RoboKind — Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Leading the Research and Development in Social Robotics for Autism, RoboKind Is Named Winner of the TEEC North American Startup Contest
DALLAS (Feb. 24, 2016) – In recognition of the implementation of advanced social robotics, the Tsinghua Entrepreneur and Executive Club Angel Fund (TEEC) and the US-China Association of High-level Professionals names RoboKind the winner of the North American Startup Contest. RoboKind, the world leader in social robotics, was chosen from more than 600 companies.
RoboKind was selected because of its research-based Robots4Autism curriculum, delivered by the humanoid robot Milo, that teaches children on the autism spectrum critical social and emotional skills. Developed by researchers at the University of Texas Dallas, Robots4Autism has been shown to elicit high-levels of engagement among children with autism during therapy sessions by exposing them to consistent and repeated behavior modeling and emotion recognition tasks.
“The RoboKind team is dedicated to advancing the quality of instruction for children with autism while reducing the cost of high-quality, personalized instruction,” said Fred Margolin, CEO and co-founder of RoboKind. “Earning the title as the top start-up company in North America is a testament to our progression in the growing field of autism intervention.”
As the prevalence of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder continues to increase, schools and districts seek to accommodate the needs of a growing student population.
“Our school uses Milo and the Robots4Autism curriculum with students with autism as a new way to introduce them to skills they are working on in the classroom,” said Kim Speer, an autism specialist at McCarthy Teszler School in Spartanburg, S.C. “I’m working with a five-year-old student who struggled with greetings and is now encouraged to initiate conversation with Milo.”
Since its inception in 2011, the TEEC North America Startup Contest is the largest contest of its kind for entrepreneurs in the United States. The purpose of the program is to support entrepreneurs and start-ups in accelerating technological innovation and expand business by garnering the interest of investors in both the United States and China.
To learn more about RoboKind, visit www.robokindrobots.com.
About RoboKind
RoboKind, the world leader in social robotics, designs and builds a series of robots that enable people to engage with robots on a personal level. Through the Robots4Autism and RoboSteps programs, RoboKind leverages these advanced social robots to supplement autism therapy, special education and STEM instruction. The programs use humanoid robots that feature life-like facial expressions, natural social interaction and comprehensive curriculum to assist educators and therapists in helping students learn and grow. For more information, visit www.robokindrobots.com.