Andrew Kiguel Discusses AI-Powered Robots And The Future Of Companionship With Dinis Guarda
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Andrew Kiguel, Chairman and CEO of Realbotix Corp, discusses their humanoid robots designed for companionship, entertainment, and customer service, with a focus on their use in urban settings. These robots aim to reduce loneliness and enhance human interaction in places like theme parks, museums, retail stores, hotels, and hospitals, in the latest episode of the Dinis Guarda Podcast. The podcast is powered by Businessabc.net, Citiesabc.com, Wisdomia.ai, and Sportsabc.org.
Andrew Kiguel is a Canadian entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in investment banking, blockchain, AI, and robotics. He is the Chairman and CEO of Realbotix Corp., a company that develops AI-based robots designed for companionship and social interaction. Realbotix is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and OTCQB.
Andrew co-founded several companies in the Web3 and blockchain sectors, including Hut 8 Mining Corp. As CEO and Co-Founder of Hut 8, he helped raise funds, generated revenue, and led the company through its IPO. He also founded Tokens.com, Metaverse Group, and Hulk Labs. Earlier in his career, Andrew worked for 18 years in investment banking at GMP Securities, where he led over 30 transactions and more than 10 mergers and acquisitions.
During the interview with Dinis Guarda, Andrew discusses the potential and versatility of Realbotix’s robots.
Our robots can be used in theme parks, museums, retail stores, hotels, and casinos. That’s a massive market.
Our robots are open-source. You can run our AI on the robot, but we can also run ChatGPT, Llama, Gemini, DeepSeek, or any proprietary AI that a company might have. Our robots have a friendly look. There’s a lot of artistry in them. You need that in order for robots to be mainstream and to have a better human connection.
Loneliness is an epidemic all over the world- not just senior citizens and adolescents, but it’s a big problem everywhere. Our robots have the ability to provide people company. Our AI has a memory. It can remember who you are. It can remember your conversation yesterday.
Revolutionising human-robot interaction
Andrew discusses the path forward for robotics, particularly in terms of creating robots designed for human interaction:
"If you're building a robot for a warehouse, who cares what it looks like, but our robots have I don’t know, 12 different facial expressions. I face a problem that none of the other robot companies see—what clothing does your robot wear when you take it to a conference?
We’re pioneering something new here. There are not many companies in the world that are selling full-size humanoid AI-powered robots... We want to get the price of the robots low enough so that they can be used primarily as an enterprise solution.
The entertainment robot market is going to be $115 billion by 2029... imagine you go to the casino, and the robot welcomes you, guides you to the bathroom, or helps you find the slot machines.
Most people in the robotic space are trying to find ways to use robotics generally to replace physical human labor.
I found this company that was making these highly realistic AI-powered robots designed for human interaction, not for physical tasks.
Our robots look incredibly human, and our AI is meant to be conversational with you. It’s meant to be social. I make jokes. You can take our robot as a date to a wedding or out for dinner.
That’s where we see a lot of use cases- We don’t want your robots for military use in that way. People need companionship, and with the convergence today of AI and hardware, this is the right time to do it.
We just recently sold a robot last month to a family that has an autistic son, not a child, but an adult son who's autistic and interacts better with AI and robotics than with humans. And we've actually found that before—that would not be the first time we've sold robots for that use case."
Realbotix: The future of customisable humanoid robots
Realbotix Corp. develops customisable, human-like robots integrated with artificial intelligence to enhance human experiences through learning, connection, and play. Established in 2014 by Matt McMullen, the company offers AI-powered robots designed for companionship, entertainment, and customer service roles.
As the interview continues, Dinis and Andrew discuss the three models of robots offered by Realbotix:
"The first model is just the bust... We have a hank, an Arya, and a melody... those start at $10,000, and you can plug ChatGPT or Gemini into that.
The second model... is called the M robot... It’s a robot that can be put together full-size robot that connects almost like Lego.
The last robot, the full-bodied model, starts at $175,000, and again, the key upgrade there is a customisable face for $20,000.
When you're buying that robot, the modular robot, the head comes off, you detach it, you put it in a suitcase, you can travel around with it. So, we provide a certain level of customisation... You can refine the appearance somewhat, what color, sunroof, leather seats, and cloth seats. It's a little similar to us.
We manufacture everything in the US. We have a proprietary silicone skin technology that’s highly realistic.
We use NVIDIA’s platform for the vision system, which can recognise people, objects, and situations.
We order the motors from an American company called Dynamixel. A couple hundred motors go into each robot."
Our robots can recognise you. They can recognise an object you’re holding. They can recognise a situation—hey, there’s a fire behind you- get an extinguisher and put it out. We’ve patented this.
Our robots are built in a modular fashion; the chassis of the robot is the same, but the pieces like the face and synthetic skin can look different. We can replicate with permission the look of the robot to mimic you.
Think about a retail store. You could have a robot at a retail store... it could keep an eye on things like theft, inform customers what's on sale, and bring foot traffic in. It could be a concierge at a hotel or an assistant nurse at a hospital."
When you buy a robot when the face gets poured I want you to receive an email. I want you to get almost a birth certificate for your robot... ongoing software updating and the hardware mechanism to it.
There's not a lot of pure play publicly traded companies that make hardware and software for humanoid robots... we're unique, and I think CES validated that."
Humanoid robotics: Bridging engineering with human connection
Andrew discusses the technical aspects of humanoid robots
"We’re not opening a bread store on the corner... we’re pioneering something new here like there’s not many companies in the world that are selling full-size humanoid AI-powered robots.
What we’re doing is different from what all other robot makers are doing.
We have a modular robot that can be pulled apart and put into a suitcase and checked in with your bags at the airport. You can just fly around with it.
We’re providing a certain level of customisation... you can refine the appearance somewhat, what color, sunroof, leather seats, and cloth seats. It’s a little similar to us.
Loneliness is an epidemic all over the world, and our robots have the ability to provide people company. It can remember who you are, and it can remember your conversation yesterday.
We sold a robot last month to a family that has an autistic son who interacts better with AI and Robotics than with humans.
I think we are still many years from having to grapple with [robots being used for military purposes]... I don’t know that robotics technology is there yet to do that outside of specific military purposes.
I’m not one of those people that think AI is going to take over the planet... we will find ways to keep it under control."
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