And whenever you're ready, you can get us started.
So, um, all right.
We've been doing some research in the backend a little bit of, uh, just
looking at, at statistics of, of people who your system, your, your
robot will be helping.
So, uh, how's your week been?
Uh, busy, challenging, but, uh, grateful for all the opportunities, man.
All right.
Welcome in to vision pros live with Jackson Calame.
I'm your show host.
We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest
leaders who are building fantastic visions out there.
Hey, what's up and welcome to vision pros live.
I'm your host Jackson Calame, founder and CEO of first-class business.
I am so excited about the guests that we have today.
Uh, you guys know we're constantly bringing visionaries on, and this is
one of the visionary of all visionaries that we've had so far.
We're talking about a founder of a robotics company, somebody who's
building something that's going to help billions of people, um, literally
if he can get all the funding that he needs and get this, this machine out
there, you guys, we have an amazing opportunity to make an amazing
impact on this world for good.
Um, we'll talk about some of the stats regarding that.
So, uh, my guest today, his name is Harut Markari and he is a roboticist.
He builds, uh, robots that through artificial intelligence and other
technologies that are way over my pay grade and above my head, um, are able
to ultimately help those with disabilities, um, have an improved,
um, way of life.
Um, we're going to look at the robot.
We're going to get to see, uh, a video about how it's going to work as well.
Now the name of the game with projects like this is of course funding and
making sure that you get the funding you need.
So we're going to dive into that and learn a lot about the process of what
he's gone through to get the business to where it's at today, um, as well as
what's on the horizon, we'll learn about his business partners as well.
People like Jeff Hoffman, who's super well known and entrepreneurial space.
That's one of his co-founders.
Um, we may even talk a little about Thomas Roberto, who's COO and CFO of the
venture, um, before we go into that real quick though, um, I do want to give a
shout out to our sponsors, Epiphany and Able health.
They're both up in this corner.
I'm getting this backwards pointing thing down guys.
Um, and then the water project, um, as well, the water project, we, we
would love to see you support.
There are so many opportunities to give back and help in this world.
Um, but without further ado, let's go in and talk about Mark Bottics and,
uh, and bring her on stage.
So Harut, thank you so much for being here today, man.
We're, we're so excited to talk about your story.
Thank you for having me, Jackson.
I'm happy to be here.
Yeah, man.
Absolutely.
So, um, let's talk real quick about, about these questions.
Harut, who should be listening today?
Why should they be listening to you about the subject matter and why,
what are they going to get out of today's show?
The people who should be listening today is everyone who is caring for someone
they love, uh, so caregivers, people with mobility challenges, whether they're
elderly or people with disabilities, and most importantly, uh, investors, so they
can advance our, our cause and our mission.
I love it.
Okay.
And I normally put a 15 second cap on this.
I'm not going to for you.
What's your vision, your personal vision?
My vision is to live in a world where accessibility is no longer a
hindrance to people with limited mobility.
You even nailed the 15 second one.
Impressive.
I like it.
Okay.
So hindrance to people's accessibility.
We're talking about, um, in layman's terms for me, the, the ability to
accomplish things physically, um, and, and probably mentally as well.
Um, but I think today we're going to focus a lot on the physical side.
It could be wrong.
What's your vision for those that you serve the people who, who maybe have,
uh, physical limitations and if I'm wrong on that too, feel free to guide me.
What, what are some other, how would you define the people who are going to
benefit the most from the technology you're creating?
So, uh, it's, it's a two, it's twofold.
Uh, people who have limited mobility and people who are caring for them.
So caregivers, assisted living facilities and the individuals impacted by limited
mobility.
Definitely.
And so what's your vision for them?
The vision for them to get some of that independence that they lost, whether
it's due to old age, uh, whether it's through health complications, uh, allow
them to live more independently so they can keep their dignity because that's
the most important thing for each and every one of us.
We won't ever want to see our loved ones die.
We won't ever want to see our loved ones lose their dignity, let alone you
yourself lose your dignity because you need, you are in need of, uh, this
caregiver or that caregiver to do certain things for you.
Uh, and then allow caregivers to have a better quality of life.
Uh, allow them to, especially the unpaid caregivers who are the family members.
Right.
So if we allow, allow them to have a better quality of life with this
technology, that is a huge vision that is coming through for me.
Absolutely.
Jaime, do you mind pulling up Grace?
Um, pull up, if you can pull up the website, markbotics.com, uh, showcase
that while we're talking, um, this, this, uh, this robot, this invention and
technology is, uh, one of the ways that, that Harut's talking about.
And it's the primary way I believe Mark Botics is going about solving this
problem.
Is that correct?
Are there other things behind the scenes I'm unaware of?
Uh, so we're focusing on various things, but we want to go to market with
something very simple that impacts a lot of people's lives, which is the
risk of falls.
If we reduce the risk of falls, which is the cause of $50 billion spent
yearly on medical costs related to fall injuries, right?
If we reduce the risk of falls, especially for the most vulnerable, most
fragile people in our lives, we'll be doing a lot of people, even the
insurance companies, big favors.
So initially we don't want these people to bend over risk of fall or to, uh,
walk in a, in a cluttered space.
So that's why the robot is there to declutter wheelchair path, declutter
walkways, um, retrieve items and allow them to live safer.
Yes.
Awesome.
And, and so on my personal side, um, I watched my, my mother take care of
her father, um, a little less than 10 years ago.
Um, and you know, we were, we were worried about not only grandpa falling,
but mom, uh, falling in the process and having to help lift him.
Um, you know, sometimes she had an in-home nurse helping in the process as
well.
Um, and you know, there was a lot of, there was a lot of dynamics that had
to change.
They had to turn their stairs into a ramp, um, you know, to enter the house
and on the front end.
And of course, in the back too, they had to put a ramp in the garage as well.
Um, you know, and in fact, they had to have total one, two, three, four ramps
where they're, um, they're set up.
Um, and it wasn't uncommon for, uh, grandpa to roll out of the bed, um, as
well.
Like there, there's all sorts of challenges that we know, if you're in a
healthy condition, you may take for granted.
Um, but there's all sorts of people who have to deal with this on a daily and
even an hourly basis.
Absolutely.
I can't agree with you more.
And I like this, it's showing something, this video, you know, showing somebody
dropping their fork, grace swims over, picks it up, uh, goes and gets a new one
for them and, uh, and delivers it in a way that, that the, uh, person may not be
able to do by themselves or it may take 15 to 30 minutes to be able to do that.
That affects, you know, how cold your food gets, which can affect the mood.
There there's, you know, there's so many dynamics at play that, um, that could be
so debilitating.
So what are some of the other projects you guys are working on?
Um, right now we're kind of focusing on this one, uh, because as a startup, as
you may know, it's, uh, it's, it's difficult to focus, to focus on different
projects.
Although we have, we have identified two other projects that we want to work on,
but because we're raising funds right now, uh, to advance this, this project
and we spent quite a bit of time and we had overwhelming amount of, uh,
positive feedback and people kind of.
Hoping and praying that we, that we succeed in our endeavor here.
Uh, we are really focused on this one right now.
Absolutely.
Okay.
So we talked about assisted living facilities, um, you know, where, um,
this, where grace, uh, for instance, could be in the assisted, assisted living
facility.
Um, what is the, you'll have the pricing mapped out for what grace is going to
cost.
Is that something that's still under development?
Um, we have a projected price, uh, some, uh, some estimates, so we're trying to
keep the monthly cost of this below $2,000.
So that's where we're offering a robots, the robot as service business model.
So that way, uh, you don't have to own grace and be bothered by its maintenance
and all of that stuff. We will take care of all of that.
Uh, you just have to have a working model in your facility and just make sure that.
It's working to the benefit of, of, of the assistant living facility and to the
benefit of the caregivers and the, and your residents.
Absolutely.
Right now, do you know what the average assisted living, um, personnel costs in
the market? If I wanted to hire somebody to take care of my grandpa, for instance,
um, more or less, what would I pay to have somebody full time?
In your home?
Yeah.
Well, I heard people spending $15,000 a month, anywhere 10 to $15,000 a month.
And I don't know how many people can afford to have 24 seven care.
Uh, and it's getting more expensive because caregivers are not easy to find.
We, we have a shortage.
Um, so I heard someone spent $15,000.
This was like 10 years ago for 24.
It makes sense because that person can't take, they can't take another job.
Yeah.
Um, you know, they're going to need benefits of some type.
And if you're not coming to you within the, um, you know, within a program, um,
which a program is going to want to outsource that person to more than one
entity, but they're also not a robot.
They're a human being.
They have to be able to do that.
They're a human being. They have to sleep.
Um, you know, they have to travel, um, between different clients as well.
So I would think the max that even a part-time assisted caregiver would be able to, um,
help client wise would probably be, if you were to do it every day of the week, um,
would probably be two to three or your dividing days of the week.
Go ahead.
So, so here's from my own experience in my own family.
Um, the people these days are qualifying themselves as caregivers, right?
Then they're asking for money.
So even those who are the unqualified caregivers, they're just, you know, help,
you know, but, but people are hiring them because they can't afford the, the
more affordable ones.
And that was our situation.
We are paying at least $2,000 a week to hire this unqualified person.
Right.
And there's nothing, I mean, when I say unqualified, I don't mean that in a bad way.
They, you just have to go through certain, um, minimum requirements for, for you to be
called a qualified caregiver, because caregiving, as you may know, uh, requires a lot of
patience, a lot of dedication, a lot of, uh, uh, you know, strength mentally,
physically, right?
Uh, it's not an easy job at all.
I guess, again, from my own experience, my aunt today, my mom, they're probably
going to die.
I mean, I'm laughing, but it's sad.
They're probably going to die before my grandmother, you know, it's, uh, and, and
when I saw all these stuff, I couldn't, but try to do something.
And hopefully, uh, as, as quick as possible, right?
So, so I can help them.
Um, and another thing you mentioned earlier about the caregivers being human, a lot of
people we talk to, especially in assisted living facilities, they're afraid that
robots are going to replace them, which couldn't be further from the truth.
Right.
My vision with this product is to put robots in facilities.
So they are taking over the mundane tasks that the caregivers perform today and
allow more time for the caregiver to go in those residents room with a smile,
render that personalized service and have that human to human interaction,
augment that human interaction.
That's my goal.
If I can do that, I'm doing it.
That's my goal. If I can do that, I'm the most in my eyes, I'm the most successful
person.
Yes, I love it.
Okay.
And, and I, I did kind of allude to that route of, of the robot, uh, taking place,
but it's only, uh, it was more focused on the idea that these hard tasks, these
things that aren't of our human nature being available 24 seven, right?
That's not possible.
But like you said, um, the goal is to improve the process because it's also easy as a
way to get disgruntled in the situation.
And then you make the person you're caring for feel bad or the person who's who
you're caring for makes you feel bad because they're making fun of your
strength.
Um, you know, or they're making fun of, or, uh, you know, it could be a matter of,
um, there's, there's racism that exists and prejudice that exists too, that you
have to deal with.
You can't eliminate all of the negativity or all of the problems associated with
this, but by supplementing the interaction, so the interaction is less stressful and
there's less anxiety, there's less conflict that would naturally improve any
relationship of any kind.
Um, absolutely.
I love it.
It's, it's so, so let's look at some of these stats.
Um, I'm going to pull up my screen real quick.
And, uh, for those of you who, um, you know, are, are maybe as ignorant as I was
to how many people are possibly affected by such a reality.
Um, you know, how many baby boomers are there in the market, right?
Baby boomers, the largest living adult population until 2019.
Um, they, they come from compromise, comprise rather comprise 69.6 million
people age 58 to 76.
There's gotta be people in that group of people, 58 to 76 that have physical
disabilities, right?
That's a lot of people and it's growing on a daily basis.
The amount of them that have health problems to care for moving to the next
category, how many disabled people are there in the U S um, in the U S alone,
there's 42.5 million Americans with disabilities.
That's a lot of people who need physical help.
Um, now if we go to the worldwide, we are very blessed in this country to have
access to all sorts of medical care.
This blew my mind.
Disabled people in the world, 1.3 billion people.
That's one in six of us.
Um, or a little bit, it could be one in seven, but that's a lot of people.
That's a ton of people who need assistance and need, who need and would
benefit tremendously from help like this.
And as Harout's pointed out, in addition to the loved ones who are caring for
them, um, and not able to work as much, um, in order to properly care for them,
that's that's staggering.
That's heartbreaking.
So, you know, when I started my journey, initially I wanted to do something with
for the disability community because my experience started with brain computer
interface that I was working with the severely paralyzed person, which allowed
him, this technology allowed him to propel his wheelchair through his thoughts.
And before my encounter with him, I was working on this because it was a cool
project, right?
Uh, but when I saw what this newly achieved independence made him feel like,
that was a game changer for me.
You know, at that time I said, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I want to start a company, build robotics, robotic technologies to impact people's
lives in this way and allow them to have a better quality of life.
And that's when I started seeing the overwhelming amount of people that, that
don't have access to the basic needs to prevent them from injuring themselves
further.
And when I started this, it was like mid 2020, I didn't know what product to go to
market with.
So I was doing a lot of customer discovery, a lot of meetings with, with
people impacted in one way or another by, by, by limited mobility.
Right.
And when I heard that over 1 billion people around the world has some type of
disability that impacts their mobility, I was, I thought to myself, why hasn't
someone done something about this before?
And a lot of them don't have access to the assistive technology that they need.
As, as you said, here in the United States, it might be easier, although my research
shows that it's not that easy.
It's actually, the process is really complicated and tedious.
And when we put people through that process, they kind of lose the will to live.
Right.
The one person I, I met in an independent living facility was complaining about just
the process to acquire a new Walker, just a Walker for the medical or the insurance
to approve that Walker, which is not that expensive anyways, right.
Right.
To approve, to approve them to get his Walker, it takes anywhere between six to
nine months.
Oh my gosh.
I was like, this person might fall, break a hip during that time, three times,
probably, you know, what's good?
What is the value that you're adding to this individual?
If your process takes six to nine months to approve a gadget that is a Walker that
really makes a big difference in his life, what's the value you're adding practically
is zero.
It's four to five.
It's four pieces of metal and you're done.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, you know, I was very shocked during the customer discovery stage of my
entrepreneurial journey.
I was very shocked to hear some of these people speak and because, you know, one
good thing we did, and this is the thing I'm proud of the most is we build, we
built a community around the company.
Now I have people that are like, oh, I'm going to be a great, great, great
community around the company now I have people who are rooting for my success.
And this wouldn't have happened if I sat behind the computer, just researching
market data, right?
I took time to understand, to know about and to learn from the individuals living
in these situations, their pain points, their challenges, what they would like to
have and how impactful a certain gadget or certain process is to them.
And through that, those activities, you know, the book that I started was that
the podcast mobility and inclusion that we see here on the screen, it was all in
an effort to really understand the people.
That's what allowed me to find this product.
That's what allowed me to gather a community around the company that gave me
overwhelming positive feedback and really the source of my motivation.
Yeah, to tell you the truth, as an entrepreneur, and especially in robotics,
I don't know everything.
I'm a roboticist, but I don't know everything.
And it's very scary for me to be on this journey, but the overwhelming amount of
feedback that we're, the positive feedback that we're getting from various
individuals, even doctors, even assistant living CEOs that are telling us that how
impactful and valuable this would be.
This person is a blind person, for example.
I'm testing the prototype with him on the screen that we're seeing.
I've even tested it with the blind people.
And his name is Dan Hodges.
He's an advocate for, he's also a lawyer, by the way.
He's an advocate for people with disabilities as well.
And when I, when I met with him, I was doing my podcast here.
I never thought that I could serve a blind person with this product, but he was able
to tell me the different ways that the blind people could use this product.
That blew my mind.
So it kind of expanded my view with, with, with this robot, right?
Initially I had a very narrow vision of what this product could do and for who.
When I started going out and meeting with these people, then the, you know, the
capability is really expanded.
Now the challenge is as a, as an early stage startup, where to focus on that we
can deliver the most feedback with.
So that's the challenge now.
And that's what, that's what we're doing.
I think that's one of the keys.
If everybody is listening right now, I'd love for you to go ahead and
I'd love for you to just close your eyes.
Okay.
Close your eyes and go through this experience with me, where you're
remembering one of your core achievements in life.
One of the best things that you've ever done in that feeling that you had, this
is going to heal your soul too, and bring some happiness to you, but think about it.
It could be the moment that you walked across the stage, graduating high school
or graduating college, you know, that, that special achievement.
Wow.
Could be the time that it could be when you threw that, that graduation cap up
in the air, it could be when your child took their first steps.
You probably don't remember when you took your own first steps, but your child
taking those first steps and you see that look on your baby's face and they're
just elated and like, Oh my gosh, I just did that.
And you, as a parent, you're cheering and clapping and capturing every moment of
that.
That to me is what magnified times 100.
When you take somebody who has been incapacitated, they have not been able to
move on their own for who knows how long decades, years, maybe they had it taken
away from them.
Maybe they've never had the opportunity to do so.
And that's what I'm imagining with, with her sitting in front of this
gentleman who was able to move with his thoughts.
Can you just, can you just comprehend the amount of joy and satisfaction you
would feel like finally I'm able to do this?
And you're able to provide that to potentially 1 billion people in the
future.
Thanks to the groundwork that you're laying right now.
And I know you, like any inventor, Harut want to see that number, bam,
disappear like that.
You know, it would be so cool if we could just get grace into every single one
of those lives right now.
And I have a feeling that you're just, you're driving yourself as far and as
fast as you can in order to make that happen sooner than later.
You mentioned this blind gentleman and remind me of his name.
Was it Dan?
Then, then, then Hodges.
Yeah.
Oh, you start bringing that up.
I started thinking about those.
There's things that I take for granted in life.
I've seen, I think Apple sells this device where you can like attach these
stickers to your keys or to other things that are important to you that you
constantly lose, you know, like your wallet and things like that.
And, you know, if I put my wallet down, I'm going to find it.
Like, it's not going to be that hard for me to find.
I'm not blind.
And so then I might, if that wallet falls out of my pocket, you know, down a set
of stairs, for instance, or something like that, like there's a lot of use
kids, a lot of interesting scenarios where, you know, you know, I've been
there, I've tried to find something that I couldn't find in the dark.
And like that technology combined with grace would make it so easy for an
assistant to, to help somebody who literally just does not have the
capabilities that we do.
Yeah.
And it's always such simple problems.
You know, the, the, the thing about taking things for granted is, uh,
resonates a lot with me because.
In my journey, when I say initially, when I used to say to people that in
the early stages of the prototype, the prototype just picks things, picks
items from the ground or from the table and relocates them to different
places or brings them to you.
Right.
And they said, people said, so how difficult is that?
You know, why can't someone else do it for the person who can't, you know?
Okay.
What if someone else is not there or why does someone else needs to be bothered
by that?
When that someone else is already doing so much and they're already exhausted.
Yeah.
You know, for caring for this individual.
Um, so taking things for granted and people who are not in situations where
they're caring for someone or they have, they're, they have someone in their
lives who needs care.
They don't understand it, but that's why we need awareness.
That's why we need to, uh, talk about this more often.
So we spread that awareness and people understand how the one in seven people
live today.
Right.
Yes.
Hi, May, feel free to keep showing that video in the background too.
Um, just, just looping it for those who are coming in and they can see it.
It'll also remind me of practical use cases that are absolutely worth discussing.
Um, one of the, one of the elements that came up on there was, uh, the robots
opening the door, picking up a package, um, you know, I'm bringing it in the
house.
Um, Grace as a robot, what's the, uh, what do you think the weight limit
capacity will be for what they're capable of lifting?
Um, So we're targeting for 10 pounds right now.
We just don't know if that's a 10 pounds per arm or 10 pounds, both arms.
Um, for still the, because, because the more capabilities you add to the robot,
the more expensive the robot will get.
Sure.
And, uh, hand dexterity for robots is still not to a, to a point where we can
move it as our, as we move and we have the autonomy with our robots.
We have the autonomy with our fingers and our hands, right?
Right.
So that's still a challenge to, um, that, that we need to think about, but
how close are robots to, uh, being able to twirl their, their pen?
Oh, that's, that's easy to do.
Oh, they got that down.
Oh yeah.
That's easy to do.
Yeah.
Because that's, you know, it's, it's all physics.
Yeah.
But, but we can do a lot today.
A lot of simple tasks can be done today with relatively simple end effectors.
And when I say end effectors, that's the grasping, the hand, basically, of the robot.
Yeah.
Um, so we can do a lot today with just what we have and we can help a lot of
people in the, in the process.
So we don't need to have that, you know, the five fingers and the palm to, to
help a lot of people.
And then just have that two gripping aspects and use it, use it effectively
to our, to our advantage.
Nice.
Awesome.
Um, and so the, as far as, uh, Grace goes and having the next prototype done, um,
you know, the next model out, where, where is Mark Botek set right now?
So right now, uh, the design that you, the, the design that you're seeing in
the preview is, uh, what's the minimum viable product is going to look like.
Um, we have developed, not developed, I should say, we have designed it in CAD
environment, so we're ready to build.
And that's why we're looking for funding.
We're ready to build and we have our suppliers lined up.
Uh, we have our sensor suppliers lined up.
Uh, we even have, you know, third party technologists wanting to use our
platform to, you know, to implement their technology into, into Grace, which is,
in my opinion, it'll be a great benefit to everyone.
So we're offering, for example, facial recognition capabilities with Grace.
And that's by partnering with a third party technologist, a third party
company that does facial recognition technology, uh, through, uh, through
artificial intelligence.
So if we have that again in assisted living facilities, that just amazing.
And of course we have identified other sectors that can benefit from this
robot as well, but right now we're focusing on helping help people in like
the elderly and people with disabilities, specifically people with mobility
challenges.
And how much are you guys raising currently?
We're raising $2 million, uh, which for a project like this is not very small.
Yeah, it's very small.
And, but that $2 million will allow us to build several prototypes and, uh,
pilot tests.
Right.
Uh, and once we pilot test, we can fine tune it and then we can start mass
producing.
We can raise more funds and start mass producing.
Right.
That tells me y'all are being, uh, responsible with the funds.
Um, and that's well, in this economy, we have to, because, uh, the investors
that are going to invest in this need to understand that this is not a short
term game.
Right.
The returns are going to be probably three to five years away.
Um, because again, it's, it's, it's, it's a robotic technology.
It's a hardware software combined with artificial intelligence.
So it's going to take us probably eight to 12 months to develop the initial MVP
and then do run pilot tests and then get, uh, POS and then develop for, to
fulfill the POS.
So at least three years from the, the, the day we start, uh, building the
robot, potentially five years till you see the first, uh, investor return on
investment.
Sure.
No, it makes perfect sense.
I mean, you've, you've got so much, uh, that you're going to want to reiterate
and learn from and, and build out.
Um, and if the focus is on the user experience, um, you know, the, the
difference that you're making, and I mean, it should be focused on that and
not solely on the return.
Of course.
Um, you know, you want on your investors, but I would hope that the
investors understand that the opportunity is the amazing gifts that
they're giving, um, you know, as well to those who, especially if you guys, um,
go about the, the process of kind of a crowd funding, um, as well.
And I've noticed that on your website, you have the ability for people to
donate.
Um, and so in that case, so you're donating to this project, you're
investing in humanity as a whole, um, and her roots ability to be able to bless
the blessed humanity with this type of invention that, um, I just, I don't see
too many other options out there.
Um, let's talk about that though.
If you don't mind her route, are there, um, other technologies that exist that
are in a, that are, that are accomplishing a similar capacity that, um,
that you also have great hope in.
Um, there are, there are several companies, uh, three in particular that
are doing somewhat similar things.
Um, they're focusing on nursing burnout in hospitals.
Um, and that's, that's a real thing.
And I think that industry needs, uh, needs support as well.
But the mo so that's, you know, that's one company, another company, uh,
against similar.
So one is diligent robotics.
The other one is a, a, from AOLs.
I think that's a Korean or Japanese company.
I'm not sure.
And then there, we have laboratory systems, uh, that, you know, that has
limited capability, uh, compared to, compared to, to us.
Um, how we're differentiating ourselves is, well, before I say that the market
is so big that that everyone can play in and make an impact and still make money.
You know, if we're thinking about the return on investment for investors,
the market is huge and it's going to get bigger.
There's no doubt about it.
Uh, you know, today, the, the longevity market with, which is defined as the
services rendered for people over the age of 65 is $7 trillion expected to be.
13 trillion by 2030, by early 2030.
That makes sense.
So that's, uh, that's a huge market.
So me, myself, Mark Botix by, uh, by, by ourselves, we're not going to be able to
close the gap effect or, or as fast as we would want to just impossible.
That's why the more people there is to address this need, you know, there's
room for everyone to play in, right?
There's, there's a point of the win, win, win matters so much.
You know, you're in a blue ocean.
Um, and the challenge of being in a blue ocean also hurt is that, you
know, is that there's nobody on the beach yet.
You know, you, you, you need more eyes on it, uh, more interest.
The opportunity for companies like diligent robotics and yourselves to, uh,
strategically partner, um, to drive awareness for what, what exists is phenomenal.
And I was just watching, uh, the Rocky series last month.
I decided to check it out and actually had never seen it.
Um, I'm a young guy, man.
Um, so I think I'd seen one, but in a movie tour three, he gets an in-home
robot, right?
To do all sorts of stuff, um, for them.
And again, these are people who don't have disabilities, right?
So there's lots of people out there who would love to have access to a grace,
regardless of whether they have disabilities or not.
The market is massive.
Um, so yeah, the potential for this taking off, um, I wouldn't worry about that at
all, but the ability to attract investors that may want to diversify their
portfolio and robotics.
Um, you know, I could see, uh, wise investors saying, you know what?
I'm going to invest a third of this year, a third of this year, and a third of this
year.
Um, and then see them all take off.
And as I said, the market is there, you know, it's really a no-brainer.
It's only getting bigger and it's going to get bigger till 2050.
Um, now speaking to other, you don't have to be a person with limited mobility to
use this product.
If you go to my YouTube channel, there's a video that I tested the robot with
when we had our daughter and my wife was going to feed my daughter and she dropped
her bib, right?
Uh, and she was going to bend over with the baby in her arm and try to get it.
And I'm like, no, no, no, don't do that.
Just go sit, you know, I'll bring it to you.
So I have the robot pick up the bib and bring it to her.
Right.
And again, these are things that you take for granted, but what if, what if
something happens and, and, and God forbid, you know, she fought, she fell or,
or, or I don't know, she imagine having twins.
Yeah.
Or twins.
And you know, she pulled the back muscle or whatever, right?
Why does that need to happen when there's, there's a solution for that.
So it's, it's, we can use it for a lot of things.
And as I said, the market is there, the need is there.
And it's just going to get bigger.
Yeah.
Well, that's awesome.
And, uh, Jeff Hoffman's role, uh, tell us a little bit about Jeff.
Oh man, Jeff, it's an interesting encounter.
So, um, I was at a networking event and Jeff was one of the keynote speakers there.
And at the time I was looking for a mentor because, you know, I come from a long career.
Well, I mean, relatively long 15 years of spending the aerospace and defense industry
and transitioning into entrepreneurship.
I knew nothing about entrepreneurship.
I don't even know what the word meant until, you know, few months ago before that event.
Right.
Uh, so I was at that, at this networking event and I was hearing him speak and he was talking
about everything that I was going through or will be going through, uh, in the future.
And I said to myself, you know, this is the guy I want to talk to because he was in my
shoes 30 years ago, you know, and, uh, and Jeff was a CEO since his mid twenties, I think.
Right.
Uh, so he was an entrepreneur all his life.
So who better to get feedback from or, or be a mentor to me than, than Jeff Hoffman.
So if, but I had no, no way to meet him.
I didn't know him.
He, he didn't know me.
I didn't even know what Priceline was, you know, uh, because I'm an immigrant and never
used Priceline, uh, and he was one of the founders of Priceline and ubit.com and booking.com.
And he was a Grammy award winner for a jazz album.
I'm like, this guy was the real deal.
He's, uh, uh, his first invention was a self checking kiosks at the airport.
So think about that man said that this guy did everything and he started from ground
zero.
He had nothing.
He doesn't come from money.
Um, so, and that's, that's really me, right?
I don't come from money.
I have all these visions and I want to do this.
I see the market need.
I see the potential and I want someone to mentor me and, and in doing that.
And I encourage everyone to have a mentor because that mentor will accelerate your path.
Right.
Absolutely.
It's an acceleration to your journey.
So after this keynote speech, they auctioned him.
So there were, there were a few charities there at, uh, at the event.
And they said, Hey, if you donate to one of these charities, you'll get an hour of time
with Jeff Hoffman.
And I'm like, this is it, man.
This is the opportunity, you know?
So, and I didn't, I didn't care.
I, and mind you, I'm not in the best financial situation, not now, not at that time.
And, um, and I said, there are some things that are not, that are not valued with how
much money you have.
Right.
Uh, so I just bid on it and it was a live bid.
So it's like, you know, I knew what everyone was bidding.
I just overbid everybody because I didn't care how much it cost it.
I just want time with him.
And I won the bid and long story short, that one of the things that I did was I
said, Hey, I'm not in the best financial situation, not now, not at that time, not
now, not at that time.
And, and long story short, that one hour meeting turned to a four hour lunch, it
turned to, into doing a mastermind together, which was, we are still doing together.
And anybody who, you know, knows Jeff understands what he went through and the
time that I asked him to be my co-founder, initially I asked him to be my founder
because, you know, even then, when you're asking people initially, I was thinking
about, you know, having him invest, right.
But then I thought, okay, what would, what would I want him to do?
Do I want him to invest a certain amount of money and then, you know, not be
involved in the company and not share all the knowledge, right.
Uh, or do I want his knowledge forever?
Right.
I wanted this knowledge forever.
I wanted, I wanted this friendship, his knowledge, his mentorship.
So I didn't ask him, I didn't ask him for money.
I never asked him for money until the, till today.
I asked him to be an advisor.
Then literally a month later, I'm like, look, since you're already an advisor, why
don't you become my co-founder?
Right.
So, and, and that's, that's, that's how it happened.
You know, we.
Wow.
We're knowing each other on a human level without the outside of business outside of,
you know, because mind you, I'm talking to, to a man who was, who's done anything and
everything under the sun pretty much knows everybody.
And the problem, probably the only thing that he's looking for is, is, is true
friends.
I, and I don't know that for a fact, but that at least that's what I could offer him.
I couldn't offer him money.
I couldn't offer him equity of value because the company word was worth nothing at the
time.
Right.
So all I could offer him was my true self was my real friendship.
And that's, that's how it kind of escalated from there.
And today, you know, we're just brothers.
I mean, I, there's, there's no hidden agenda.
He tells me when I, when I, when I'm wrong about something, he like straight up tells
me, he asks for my opinion sometimes, which I mean, for someone like him to ask an
opinion out of me, it's like, man, you know, I really like this guy because it's just,
it's surreal to say the least.
Yeah, man.
Well, your, your humility, your confidence, your leadership, Harut has been a phenomenal
blessing to those who are listening in.
There's a lot of, a lot of powerful lessons that everybody can gain out of this experience,
whether it's doing everything that you can to attract that mentor who can mean the most
to you.
And then of course, honoring them with the different types of decisions that you made
along the way to securing your true relationship with him and whether it's friendship,
family, belonging, whatever it is, you know, it is, it's interesting to think about
somebody who has, has it all, you know, from an outside perspective, well, what more could
they want?
You know, phenomenal relationships with people who care and who are going to stick around
and stand the test of time, like way to, you know, it takes a certain amount of living
virtuously to figure that out.
And so I'm, I'm just incredibly honored to have you on the show, visionaries who are
listening in, you know, the amount of notes, the amount of great takeaways you can have
from this opportunity is fantastic.
And if you have an opportunity to donate and give back to what Mark Botix is doing, you
know, and, and contribute towards the process of helping with the disabled, what this movement
reminds me of is the opportunity with computers in the nineties, you know, where yeah, you
know, Microsoft and Apple, we all knew that eventually the world would have computers
in every room.
There was a point where we all knew that was going to happen.
I think everybody's there with robotics right now.
We know that it's eventually going to happen.
People are going to get the help that they need, but just remember that 1.3 billion people
that changes every day.
They're not the same people.
The people who are there today are not going to get the help if we do not take action now.
It's not something that we want people in the future to solve.
It's something that we can, we can determine that right now is a moment or we're going
to make that happen.
And Harut is here waving the flag saying, guys, I'm ready to lead this path.
So please do everything that you can to support this company, whether that means sharing
this episode and getting it out there, finding that YouTube link, sharing it with moms and
dads out there who can, who can connect with, with that experience.
If you know somebody who's blind, sharing the story of Dan, you know, really it's, it's
about, it's about empathizing with this process.
And there's something that caught your heart and mind will give it a shot, share it with
people.
And then as a visionary yourself, take some of these lessons, apply them to your life,
go affect, go, go attract the mentors who are going to be in your corner to help you.
And Harut, thank you so much for honoring us with your time today.
We appreciate you being here.
It's an honor.
It's an honor to be here, Jackson.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you.
Absolutely.
Vision Pros, everybody have a phenomenal weekend and we will see you next week.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned into Vision Pros live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time
and attention.