Investors: Press Release
GeckoSystems' Elder Care Robot Trials' Caregiver Praises New GeckoScheduler™
CONYERS, Ga., June 10, 2010 -- GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GCKO) -- announced today that they have improved ease of use of their personal assistant robot, the CareBot™ as a result of their ongoing world's first in home elder care robot evaluation trials. The new GeckoScheduler™ enables the primary caregiver to more easily set the date, time and frequency of medication reminders, TV show reminders, repetition of family anecdotes, etc.
GeckoSystems is a dynamic leader in the emerging Mobile Service Robot (MSR) industry revolutionizing their development and usage with their "Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security, and Service™".
"My widower mother was ninety-four last April. She had detached retina surgery some years ago and as an unfortunate side effect, her short-term memory has degraded to only two to three minutes. So while she has many of the Alzheimer victim issues, her short-term memory has not continued to degrade as dramatically as is common with many Alzheimer victims. However, due to this short-term memory loss she has lived with my husband and me for over eight years because of her consequent frequent disorientation and bewilderment.
"The new improvements made with GeckoScheduler have been very helpful. The user interface enhancements make it much easier for me to program timed reminders for the CareBot to say to my mother. This new interface has streamlined the way I am able to schedule reminders. It is now much easier to program the CareBot to tell my mother important things for her throughout the day. With this upgraded computer software I am now putting some of her favorite Bible verses in for the CareBot to recite to her.
"I am very pleased with the updated GeckoScheduler. Before I was only able to put reminders in for the current day, but now I am able to put reminders in for days in advance. Also, I can look back at previous reminders in case I forgot what worked well in the past. These changes decrease the time I spend at the computer inputting information for the CareBot to use in helping me take care of my elderly mother.
"The repetitive reminders in GeckoScheduler are wonderful! My mother's short-term memory is worse these days. Every day she asks the same questions over and over such as 'Is anyone coming over today?' and 'Are we going anywhere today?' I now have the CareBot tell her every hour the answer to those questions. Also, the scheduled reminders are of great benefit to tell her when it is time to take her medications. I believe that any basic personal assistant robot must have the ability to schedule reminders in order for it to be of any significant benefit," said one of the elder care robot trial caregivers.
GeckoSystems is protecting the privacy of its elder care robot trials' participants with a sincere commitment to maintain their identities confidential.
"We are learning that valued family behaviors can be readily expressed to the care receiver using a CareBot due to the robustness of its functionality. Here, primarily GeckoChat™ and GeckoScheduler™ are utilized.
"We continue to look forward to further exploration and understanding of the social interaction between the family, CareBot, and care receiver in the coming weeks and months of these in home assistive care robot trials. With our in home personal assistant robot trials progressing nicely, we have already learned a great deal as to the reality of beneficial social interaction between human and robot in domestic settings. There seems to be a very important positive --and unforeseen by some parties-- impact of valued family behaviors for all members in using a CareBot to communicate their thoughts and feelings to their beloved family members," commented Martin Spencer, President/CEO, GeckoSystems.
The elderly frequently endure loneliness and/or loss of independence when living in nursing homes or other assisted living facilities. This new type of remote medical monitoring system, a CareBot, will postpone, if not eliminate that trauma to them. Their families can now better manage the difficult decisions regarding the independence they allow their now dependent parent while minimizing the risk the adult care giver is willing to assume for a prudent level of independence for their now reliant parent.
Some believe that the technology is approved and paid for through options such as the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, which broadens the definition, use, and funding of technology at home. Other sources include long-term care insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, Medicaid waivers, and (potentially) stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, under the provisions for health information technology and electronic medical records for acute care.
Like an automobile, mobile robots are made from steel, aluminum, plastic, and electronics, but with ten to twenty times the amount of software running. The CareBot has an aluminum frame, plastic shroud, two independently driven wheels, multiple sensor systems, microprocessors and several onboard computers connected in a local area network (LAN). The microprocessors directly interact with the sensor systems and transmit data to the onboard computers. The onboard computers each run independent, highly specialized cooperative/subsumptive artificial intelligence software programs, GeckoSavants™, which interact to complete tasks in a timely, intelligent and common sense manner.
GeckoSuper™, GeckoNav™, GeckoChat™, GeckoScheduler™ and GeckoTrak™ are primary GeckoSavants. The GeckoSuper is the GeckoSavant responsible for system-wide orchestrated "common sense." For example, given two or more inputs, GeckoSuper can determine the order in which these inputs need to be addressed. GeckoNav is the AI software guidance system for the CareBot that provides automatic self-navigation without human intervention. GeckoNav is responsible for all fully autonomous maneuvering, such as avoiding dynamic and/or static obstacles, running errands and patrolling. GeckoChat is responsible for interaction with the care-receiver such as answering questions, assisting with daily routines and reminders, and responding to other verbal commands. GeckoTrak is the AI software system using sensor fusion that delivers a goal to GeckoNav by way of the GeckoSuper to seek.
"GeckoScheduler completes the suite of our fundamental GeckoSavants™ with the dissimilar yet synergistic, functional benefits needed to cost effectively provide utility to families for remote care taking of their members and other loved ones. This type of beneficial artificial intelligence (AI) makes the CareBot more personal and uniquely customized for the particular person to be assisted. Not only does this capability enable new forms of social interaction and community for families --even when dispersed geographically, it will also increase ROI for our investors as we address this pent up demand," concluded Spencer.