Biz model for portable telepresence anybot

MT 5016

Business Model for

High-Tech Products ASSOC PROF Funk, Jeffrey Lee

Ushashree Divakar

Li Yinbei

Zhou Kaijing

Chang Chiew Yuen

Wang QianQian

Oh Chin Lock

Robotic Telepresence

Anybots, Inc.

Source:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnxAXXHaAM8

Video Introduction of Anybots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnxAXXHaAM8

Outline

• Telepresence & Robotic Telepresence

• Motivation of Telepresence & Markets

• Customer needs & segments

• Robotic Telepresence and Anybots QB

• Value proposition

• Value capture

• Scope of activities

• Strategic Control

• Summary

Telepresence today

Suppliers

• Polycom

• Cisco

• Huawei

• HP

Features

• High resolution

• High fidelity

• Immersive

• High investment

(Source: Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association)


Telepresence

Mobility


Source: www.avatarmovie.com

Motivation for Robotic Telepresence

Globalization + Internet boom

• Cross functional projects

• Increasing companies setting up their manufacturing

and R&D facilities overseas

• Increasing need for collaboration and communication

across geographical regions

• Increasing internet connectivity

Telepresence Market

Results from the latest market study by

International Data Corporation (IDC) showed a

strong fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11), with

videoconferencing revenue growing 19.0

percent quarter over quarter and 24.6 percent

year over year to reach $807.9 million.

For the full year 2011, total enterprise

videoconferencing market revenue reached

$2.7 billion – that's an increase of 20.5 percent

over the full year 2010.

Source: ABI Research

Bloomberg Businessweek's Drake Bennet thinks there is a better, and cheaper,

alternative to business travel: Telepresence robots.

The worldwide market for telepresence robotics is expected to grow from $556.1

million in 2010 to $13.1 billion in 2016. Robots that can be controlled from any

location could be responsible for everything from office security and surveillance to

holding remote meetings and virtual collaboration.

Methods to achieve “Being there”

Least Effective Most Effective

Email,

SMS

Telephone Web

Conference

Video

Conference,

Telepresence

Robotic

Tele-

presence

Being

Physically

there!

Customer Selection

is there a market ???

whom to serve and not

serve ???

Anybots

QB

Global organization

Hospital / Medical centers

Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery

Event, conference & museum

• Provide interface to doctors,

specialist to communicate with

patients remotely.

• Tele-operation.

Customer Segments

Anybots

QB

Global organization


Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery


Customer Segments

• Allow education institutes to

engage the best experts and

educators around the world to

provide teaching.

• Mobility will enhance classroom

interaction to stimulate studies.

Anybots

QB

Global organization


Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery


• Companion for elderly living alone

at home

• Possibility with situation-specific

intelligent – reminding (e.g. taking

medication or drinking)

• Alert message when emergency

detected

Customer Segments

Anybots

QB

Global organization


Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery


• Area monitoring by military, police

and securities.

• Fire detection applications

• Allowing user to patrol and

examine remote areas

• Perform precision observation and

data collection without

experiencing the hazard

Customer Segments

Anybots

QB

Global organization


Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery


Customer Segments

• Deployment in an underwater

environment in order to produce

interactive webcasts of scientific

material.

• Navigate to areas that are difficult

and impossible to reach by human

e.g. natural resource exploration.

Anybots

QB

Global organization


Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery


Customer Segments

• Deployment for use in disaster

recovery in earthquake, nuclear

disaster e.g. Fukushima

Anybots

QB

Global organization


Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery


• Presenting papers, attending

presentations, participating in

panel discussions, and co-chairing

a technical session.

• A “telepresence hall” for

presentations and/or professional

networking.

• Museums could arrange tele-

presence visiting to examine

exhibits from different angles in a

museum. (Australian National

Museum, 2012)

Customer Segments

Anybots

QB

Global organization


Education

Home care

Military, Police,

Security

Exploration

Disaster recovery


Customer Segments

Global organization

Why do we only target at

global organization?

• Meeting, collaboration, sales

& marketing

• Auditing, inspection &

maintenance

Low R&D Investment

Low tech-

nology barrier

High market demand

Empathy Map – Office Staff

SEE Team in different location

Webcam

Video conference

Webinar

HEAR Usage of video conference

Ready to travel for meetings when require

New development of internet speed

SAY AND DO? Minimal travel (esp. people with family)

Silos team

Avoid responsibility

PAIN Missing time with family, friends

Long travel time

Segregated time – lack of communication

GAIN More time with family, friend

Closer communication with colleagues located remotely

Multi-tasking

THINK AND FEEL Time wasting

Stuck in traffic

Hassle to travel and coordinate

No break – back to back meetings

Increasing backlog

Anybots QB – Remote Yourself!

Anybots QB’s specifications & features

• USD 9,700

• United States Cost & Country of

Origin

• It looks vaguely like Wall-E, the robot imp from 2008 Pixar film

Human-Resemblance

Quotient

• Runs on Segway-style wheels Mobility

• The QB has a video camera for eyes Interaction Ability

• Since it is essentially roaming videoconference center, it‟s your brain in a robot‟s body

Cognitive Ability

• A laser pointer in its right eye, designed for pointing at things in the office

Creepy-Robot Factor

Source: Anybot.com

Value Proposition

what to offer and how to

differentiate ???

Business Meeting & Office communication

• Videoconference / Telepresence is

confined to structured environment like

conference room.

• People prefer to talk and interact in non-

structured environments, anywhere.

& High usage rate Low setup cost

Move beyond the meeting room

Strategy Canvas (against Technologies / Solutions)

Product inspection & Factory audit

Many factories need consistent inspection.

Limitation of CCTV

• Limited to the fixed viewpoint

• More CCTV camera requires if more area need to

be covered

Anybots enable companies to conduct

inspection remotely from HQ and make more

frequent inspections.

Competitive Products

Strategy Canvas (against Competitors)

Value Capture

$$$$$ / Margin ….

Value Capture

Revenue stream

Revenue stream

Revenue stream

Revenue stream

Revenue stream

Scope of Activities

What to do and Who I

want to „marry‟?

Value chain

Firm infrastructure activities

Human resource management

Research, development and design

Purchasing, inventory holding,

materials handling

Manufac-

turing

Outbound logistics

Market-

ing & Sales

Dealer support

and customer service

Support activities

Primary activities

(Source: Prof Funk‟s lecture)

Research & Development

Computer vision

Balance control

Path Planning /

Sensor

Video /

Audio

Motion

Control

Networking /

Communication

Design

• In-house designing

• human like design vs. minimal design

• Customize appearance design for customers

• Communication interface via ROS applications

Manufacturing

Partnership with U.S based OEM manufacturer (E System)

• Built to the professional quality needed for business communications

• Better protect intellectual property compared to oversea manufacturing

• Benefit greatly from time-to-market

• Reduce capital outlay compared to in-house manufacturing

Marketing and Sales

• Invite selected organizations to be beta testers (e.g. Carnegie Mellon

University, NASA)

• Grant distributor rights to RoboMatrix to introduce Anybots’ QB

telepresence robot rental service to the Japanese and Taiwanese markets.

RoboMatrix is a division of Innovation Matrix, Inc., a leading distributor of robotic, motion control,

and automated systems.

Vertical (Dis)integration Chain

Anybots Partners

R&D

Design

Manufacturing

Sales

Marketing

Maintenance

Strategic Control

I want to survive and

make the most profits!

Strategic Control

( ) Cross the chasm

Create scale or

network effects

Protection against

imitation

Have better

complementary

assets

Control industry

architecture

Patent Protection 3 utility patents (20y), 2 design patents (14y) granted!

However, should prosecute patents in other key

markets other than USA

Temporary Monopoly, Prevent Imitation

Maximizing Profits as the innovator

Components (e.g. cams, screens, mechanical parts, battery) are standard and easy to acquire

As early stage company, does not control many complementary assets.

However ….

Key design elements are protected by Patents

• Software for remotely controlling the robot,

• Software for balancing the robot,

• Design of the robot.

Control the platform and interface

• Suppliers supply „cheap‟ standard components

• IP control need for integration ensures that the integral design

reaps more profits!

• Control the industry architecture

Control of Industry Architecture

Platform, Integral Design

Platform API Integration Interface

Mechanical

Modules Makers

Retail

Robotic Sensors

Makers

Application Developers

OEM Manufacturers

Customers

VAR Distributors Service Providers

IPR +

Control

Network Effects – Open API, 3P developers

Telepresence market

shows :- Usage

increases with more

units deployed

(Metcalfe’s Law)

• Core platform protected against imitation

• Open the interface (standard API) for 3P app developers

• Create network effects – open innovation to tap innovative

complementary apps on QB platform

(source: cisco)

Options available to Anybots

Go to the leaders (e.g. Cisco, iRobot, Toyota, Polycom)

• Leverage on the IP protection to negotiate licenses with good royalties

• Work with the leaders to access their complementary assets to scale, cross the chasm

Go by themselves

• Enforce patent infringement aggressively

• Build complementary assets (marketing, sales) and outsource manufacturing

• Once market is big enough, pursue licensing or strategic buy-out

Cost structure Revenue streams

Key resources

Key activities Key partners Value

proposition

Costumer

relationships

Costumer

segments

Channels

In Conclusion

Test drive

Test Drive

Thank you