Investors: Press Release
Major Japanese Robot Developer Has Heightened Interest in U.S. Mobile Robot Co
CONYERS, GA, Jul 17, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GCKO) announced today that a major Japanese mobile service robot developer has expressed heightened interest in partnering with GeckoSystems to use their "Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security, and Service™" for manufacturing and distribution in Japan.
Martin Spencer, President/CEO of GeckoSystems, stated: "As all of us here at GeckoSystems are excited about this development, due to the nature of the upcoming discussions I feel it is in the best interest of all parties involved to withhold the name of the Japanese company at this time. The upcoming meeting and the potential outcome(s) of it is something that has been in the works for several years and is now coming to what looks to be an extraordinarily profitable culmination. I believe their interest in us is due to not only our flagship product, the automatic self navigation software, GeckoNav™, but also the reality that we have a complete multitasking personal robot, the CareBot™, with verbal interaction capabilities, GeckoChat™, and the ability to routinely follow a designated family member with GeckoTrak™."
The Japanese have their own eldercare crisis because of the size of their WWII widow population. Due to their understanding of the high costs of sufficient and appropriate eldercare, the Japanese government has spent one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in grants (to Sanyo, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC, etc.) over the last eight to ten years to develop personal robots for their own eldercare crisis, yet no viable solutions have been developed by them to date.
"I expect the synergies in our cooperation to result in distribution into the Japanese market and significant cost reductions in the systems and subsystems we will be importing from Japan. As one would expect, a more competitive cost structure will enable a better ROI for our stockholders," observed Spencer.
The cost saving benefits of GeckoSystems' suite of mobile robot technologies will generate multiple revenue streams for GeckoSystems in the form of licensing, royalties, training, and sales of various hardware systems and subsystems.
"Perhaps the greatest single difficulty in our discussions is what seems to be the Japanese predilection to not value software as having the value and substance of hardware. The intangible aspect of advanced AI software engines and the emergent behaviors seems to be far advanced from any work being done in Japan and consequently our counterparts tend to focus on only the hardware requirements of a viable personal robot. This is a very difficult situation since any mobile service robot is over 80% software in its requirements to be a viable, cost effective product with a realistic value proposition for the end user. We are very hopeful of working out a solution to our differing perceptions with them," concluded Spencer.
The GeckoSystems' business model is very much like that of an automobile manufacturer. Due to the final assembly, test, and shipping being done based on geographic and logistical realities, each business relationship can range from private labeling to joint manufacturing and distribution to licensing only.