Dennis Ledenkof is the CEO and founding father of roboSculptor the roboSculptor, an autonomous platform for physique therapies developed by well being business specialists and powered by AI. It ideally suits the longevity idea and delivers exact, protected, and comfy touchless wellness therapies.
Are you able to share the journey that led you to create roboSculptor?
I got here up with the thought to construct a robotic physique remedy system in 2019 throughout my journey to the US. I used to be in search of a distributor for an aesthetics gadget. Whereas the potential accomplice preferred the outcomes, the process was too time-consuming and required extremely expert labor, making the unit economics unclear. The process took an hour and was bodily demanding, with such specialists being laborious to search out. Throughout that journey, I didn’t get a distributor, however I obtained useful recommendation. To invent one thing that doesn’t require human energy.
It took my workforce 9 months to make a demo that showcased the idea of a robotic therapeutic massage. At first, we wished to develop a product that merely mixed the traditional form of a physique contouring gadget with a cobot. You understand, simply on high of it. It appeared like an easy-to-implement thought.
1st iteration of including a robotic to a standard aesthetic gadget. Scheme.
Nonetheless, as we delved deeper into the undertaking, we realized our preliminary imaginative and prescient did not align with the intricate calls for of the system we had been constructing. We underestimated the complexity of the enterprise.
The subsequent iteration of the system obtained a tunnel-like form.
Early model of roboSculptor – portal-like form.
It has been exhibited in some commerce reveals as an idea. The suggestions was that the machine appeared fairly large and, to some, even intimidating. Throughout further robotic motion assessments, our engineers discovered that the system wasn’t inflexible sufficient to carry out therapeutic massage actions at larger speeds. After gathering all this info the engineers began to work on a brand new construction. It was a difficult activity to construct it. Nonetheless, it resulted in a distinct, extra open and pleasant design.
The precise roboSculptor design.
How has your expertise with earlier ventures influenced the event of roboSculptor?
Working within the aesthetics marketplace for over a decade offers you a stable understanding of the place tendencies are likely to shift, you begin to study extra in regards to the firms and what merchandise they construct. However most significantly, you study to see the gaps between what the market wants and what different gamers do.
With expertise in implementing physique contouring gadgets, our firm got down to develop a robotic system able to delivering a full-body therapeutic therapeutic massage primarily based on lymphatic drainage. The Vibrocompression by spheres methodology goes past mere leisure—it is a scientifically confirmed method for lowering physique quantity and enhancing pores and skin oxygenation, achieved solely by means of mechanical utility. No laser or electromagnetic emission. Fairly pure and wholesome though very environment friendly remedy. All we do is simply mix a long time of expertise and analysis with at the moment obtainable tech and robotic devices.
How does roboSculptor make the most of AI and robotics to personalize therapeutic massage methods?
Our engineers found that constructing a robotic machine for physique remedy requires a system able to translating the place of a bodily physique into alerts the machine can perceive. Merely put, we wanted to create a digital map of the human physique to information a robotic manipulator. This can be a vital problem, however an excellent larger one is the necessity to continuously monitor the affected person’s place—referred to as dynamic pose detection—as a result of people can transfer unexpectedly. And most of the people would not desire a therapeutic massage in a spot the place their leg was just some seconds in the past.
To resolve this, we developed a system utilizing 4 lidars that create some extent cloud, which is mixed with a 3D mannequin of the human physique and continuously up to date. This map then guides the robotic over the physique’s floor. Constructing this map appropriately requires analyzing a major quantity of information. To precisely detect the pose, we’ve got created an AI/ML mannequin that optimizes pose detection. Our system can now map the physique at a pace of 5-10 frames per second and supply the robotic with correct instructions to execute therapeutic massage protocols.
How does roboSculptor incorporate suggestions from customers and therapists to refine its algorithms?
Relating to therapeutic massage remedy, there has at all times been a sure degree of subjectivity round what’s efficient. For example, what stress degree is required to carry out an environment friendly process? A robotic therapeutic massage system offers us a exact instrument for measuring stress in grams and controlling instrument motion pace. We’ve designed the system in a method that the manipulator’s actions are recorded with all exact dynamics and stress ranges. The motion historical past maylater be replayed and analyzed by algorithms. By evaluating affected person preferences with particular components of the motion historical past, we will pinpoint the simplest methods for every particular person, much like how a preferred video platform makes use of likes to find out viewer preferences. Gathering extra knowledge on the effectiveness of therapies will in the end enhance the standard of care primarily based on massive knowledge evaluation.
May you clarify the position of the 3D digital camera system in enhancing the effectiveness of the therapies?
A robotic is an automatic system which will work together with actual objects primarily based on the duty it’s preprogrammed for. Merely put, it’s a machine that may see, make choices and act in response to its assigned duties. Probably the most efficient methods to detect a human physique’s place is by utilizing Lidars—3D depth sensors, also known as ‘3D cameras.’ They assist create an in depth 3D map of the affected person’s physique. You may consider therapeutic massage traces as tracks which might be mapped onto the affected person’s physique. Lidars generate some extent cloud, which is then used to construct this exact map.
Dennis, the founding father of roboSculptor, envisioned by 3D scanners as some extent cloud.
Are you able to clarify how the system adapts a therapeutic massage session primarily based on the person’s biometric suggestions?
In the course of the process, sufferers may also regulate the stress degree. The system is paired with an app that lets customers outline ‘no-go zones’—delicate areas the machine ought to keep away from throughout remedy.”
It’s not likely biometric suggestions that we implement within the present model, though we’ve got evaluated completely different evaluation methods like measuring BMI, pores and skin high quality, and so on. Whereas these may make the system extra customized, they might additionally complicate its operation. At later phases, we’ll get again to those matters. The present model of roboSculptor permits patiens to decide on varied remedy packages relying on their targets, with the selection appearing as a setting. In the course of the process, sufferers may also regulate the stress degree. The system is paired with an app that lets customers outline ‘no-go zones’—delicate areas the machine ought to keep away from throughout remedy.
illustration of no-go zones on a feminine three-D mannequin. roboSclulptor.
What vital challenges did you face whereas growing roboSculptor, and the way did you overcome them?
First comes the safety. Happily for shoppers, you possibly can’t simply put a product or a know-how available on the market with out passing all the mandatory assessments. However passing them takes time for enterprise, generally greater than anticipated. Furthermore, the complicated interaction between innovation and regulation can gradual the adoption of disruptive applied sciences, resulting in a paradoxical state of affairs the place cutting-edge options face resistance from conventional frameworks.
Financial uncertainty provides one other layer of complexity. Fluctuations in market demand, regulatory modifications, and sudden geopolitical occasions can all throw a wrench. For starters, they could have an effect on the feasibility and profitability of startups and repel potential traders with the funds to assist product improvement. And elevating funding for robotics is tough sufficient now as it’s. Traditionally, traders hesitate to again robotics ventures because of the excessive price of analysis, improvement, prototyping, manufacturing, and longer improvement cycles in comparison with software-based ventures. We will see this from firms like ARTAS, the developer of a robotic for hair transplantation, which nonetheless hasn’t turned a revenue.
Furthermore, some options are laborious to duplicate shortly as a result of their excessive prices. Subsequently, firms might not develop on the tempo that you’d count on. And it may take years for traders to exit and get returns from their investments.
What machine studying methods are used to boost the therapeutic outcomes of roboSculptor regularly?
Physique detection includes processing a considerable amount of knowledge. To optimize the strategy of pose detection in real-time, we use a neural community. By way of machine studying, we’ve developed a mannequin that repeatedly displays sufferers’ physique positions in actual time. This knowledge is used to replace a physique map that assists a robotic in delivering a personalized therapeutic massage. This enables the robotic to adapt to any posture modifications and supply exact instrument positioning and efficient remedy.
How do you see the position of AI and robotics evolving within the healthcare and wellness sectors over the following decade?
Based on knowledge from the Worldwide Spa Affiliation (iSpa), there was a scarcity of 29,000 therapeutic massage therapists within the US in 2022. And the deficit remains to be current. Robotic options can shut this hole. One other profit is that they’ll present massages to those that can’t resort to conventional masseuses for various causes (from being uncomfortable with human contact to cultural nuances).
As well as, robotic and AI-based options can considerably enhance the income of SPA suppliers. For starters, robots can work extra effectively than people, performing duties quicker and extra exactly. Our analysis reveals that they’ll carry out double the procedures of a human therapist, producing as much as 2.4 instances extra income for wellness services. Furthermore, operational prices may drop by as much as 40%, with returns on funding hitting 54% per gadget yearly.
Moreover, integrating robots and AI in healthcare can automate routine duties, permitting healthcare professionals to focus extra on direct affected person care and sophisticated decision-making. These applied sciences may also scale back errors, enhance effectivity, and enhance affected person service.
How do you envision roboSculptor reworking the wellness business?
One of many issues in lodges’ SPA/wellness facilities is the dearth of expert therapists. In the course of the pandemic, some therapists who misplaced their jobs at the moment simply modified professions. The others don’t need to work full-time and like extra life of their work-life steadiness than earlier than. The opposite one is that therapist’s schedules are decided by labor legal guidelines and their bodily skills. Within the period of repeatedly rising consumption, the demand must be lined. And the labor market doesn’t have sufficient specialists to supply.
As cited in ISPA 2023 analysis paper ‘Employees shortages had been most frequently cited as the first cause given by spas reporting a lower of their weekly hours of operation and in addition these saying they’d decreased the variety of service supplier shifts per day.
Restricted SPA zones working hours lower the return on funding of SPA and wellness centres. Within the nearest healthcare business, it’s physiotherapists’ wants are removed from absolutely lined by specialists obtainable.
Labor is among the limitations in lots of industries and economics normally. I imagine that implementing automation won’t solely ship therapies at extra versatile and handy instances for customers but additionally considerably impression the wellness business. By including robotics, we will broaden accessibility to very important providers and guarantee constant high quality for a a lot bigger variety of folks worldwi
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to roboSculptor.
