It’s been a while since we wrote you all - we’ve been busy and this year we are doing some big things; so big, that we had to go back to the annals of time and recall how we got here. We had to ask ourselves if we were on the right track and we had to be sure that the things that we are doing with robots now, are for the future and aligns to why we began this in the first place.
When Chironix was founded (2018), you might know, it was with the intention of getting the right tech, to the right people at the right time and place for them to create an effect - to allow them to create value. It was always clear to the founder that we, the humans, are the ones defining value and that the tech would only serve us by doing that valuable work for us or helping us do things of value in a better way. Chironix’s vision was and remains to this day ‘to deploy technology that supports and enhances human potential’. Initially we focussed on cloud computing and machine learning and as our pursuits became clear we moved towards the edge of those technologies – where the human and the technology interact most significantly – applied robotics.
On that note, did you know that the name Chironix was selected in reflection of Chiron, the wise and knowledgeable Greek demi god? He was a centaur - a man altered to have the lower body of a horse - known to be a great teacher and healer. For us, it is fitting to consider Chiron as a coach for those on a journey and a symbol of transformation for those looking to surpass physical limitations. In this way, he is an ancient representation of the human mind augmented by the robotic body.
Looking back through this lens, it is quite fitting that our namesake is an ancient symbol of human-robot teaming, particularly as we look forward to bringing to market a system that will make human-robot teaming more real than many of our customers might think possible. It is in fact our mission to do so: ‘To build a future where humans and robots work together as a team, communicating in a naturalistic and mutually supportive manner, to achieve common goals’.
We've been learning how to make Robotics a part of human endeavour. The first to move were those curious to see applied robotic technologies in action and those who were positioned to commit; those who wanted to determine the reach that these technologies can have, and had a funded endeavour. It took the form of research and development with Defence, and separately Oil and Gas companies, who were trying to target those things that humans are not good at: the dirty, dangerous, dull and dear.
We’ve been coaching our partners through a transformation to discover what is valuable about that human endeavour, particularly as it relates to the 4 Ds mentioned above. Here's some things we've come to learn about the human endeavour and robotics:
We've cemented these learnings as our beliefs now, and they are the foundations of our work now and into the future.
Our deep history in research and development with Defence and other government agencies, as well as Resourcing and Energy companies, has been feeding a learning loop. Over the past year we have been refining a solution that will be the technology that does the valuable work for the humans defining the value – a platform that gives humans the opportunity to keep deciding what's worthwhile and keep teaching the robots as to what that entails.
Seemingly, a point of value for many customers in the Resourcing and Energy sectors is inspection of fixed and mobile assets. So, our first point of effort is to get a solution to those customers, to start their transformation journey and get started on some data capture. In the coming months we will be releasing a variant of our PilotOS solution. We're taking the building blocks approach with it, because it fits the coaching model. We’re getting ready to coach human-robot teams with this solution and we’re going to keep you posted on how it goes.
We take seriously our responsibility for building safe and productive human-robot teams and we recommend you stay in touch with us as we develop them for our clients. If you are curious and poised to commit, whether an organisation looking for human-robot teaming, or an individual looking to help us build those teams, then please do reach out.
Centaur Graphic provided by Vecteezy.
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