production and ready for delivery to customers in the second half of next year. 

The cost for either device is $1,500. There is an additional $99 per month subscription for the Caddie robot and $149 a month for the Retriever. Both have subscription terms of 36 months.

The Caddie robot can bring objects to a user, while the Retriever retrieves objects up to 10 pounds using special pallets and trays that come with the robot. Both devices come with advanced 3D optics to guide itself around the home and with sensors on all four sides to operate in tight spaces.  

Dooley called the Retriever robot an extra pair of hands for the physically impaired 

“You load up what you want on it and then send it off,” he added. “You program the locations and you hit the washer button on your cell phone and the robot will drive off over to the washer. It will park and automatically adjust its height. … It doesn’t do the laundry for you, but it has the laundry basket sitting there in the right position.”  

Users can command the Retriever using their smart phone or with their voice through an Alexa-enabled device, according to the company. 

Elderly market

According to a research report based on the 2019 edition of National Health Interview Survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 50 million U.S. adults experience chronic pain every day or nearly every day. 

“Respondents with chronic pain reported limitations in daily functioning, including social activities and activities of daily living,” the report said. 

Dooley said that one out of four Americans over age 65 years use a cane, walker or wheelchair. 

When Labrador started recruiting people to take part in pilot program to use the robots, it was getting people in their 40s who had early onset conditions or had suffered a stroke or had an accident, he added. 

“That’s where we saw the market for trying to help people stay active,” he said.

But it’s not just people with limited use of their limbs who are the target market for Labrador. 

The company is working with Pacific Vision Foundation, a San Francisco nonprofit with the mission of bringing eye care to all.  

Rosemary Jordan, chief executive of the organization, said that she has known the people at Labrador for several years. After taking on her current position last year, she made the connection to have the two work together. 

“We are keenly interested in products that support the community of Americans who experience low vision,” Jordan said. 

The foundation will provide input for Labrador’s research and development efforts and facilitate opportunities for the company to get its robots in front of people with low vision to get their reaction, Jordan said. 

“We will be providing some content expertise because there is, I would say, fairly low understanding in the public sphere about the community of people with low vision and their challenges,” she added. 

Insurance question

“We are not trying to replace a caregiver,” Dooley said. “We are trying to make the technology there to help a person be more independent on their own or expand the impact a caregiver can have.” 

Users of Caddie and Retriever must pay for the devices out of their own pockets, although Labrador is working with insurance companies to see about covering some of the cost. 

“With insurers you need to look at outcomes,” Dooley said. “Can we help people stay in their homes longer? Can we have a positive influence on health outcomes as they use the robot? For that, we are piloting with different partners.” 

One of those partners is Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. in Columbus, Ohio. Earlier this month, Labrador announced a collaboration with the insurer on a multi-state pilot project for the Retriever robot. 

“We think there is great potential in the assistive robots that Labrador has developed, and we are excited to learn how technology like this can serve our members who want to live independently, as well as help their family caregivers who assist them,” Nationwide Chief Innovation and Digital Officer Chetan Kandhari said in a statement. 

Yet, there is nothing medically assistive about the robots. 

It is being launched as a standalone product and is not a medical product, Dooley said. 

What Labrador wants to do is explore the uses of the robots in home health care. For example, would it be able to improve medication adherence if the robot could physically bring a person their medication in addition to just having a cell phone go off when it is time to take your pills, he said. 

“That is where we want the robot to be a force multiplier to other things, particularly on the telehealth and digital health side,” Dooley added. 

Prototypes of the Caddie and Retriever robots were built at the Calabasas location.

“We are currently working with partners on the manufacturing side, but we haven’t disclosed where we are manufacturing,” Dooley said. “We will be ramping up on that part.”  

As a startup, Labrador does not bring in much revenue but does receive financing from outside investors. In early January, the company announced it had received $3.1 million in seed funding led by Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa Fund and iRobot Ventures in Bedford, Mass.