Tombot Inc.

1. Realism

Tombot teamed-up with the artists at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to create the world’s most realistic robotic animals.  Tombot Puppies not only look and feel realistically, but they behave realistically.  A patent-pending software control system ensures the behaviors are context-oriented, without users perceiving repetition.

2. Features

Tombot is the most feature-rich product in its category.  From more servomotors driving more degrees of freedom, to more and different sensors, to the companion app for configuration and software updates, to the rechargeable battery system; Tombot Puppies will continue to improve and expand their behaviors over time through software updates.

3. Affordability

Tombot Puppies are the only advanced robots at an affordable price: $449 before insurance reimbursements.  Tombot is the only robotic animal in the $250 to $2,900 USD price range.  Tombot’s product roadmap also features additional, more advanced products in this price range.

4. Medical Device

In order to deliver a medical benefit, users must form a robust emotional attachment with the robot. Leveraging the science surrounding the human-animal bond, Tombot Puppies are scientifically designed to stimulate the production of Endogenous Oxytocin.  Endogenous Oxytocin is essential to the formation of emotional attachment.

5. Leadership Team

Tombot’s co-founders built a prior start-up into one of the world’s largest litigation automation companies, which was successfully acquired in 2011.  Tombot’s leadership team not only has the technical and operational expertise to execute on our business plan, but also the business education and experience of building a prior start-up into a leading player in a high-tech industry segment.

6. Intellectual Property

Tombot has trademarks and a design patent already issued, and utility patent applications filed in the USPTO and the international PCT.

1. Very large growth opportunity

Mental health: dementia, autism, loneliness, anxiety, depression, and social isolation are at pandemic levels around the world. Very few non-pharmacological products exist to mitigate symptoms.  Tombot is the first hyper-realistic robotic animal designed to emulate the health benefits of the human-animal bond.

2. Barriers to entry

Robots are capital intensive. It requires years of R&D, customer research, and certification testing to bring a new product to market. Further, FDA and ISO 13,485 regulatory requirements increase the burden of new product entry.

3. First mover advantage

As both the world’s most realistic robotic animal, and the first advanced robotic animal of any kind under $2,900, Tombot will be able to define its product category with both its technology and its brand.

Tom Stevens, Co-Founder and CEO

Tom has over 30 years experience as a high tech C-level executive. He has been in the computer industry since 1985 – the early days of the PC revolution. At Novell, Tom was repeatedly promoted and given responsibilities that would only have been attainable after decades of service in more mature industries. These early experiences gave Tom the education and confidence to join ACT as a partner in late 1989. Working as a member of ACT’s Office of the President, Tom oversaw all client-facing activities including sales, marketing, consulting, new product development, and strategic 3rd party relationships. ACT’s core leadership team built the company into one of the world’s largest and most-respected litigation automation firms.

Tom applied his experience and education to Tombot’s product development. Using a data-driven and human-centered design approach, Tom’s leadership has produced a product that not only out-performs every other product on the market, but is also more highly-desired by our customers. Tom utilized his previous experience as an operator to institute the core financial, accounting, HR, sales and marketing systems to efficiently run and control Tombot’s key management disciplines.

Tom’s focus on organizational culture is the root source of Tombot’s success for taking diverse and independent high-performing team members and forming teams that generate synergistic results.

Tom holds a Masters in Business Management from Stanford University.

Hank Schorz, Co-Founder and CTO

Hank has been a Chief-level executive for more than 40 years. As an engineering and operations expert, Hank has built multiple companies into industry leaders. Hank’s technical curiosity and systems mentality give him the unique ability to fundamentally understand all of the elements of complex systems and processes. These skills have been applied to consumer electronics design and manufacturing, custom software development, computer systems integration, and very large data processing and management.

Hank has also spent many years as a hobbyist roboticist and remote-control airplane builder and competitor. These experiences, combined with his career in engineering and systems design gave Hank the insight on how to technically execute the Tombot robots. Inventing the perception and control systems for our robots, Hank’s ingenuity has led to the filing of a comprehensive family of patents.

Jesse Schorz, Co-Founder and COO

Jesse has spent close to 20 years in management and leadership positions. Jesse built and managed high-performing internal engineering and operations teams – the largest operating divisions at ACT. Jesse also oversaw very large contract teams and 3rd party suppliers. These experiences have led Jesse to develop best-practices operations systems.

In addition to his technical skills and business acumen, Jesse is a “get stuff done” guy. Creating and adhering to operating budgets and timelines are core strengths. Jesse’s skills begin with the innate ability to accurately forecast budgets and timelines. Accurate projections are critical for the financial management of Tombot, and for setting appropriate customer and investor expectations.

In addition to setting-up Tombot’s IT and operations systems, Jesse constructed and produced all of the realistic behaviors in our prototypes. Jesse leads all aspects of the identification and selection of Tombot’s supply chain, including the performance testing of key components.