Not everything you dream of, but everything you ask for

The event will see robotics specialist Zora Bots talk about how the world does not need a robot that can do everything that people dream of, but instead how it can benefit from a robot optimised to perform predefined specific tasks extremely well.

A trusted partner of the event, Zora Bots was invited to participate in Aldebaran’ s event - Pepper Partners Europe - the first European programme dedicated to the use of Pepper humanoid robots in business. With this in mind the show will see two Belgian Zora Bots co-CEOs, Tommy Deblieck and Fabrice Goffin, discuss the importance of setting realistic goals when it comes to robots and how to use cutting edge technology to our advantage, thanks to easy to use software.

For the past five years Zora Bots has been striving to push the boundaries between robotics research and real life applications. Zora Bots vision is clear: “Zora Bots cares about people and makes technology care too.” However, the goal is not to feed fantasies about the wonderful world of robots that can do everything people’s sci-fi dreams have inspired - but it is to promote the many ways in which robots can affect real people positively by being customised to masterfully perform the tasks related to its targeted applications.”

Deblieck explained: “The success of a robot does not rely on zero failures but it must embrace the following winning combination - the right software for the right robot to perform the right tasks, with the right support from a team of experts.”

Following the success of Zora in the healthcare industry, the two Belgian entrepreneurs were eager to develop other applications for the Pepper humanoid robots, to target industries such as retail and hospitality. They will take the opportunity at Innorobo to roll-out this solution and demonstrate how well Pepper can perform in these industries.

The number one concern for Zora Bots was to design an easy to use application, a software that any employee, guest or customer can handle, without the need for prior tech or programming experience. “Companies have no time to waste in robotics training. The key to the success of our solution is that anyone can use the robot only one hour after it joined the staff. Robots become an everyday tool”, said Goffin.

There are over 200 Zora equipped robots already adopted in healthcare facilities throughout the world and about 25,000 people interacting with them on a daily basis.

Goffin concluded: “Robots are not and will likely never be perfect or fool-proof. But what we can do with them is pretty impressive already. The key is to make them what they’re good at and designed for. And then, it is of utter importance to customise the software for users who also need a real helpdesk.”