Humanistic Robotics

Humanistic Robotics is a company devoted to solving the global issue of land mines. It is currently developing the SCAMP- Specialized Compact Automated Manual deminer replacement Platform. This technology uses remote robotics as a platform for rapidly surveying, clearing and checking the quality of clearance in minefields, while solving a number of issues not addressed by landmine clearing technologies.

History

The company was started in 2005 by two students- Samuel Reeves (an undergraduate business student at Wharton) and Joshua Koplin (a graduate design student at Pratt Institute.) After receiving a grant from a foundation in Geneva, the two partners conducted research in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Thailand and Canada to better understand the current landmine clearing technologies in use.

Upon their return, they tried to find a better solution to landmine clearance than what was being offered. Issues that that identified in current landmine clearing machines were high cost (reducing the volume of machines that can be financed) weight (transportation costs and damage caused to rural infrastructure) and ease of use. After creating a design that allegedly accounts for all of these problems, they decided to create Humanistic Robotics Inc. If their suggested model passes through the test phase, it would represent a revolution in landmine clearance by providing a simple and scalable design to clearance efforts worldwide.

Reeves and Koplin are approaching the final test phase of their new landmine clearing robot, and will be looking to produce their new robot en masse within the coming 2 years.

Board

The board is composed of distinguished people such as Michael Douglas, Ian McMillan, Iqbal Quadir, Jonathan Granoff and Steve Goodman. [ [http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/what_is_business/stories/reeves.htm Samuel Reeves ] ] [ [http://www.landminesurvivors.org/news_article.php?id=516 LSN - Landmine Survivors Network ] ] [ [http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2006/05/01/story3.html?page=1 Competition spawns companies - Philadelphia Business Journal: ] ]

References