City Climber NSF Final Presentation

city climberwall-climbing inspection robots

Total Contacts

100VIDEO

Jizhong Xiao / PI

John Blaho / IM

Mickey Muldoon / EL

team• Professor of robotics at CUNY City College

• Inventor of City-Climber wall-climbing robots

• Co-founder and Senior Technical Advisor of InnovBot

• Recipient of NSF CAREER Award, 2007

• MA candidate in Computer Science, CUNY Brooklyn College

• Experience in education technology, policy analysis, politics, teaching

• Author of chapter in forthcoming book on for-profit education startups

• Does the ‘robot’ celebration after every video game soccer goal

• NYC-based Academic Industrialist

• Served as Chief Scientific Officer of biotech start-up until 2010

• Academic basic science research faculty for over 25 years

• Responsible for CUNY Industry-University Research Collaborations

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• Large civil

engineering firms• Military

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost/risk reduction: window cleaning, painting, or building exterior inspection

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance (e.g. tunnels, skyscrapers)

• Newness: for research and hobbyists

• Property management companies

• Property owners• Window cleaners• Military• Construction and

engineers• Academic

research and hobbyists

• Municipalities• Solar farms• Dry docks• Oil rigs

• Direct sales• Government

grant-writing• Website

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for window washing or inspection• Military/police/naval contracts• Installation revenue• IP License/royalties

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models

• Communities for research and hobbyists

the first canvas

segment pruning

Market Size

Technology

Readiness

segment pruning

Inspection of big, flat

things

Market SizeTechnologyReadiness

application 1: tanks and towers

Magnetic inspection crawlers already in widespread use for storage tank inspection, especially for ultrasonic thickness tests

But there are currently no non-magnetic crawlers for stainless steel and concrete inspection

application 2: turbine blades

from a robotic inspection company:

“We currently have some extremely promising commercial opportunities … and I would like to introduce your climber … There are at least three such opportunities I am working on right now. They are rather urgent … They have applications now. The only thing they lack is a small Climber that can be demo'd. And you have that NOW … Their revenues are in excess of $200M and they would want your Climber ideally to fully commercialize it and scale it up.”

application 3: building façades

• Real-time video feed• Follow cracks beyond

reach of scaffold• Corner buildings: check

street-facing façades where scaffold drop not mandatory

• Cheaper way to do thorough inspection where some problems found

• Impact echo analysis

• Mandatory façade inspection in NYC, Chicago, Phila, Boston, Pitt, St. Louis, Detroit, Columbus, Milwaukee, Wash DC, etc.

earlyvangelist

Rudi Sherbansky

•President, ASPA Engineering•VP, New York State Society of Professional Engineers

inspecting big flat things:here’s what we thought

Our company

Property owners

sell/lease robots

$$

Lesson 1

inspecting big flat things: here’s what we found

Ecosystem of third-party architects, engineers, and inspection companies

Other industrial inspection robots use daily rental models

Offering services on top of products is far more profitable

Lesson 1

inspecting big flat things: here’s what changed

Our company

Property owners

Sales, RentalsLeases, Subcontracts

$$$$

Inspectors

Primary contracts

Build pathway over time,will be more lucrative

Modernize local

inspection codes

Lesson 1

pricing: here’s what we thought

Technology is unique and patented

Saves over costly and dangerous human scaffold work

Other industrial “crawlers” sell for upwards of $50k

We can charge a premium:

$40-60k

Lesson 2

pricing: here’s what we found

• Customers explain that human inspectors are far more versatile and capable

• Closest competitor has run into price concerns

• Disruptive innovation, could replace centuries-old inspection techniques

• Survey: $20k is the most any engineering company would pay

Deep price savings must be a major part of value proposition

Lesson 2

pricing: here’s what we changed

Focus on low-end Minimal Viable Prototype

$5k mfg cost$20k retail$500/day rental

Lesson 2

customer discovery: here’s what we thought

Potential

Custom

er

Segments

(robot)

Lesson 3

customer discovery: here’s what we found

PotentialCustomer Segments

Bldg inspection

Industrial

infrastructure

?

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• OEMs• Component

suppliers• CUNY

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost reduction: replaces scaffolds or human rope climbers

• Risk reduction (Safety)

• Speed improvement

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance

• Rapid deployment

• Architecture and engineering companies

• Non-destructive testing service providers

• Direct sales• Potential

distrib./licensing partnership

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts• Labor: inspection services• Warehouse space and maintenance

• Unit or bulk sales• Direct contracts/subcontracts for inspection• Extended warrantees, support• Daily rentals

• Mix of free and paid support for lessees and robot owners

• Subscription model: access to 1/2/3/4 robots at a time

the canvas today

market size

Min. $40 million spent per year in NYC for gov’t compliance, at least 25x worldwide

Frost & Sullivan, 2011

Total

$1B

$1B

Façade Inspection Services

NDT equipment

$25M

$245M+

Maybe 1/40 of market spending diverted to robots

Our robots could maybe take 1/50 of market

$20M

Target

Frost & Sullivan, 2011

NDT services$2.5B(and growing at 5%)

$100M+

Do our own inspections

$100M+

Do our own inspections

$4.5 B+

Tanks, towers, turbines

Building facades

how to get there?

SBIR and/or seed

basic commercial-grade model

Pilot test with earlyvangelists

Open small rental/sales warehouse

Mainstream usage in NYC

Expand outside NYC

Lobbying: update building code

Channel partnership in the works

$$ SE

RV

ICE

S $$

Iterate product

funding

high-end industrial product line

revenue

SBIR Phase II and/or angel Series A

serious contracts

Customer discovery/demos

Series B

<$100k $500k $2M $10M +

surveillance?

window cleaning?

what about …

… other wall-climbers?

City Climber is:

• Patented• Cheaper • Simpler• More reliable• Better with rough

surfaces• Best weight-to-payload

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• Large civil

engineering firms• Military

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost/risk reduction: window cleaning, painting, or building exterior inspection

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance (e.g. tunnels, skyscrapers)

• Newness: for research and hobbyists

• Property management companies

• Property owners• Window cleaners• Military• Construction and

engineers• Academic

research and hobbyists

• Municipalities• Solar farms• Dry docks• Oil rigs

• Direct sales• Government

grant-writing• Website

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for window washing or inspection• Military/police/naval contracts• Installation revenue• IP License/royalties

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models

• Communities for research and hobbyists

March 21

March 22

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• Large civil

engineering firms• Military

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost reduction: replaces scaffolds

• Risk reduction (Safety)

• Speed improvement

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance

• Rapid deployment

• Newness: for research and hobbyists

• Government infrastructure inspection , esp. Bridges, dams

• Nuclear power plants

• Property owners/managers/Third party evaluators

• Dry docks• Military• Construction• Solar farms• Broadcasters• Window cleaners

• Direct sales• Website• Indirect : via

partners

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for inspection• Installation revenue• IP License/royalties• Military/police/naval contracts

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models

• Communities for research and hobbyists

March 28

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• NDT research

centers and labs• Military• Large civil

engineering firms

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost reduction: replaces scaffolds

• Risk reduction (Safety)

• Speed improvement

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance

• Rapid deployment

• Building inspection and engineering companies

• Non-destructive testing service providers

• Government infrastructure inspection , esp. Bridges, dams

• Nuclear power plants

• Website• Indirect : via

partners• Indirect: NDT

equipment distributors

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for inspection• Installation revenue• IP License/royalties

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models

April 4

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• NDT research

centers and labs• Military

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost reduction: replaces scaffolds

• Risk reduction (Safety)

• Speed improvement

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance

• Rapid deployment

• Building inspection and engineering companies

• Non-destructive testing service providers

• Direct sales• NDT equipment

distributors• Indirect : via

partners• Website

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for inspection• Installation revenue• IP License/royalties

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models

April 11

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• NDT research

centers and labs• Military

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost reduction: replaces scaffolds

• Risk reduction (Safety)

• Speed improvement

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance

• Rapid deployment

• Building inspection and engineering companies

• Non-destructive testing service providers

• Federal and State Departments of Transportation

• Direct sales• NDT equipment

distributors

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for inspection• IP License/royalties

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models

April 18

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• NDT research

centers and labs• Military

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost reduction: replaces scaffolds

• Risk reduction (Safety)

• Speed improvement

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance

• Rapid deployment

• Building inspection and engineering companies

• Non-destructive testing service providers

• Federal and State Departments of Transportation

• Direct sales• NDT equipment

distributors

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for inspection• IP License/royalties

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models

April 25

KEY PARTNERS CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

VALUE PROPOSITION

KEY ACTIVITIES CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

CHANNELSKEY RESOURCES

REVENUE STREAMSCOST STRUCTURE

• Manufacturers• NDT research

centers and labs• Scaffolding equip.

distributors• Component

suppliers• Robotics

companies (licensing)

• Military

• Continuous R&D• Manufacturing• Sales and

marketing

• Human: engineers

• Intellectual: IP• Financial: R&D

money

• Cost reduction: replaces scaffolds

• Risk reduction (Safety)

• Speed improvement

• Performance: Reach difficult spaces for surveillance

• Rapid deployment

• Building inspection and engineering companies

• Non-destructive testing service providers

• Federal and State Departments of Transportation

• Direct sales• Scaffolding equip.

distributors• NDT equipment

distributors

• Research and development• Sales and marketing• Manufacturing• Cost of raw parts

• Unit or bulk sales• Leasing units• Direct contracts for inspection• IP License/royalties

• Personal support for major customers

• Automated support for cheaper models