Apr 10 2019
Diligent Robotics, the Austin-based AI company focused on building socially intelligent robots, today announced that its robot assistant "Moxi" has received honorable mention in the AI and Data category of Fast Company's 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards.
The awards honor businesses, policies, projects and concepts that offer innovative solutions to the issues facing humanity today.
Diligent Robotics created Moxi to support people operating in dynamic semi-structured environments, through an AI framework that includes social intelligence, mobile manipulation and human-guided learning. Moxi helps clinical teams by performing non-patient facing tasks — like delivering supplies for patient care — to alleviate the physical and cognitive overload pervasive in the healthcare field. Moxi drives operational efficiencies in hospital environments enabling clinical staff to focus on their patients instead of back-end logistical responsibilities.
"With epidemic rates of burnout undercutting clinical staff teams' abilities to deliver great care, socially intelligent robot assistants present a collaborative solution," said Andrea Thomaz, CEO and Co-Founder of Diligent Robotics. "Our mission operates at the intersection of robotics, automation and AI, forging an innovative future that empowers nurses to improve the quality of care for every patient. It's an honor to be recognized by Fast Company in the Data and AI category for our efforts in pioneering robots to augment quantitative human work in the healthcare sector."
The World Changing Ideas Awards, now in its third year, showcases 17 winners, 200 finalists and 300 honorable mentions from a variety of categories including Health and Wellness, Education, and Data and AI. A panel of eminent judges selected this year's winners and finalists from over 2,000 entries. Previous award honorees include DDB Group Germany, Energy Vault, Spinnova, Planned Parenthood, Work & Co and Aira.
The 2019 awards featured entries from across the globe. Fast Company's May issue celebrates these world changing ideas, highlighting eBay's HeadGaze technology that makes mobile device applications accessible to people who can't operate a traditional mouse; Siemens' efforts to put Puerto Rico back on the power grid after Hurricane Maria; Alibaba-owned food platform Eleme joining forces with creative agency FF Shanghai to create edible chopsticks; Hannah Lucas and her brother Charlie who were prompted to create the notOK app to alert friends and family when you need help after Hannah experienced high school bullying and depression; and Motiv's electricity-powered chassis which helps commercial fleets reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
A complete list of finalists will be featured in the May issue of the print magazine, available on newsstands April 16.