GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. revealed today that the previously announced acquisition and joint venture offers have moved to the next stage. Recent international recognition and acclaim has heightened plausible acquisition and/or joint venture discussions. For over fifteen years GeckoSystems has dedicated itself to development of "Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security and Service(TM)."
The recent increase in third party attention and validation of GeckoSystems BaseBot(TM) and SafePath(TM) technologies continues to draw the attention of the domestic and international business communities.
"For some years we have received more attention for our mobile robot solutions from Asia and Europe than the U.S. Recently an EU market research firm, Research and Markets, confirmed the numerous markets before us and our standing as one of eight key players in those service robotics markets.Shortly thereafter, a leading Japanese robot company, ZMP, confirmed, also independently, that our AI software is complete and sufficient for beneficially high levels of autonomy and automatic self-navigation.Now, with several domestic firms actively engaging us in either acquisition and/or joint venture discussions, we now have even more substance to our long held belief that 'it is time' for truly cost effective and utilitarian mobile service robots," observed Martin Spencer, president/CEO, GeckoSystems.
Kidela.com recently wrote an article on the entrepreneurial history of the company.
http://www.kidela.com/columns/how-we-started/mobile-robots-are-in-our-future-martin-spencer-of-geckosystems/
ZMP of Japan, an established vendor of robotic research platforms, has confirmed that the navigation system used in the BaseBot is "sophisticated" and "fully developed."
http://www.geckosystems.com/investors/press_releases/20120927_ZMP_Evaluates_BaseBot.php
http://www.zmp.co.jp/html/press_20120924.htm
Research and Markets recently identified GeckoSystems as one of eight "key market players" along side Honda, iRobot, Sony, Toyota, and others.
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/publication/9rvoof/personal_professional_service_robotics_mark
This attention has brought inquiries about joint ventures and possible acquisitions from companies in many different fields. Some of the opportunities being investigated include the SafePath(TM) wheelchair, professional health care assistance, vehicle navigation -- both off road and on, manufacture of unmanned vehicles -- both air and ground, and commercial security applications.
GeckoSystems' SafePath AI navigation solution is portable and universal. It works with virtually any locomotion system and can be adapted to use the data from whatever sensor constellation is best suited to the application. SafePath collision avoidance and directional navigation is superior to any system on the market and it eliminates the need to attempt to "reinvent the wheel" so that robotic enhanced products can be brought to the market quickly.
Spencer reflected, "For the benefit of our 1300+ stockholders we need to consider all of our options. There have been numerous acquisitions of service robotics businesses in the last few years, most notably Amazon's acquisition of Kiva Systems for their mobile robot based fulfillment system and their software, with a value of $775,000,000."
"Amazon's $775 Million Acquisition of Kiva Systems Could Shift How Businesses See Robots"
Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/03/21/amazons-775-million-acquisition-of-kiva-systems-could-shift-how-businesses-see-robots/ - ixzz28ndBGwLQ
"In the last few days, two (2) nondisclosure agreements (NDA's) have been effectuated. Due to the sensitivity and delicacy of these ongoing negotiations that are now under binding, bilateral NDA's, it would not be in GeckoSystems' stakeholders best interest to reveal the specific parties involved at this time other than they have moved to a higher level of serious discussions. Regardless, the discussions are ongoing and have achieved an important milestone this week due to the need for the highest standards of confidentiality to protect all parties involved. Of course this bodes well in the event of an acquisition since the valuation of the company will be based on standard financial valuation analyses, such as Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), with sufficiently high hurdle rates. This is very good news since any acquisition of GeckoSystems would be at a significant premium to market," concluded Spencer.