The robotics industry now stands at the threshold of a long-awaited reformation, led by Persona AI, which remodels the future of robotics with its creative take on humanoid robots. Founded by two seasoned veterans in the field, Nic Radford and Jerry Pratt, Persona AI does not only build robots; rather, it builds experiences.
Persona AI conceives their robots to be incorporated with what they call 'Calm Experience'. It focuses on the ideology of robots not just doing tasks but performing them in ways that bring tranquillity and assurance to human environments. Whether in health, hospitality, or homes, Persona AI-equipped robots are designed to be helpful companions.
It is not one of technological might over humans; the commitment of the company is to create multipurpose commercial humanoid robots that are about human-centered design. How Persona AI is working to make robots that would best blend into human spaces without, as much as possible, stressing or discomforting humans has been picked up by IEEE Spectrum.
“The idea for this started a long time ago. Jerry and I have been working together off and on for quite a while, being in this field and sharing a love for what the humanoid potential is while at the same time being frustrated by where humanoids are at. As far back as probably 2008, we were thinking about starting a humanoids company, but for one reason or another the viability just wasn’t there. We were both recently searching for our next venture and we couldn’t imagine sitting this out completely, so we are finally going to explore it, although we know better than anyone that robots are really hard. They’re not that hard to build, but they’re hard to make useful and make money with, and the challenge for us is whether we can build a viable business with Persona: can we build a business that uses robots and makes money? That’s our singular focus. We are pretty sure that this is likely the best time in history to execute on that potential”, says Jerry Pratt founder of Persona AI.
TechCrunch announced the entry of Persona AI during its initial days, focusing on a highly powerful and experienced team of founders who were very practical in their approach to the development of the subject. The humanoid robots being built are not just creative prototypes but are raw imaginations with their use in everyday life to help man easily solve mundane and complex tasks.
“I’ve been interested in commercializing humanoids for quite a while—thinking about it, and giving it a go here and there, but until recently it has always been the wrong time from both a commercial point of view and a technological readiness point of view. You can think back to the DARPA Robotics Challenge days when we had to wait about 20 seconds to get a good lidar scan and process it, which made it really challenging to do things autonomously. But we’ve gotten much, much better at perception, and now, we can get a whole perception pipeline to run at the framerate of our sensors. That’s probably the main enabling technology that’s happened over the last 10 years.
From the commercial point of view, now that we’re showing that this stuff’s feasible, there’s been a lot more pull from the industry side. It’s like we’re at the next stage of the Industrial Revolution, where the harder problems that weren’t roboticized from the 60s until now can now be. And so, there’s really good opportunities in a lot of different use cases.” Says Jerry Pratt.
As the entire industry is excited, Persona AI now continues to innovate and push the boundaries of what humanoid robots can do. The inclusion of the Calm Experience is not only an addition but a philosophy that indeed could redefine the role robots are going to play in our daily lives. A future with humanoids from Persona AI simply means technological advancement with a touch of emotional intelligence.
A time when human technology will interact without stress is the basic essence of the robotics proposed by Persona AI. Calm Experience isn't about making robots; it is about adding calmness and support to human life. As we step into this new world, Persona AI's humanoids promise to stand at our sides, holding hands in a world where calmness is just as valuable as efficiency.