[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 61 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4323-S4324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HELPMATE ROBOTICS OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT

  Mr DODD. Mr. President, I am proud of the many distinguished people, 
places, and enterprises in my great State of Connecticut. One of them 
is a company in which innovative spirit, entrepreneurial zest, and good 
will combine to create products that truly make our lives better. I am 
speaking of HelpMate Robotics of Danbury, CT.
  HelpMate invented and manufactures the first hospital care robot. The 
robot performs tasks such as delivering food, medicine, and lab 
samples, so that nurses and orderlies can concentrate on what they do 
best: caring for patients. Many hospitals are relying on HelpMate's 
hospital robot to cut costs while improving patient care.
  HelpMate's success is due largely to the vision of its founder, Dr. 
Joseph Engleberger. Dr. Engleberger is widely known as the father of 
the industrial robot. After building a successful company around the 
hospital robot, he and HelpMate are now developing an elder-care robot 
that would help older or infirmed people live at home independently.
  Mr. President, I speak about this company and its products today not 
just to share a home State success story, but to make the larger point 
that research in one sector often leads to applications in several 
others. Such cost-effective investments of Federal research dollars 
ought to be encouraged. The HelpMate hospital robot and anticipated 
elder-care robot exemplify such a process. The technology they use was 
initially born out of research for space robotics funded by a NASA 
Small Business Innovative Research award, and this same technology will 
ultimately help drive down health care costs.
  I urge my colleagues to read more about this company and their 
remarkable work in the March 3, 1997, Business Week article that I now 
submit for the Record.
  The article follows:

                   [From Business Week, Mar. 3, 1997]

                         Invasion of the Robots

                             (By Otis Port)

       At age 71, Joseph F. Engelberger knows time is running out 
     on his lifelong ambition. He is already acclaimed around the 
     world as the father of the industrial robot. But the 
     workaholic chairman of the HelpMate Robotics Inc. in Danbury, 
     Conn., would rather be remembered as the father of the home 
     robot. ``Common sense tells you it's got to end up a bigger 
     market than factory robots,'' he says.
       Don't expect the Smiths and Joneses to turn their 
     housekeeping chores over to a robot soon. The first model--
     which Engelberger has promised to his wife, Margaret, even 
     though she's not crazy about the idea--won't roll off an 
     assembly line until 30 months after Engelberger amasses at 
     least $5 million to finish development. ``The clock starts 
     ticking when I get the money,'' he says.
       People who know Engelberger figure he'll pull it off. ``Joe 
     is a very charismatic guy,'' says Brian R. Carlisle, 
     president of robot maker Adept Technology Inc. in San Jose, 
     Calif. ``He's really able to make you believe in his 
     visions.'' Just ask his kids. Daughter Gay, age 41, is 
     HelpMate's marketing director, and son Jeff, 38, is an 
     engineer at Adept Technology. ``When you grow up with someone 
     like him,'' Gay says, ``how could you not want to get into 
     this business?'' Investors also are under Engelberger's 
     spell. In January, 1996, HelpMate's initial public offering 
     was a sellout, even though the company had an accumulated 
     deficit of more than $13 million.
       Why are so many people rooting for Engelberger? Because 
     without him, Detroit auto workers might still be welding and 
     painting cars by hand. Today's robot industry stems from a 
     1956 cocktail party in Westport, Conn., where science-fiction 
     fan Engelberger met inventor George Devol. When Devol 
     mentioned he had applied for a patent on a punch-card-
     controlled mechanical arm for doing repetitive jobs in 
     factories, Engelberger was hooked.
       He persuaded his employer, Consolidated Controls Co., to 
     buy Devol's patent. The first prototype dubbed Unimate, was 
     finished in 1959 and went to work unloading a die-casting 
     machine in a General Motors Corp. factory. But two years 
     later, Consolidated lost interest and told Engleberger to 
     close his shop. ``I went to Barnes & Noble and bought six 
     books on finance--and earned my MBA over the weekend,'' he 
     quips. On Monday, he proposed a spin-off and was given four 
     months to find a backer. He did, and Unimation Inc. was born.
       Sputtering. During the 1960s, Engleberger fought an uphill 
     battle to persuade skeptical U.S. manufacturers to employ his 
     programmable arms. He got a warmer reception in Japan--and 
     Japanese robot makers quickly rose to world domination. Among 
     Japanese managers, Engelberger is ``a legendary figure,'' 
     says Shikgeaki Yanai, a researcher at the Japan Robot Assn.
       Unimation held its own against the Japanese, but in 1983 
     its cash-strapped owner, Condec Corp., sold the company to 
     Westinghouse Electric Corp. for $107 million. ``They picked a 
     great time to sell,'' notes Engleberger. America's U.S. robot 
     business soon sputtered, after dozens of companies jumped 
     into the market and sold some systems that didn't live up to 
     promises. Sales peaked in 1984 at $484 million, then headed 
     south.
       Engleberger had hoped Westinghouse would see an opportunity 
     in home robots. When it didn't, he quit and bought a 62-foot, 
     $800,000 sailboat with part of his $3 million take from 
     Unimation's sale. He planned to enjoy life as a gentleman of 
     leisure. That lasted for two months. ``I got bored pretty 
     quick,'' he admits. In late 1984, he formed HelpMate, 
     initially called Transitions Research Corp.
       To pave the way for home robots, Engelberger decided to use 
     hospitals as a test bed. In 1988, he sold his first medical 
     unit to Danbury Hospital, which now has two. They roam the 
     hallways running errands--delivering medications, meals, X-
     rays, and patients' records. Handing these chores to machines 
     frees more time for nurses and orderlies to concentrate on 
     caring for patients, says HelpMate President Thomas K. 
     Sweeny.
       Word of HelpMate's robots is spreading. Baylor University 
     Medical Center in Dallas has 4 machines, with 11 more on 
     order. All told, 144 have been hired by 85 hospitals in the 
     U.S. Canada, 18 in Japan, and 10 in Europe. Purchased 
     outright, the robots cost $110,000, so most are rented for $4 
     to $6 an hour.
       Outwardly, the 4-foot-6-inch robots resemble the box-on-
     wheels systems that carry the mail in some offices. But 
     there's a crucial difference: A HelpMate doesn't follow a 
     fixed track, such as a wire in the floor. Instead, its 
     electronic memory contains a floor map of the hospital. When 
     summoned by radio or pointed to a location on a built-in 
     video screen, the robot's microprocessor brain calculates the 
     quickest way to get there. En route, the robot uses infrared 
     and ultraviolet beams to dodge people, food carts, and 
     gurneys in busy corridors, and it summons elevators and opens 
     doors with radio signals.
       Sweeny says large hospitals can economically justify one 
     HelpMate for every 100 beds,

[[Page S4324]]

     so ``our total potential market in the U.S. is 10,000 
     robots.'' But that number would leap if the robots had arms. 
     Then they could make beds, help patients out of bathtubs, and 
     relieve nurses of other menial tasks. These expanded 
     capabilities would also be needed in home robots, which is 
     why HelpMate with arms are next on Engelberger's list. Once 
     HelpMates have been fitted and arms, they could be programmed 
     for such household chores as cooking, washing dishes, and 
     sweeping. Considering the precision factory jobs that 
     Unimation's arms still perform using yesterday's technology, 
     Engelberger foresees no major hurdles in creating household 
     robots. And his chances of attracting a backer are looking 
     up.
       In 1992, the U.S. robot business finally turned around. 
     Lately, sales of industrial robots have been posting 
     successive all-time highs (chart). In 1995, American industry 
     found jobs for 10,198 steel-collar workers worth $898 
     million, according to the Robotic Industries Assn.
       Now that industrial robots have recovered their sparkle and 
     HelpMate has moved into bigger quarters--Unimation's former 
     home--Engelberger is eager to launch an elder-care robots. 
     Most old folks who enter nursing homes are mentally alert and 
     healthy, Engelberger notes. ``They just aren't nimble enough 
     to care for themselves.'' All the technology developed for 
     patient care would be useful for elder-care robots. Adding 
     certain repetitive household jobs, such as loading the 
     dishwater or microwave oven, would be fairly easy. Others, 
     including meal preparation, might involve special-purpose 
     attachments. And for finding packaged foods, the robot could 
     have a built-in bar-code reader.
       Even a $100,000 home robot would soon pay for itself by 
     enabling people to stay out of nursing homes. With the 
     population quickly aging, demand could surge, bringing down 
     costs to ``something more in line with the cost of a car,'' 
     says Sweeny.
       Guess who Engelberger thinks should market them? ``If the 
     auto makers want to diversify, they need a product that sells 
     at roughly the same price point and in the same volume,'' he 
     says. Next, the father of the industrial robot hopes to 
     become the proud papa of Chevybots. Hondabots, and 
     Volvobots.

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