Interview with Roboteurs CEO Justin Policarpio
Roboteurs (@Roboteurs) is a very cool Hamilton-based edtech startup creating education-based robots! Founded by Justin Policarpio (@Justin_Polic) and Reiner Schmidt, you’ll be able to hear a talk by Roboteurs at this week’s StartupDrinks, but in the meantime check out the interview below!
StartupDrinksHamilton28
When: Wednesday January 22nd from 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Register: startupdrinkshamilton.eventbrite.ca
Tell me about yourselves.
My name is Justin Policarpio. I’m a Hamilton native, born and raised. I did my undergraduate degree at McMaster University in Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, and I also did my masters degree in Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I’ve always loved business, and I love the idea of commercializing new technologies. My business partner’s name is Reiner Schmidt. He’s currently a student in the McMaster – Mohawk Bachelor of Technology Program, and he’s also a ROBOT GENIUS. He’s the kind of guy who makes robots in his garage for fun, so he’s clearly the guy behind our advancing technologies and growing list of products.
What is Roboteurs?
Roboteurs is a business in Hamilton that focuses on developing education based robotics for all levels of learning. We’re new, and still finding our footing, but we’ve had great feedback from our current customers so far, and we’re looking to grow fast and grow large.
Why did you decide to create Roboteurs?
The business started off as simply an interest based side project. Reiner and I were both working for a molecular diagnostic company, Reiner on the technology side, and myself more focused on the business. When I learned about the kinds of stuff Reiner did on the side (ie. make robots), I suggested we start a little website called Roboteurs – essentially a site for people making robots. It started off as nothing more than an interest project, but then we started to realize the impact the business could have when it came to teaching students about robots. With Reiner’s amazing core knowledge of mechatronics, and my own experience in commercializing technologies and business, we teamed up and started the company.
What type of robot(s) do you have under development?
We currently have a number of products in our pipeline, but we can never have enough time to get them all on our website. One robot we have is the P.R.I.S.M. – Plexiglass Robot with Integrated Sensors and Motion. This robot is directed towards elementary and high school students. The robot has a number of sensors, and is easy to program using our on board electronics which students can learn from. Another robot we have is called the O.R.C.A. – Off-Road Robot with Central Articulation. This is a more advanced robot with areas of learning in mechanics, electronics, programming, and automation. We have another advanced robot that we’re currently working on, but it’s still a little behind closed doors, so we’ll share more about that one once it’s more ready and completed.
When do you expect people to be able to buy them?
Our current channel of sales has been to schools directly. We’re going this path to create credibility in our products, and to create relationships with our customer base. We do plan to open up sales to the general public and DIY community, but we want to make sure we can sustain the production for those kinds of sales when that time comes. We’ll allow online sales for some of our programming boards hopefully in the coming month(s).
Over the last decade we’ve seen “software eat the world” and disrupt almost every major industry from movie rentals to the military. Do you think hardware startups are poised to do the same going forward? How do you see robotics disrupting industries like healthcare and manufacturing?
Absolutely! Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this business! In areas of healthcare, we see robots taking on many roles in drug development and even in drug preparations at hospitals. Anything that is deemed tedious or harmful can be replaced by a robot, and with that, potentially remove any causes of human error that may arise. With the aging baby boomer population, we see a lot of useful robot related products, from assisted walking, to robots reminding you to take your daily pills. In manufacturing, we’ve seen robots enter that field more than 50 years ago. That said, advancements in robot manufacturing is still occurring with more sensitive and accurate vision guidance, alongside artificial intelligence allowing robots to learn from humans giving them a wider range of plausible tasks.
What’s the biggest challenge you face as an edtech startup?
Challenges with education technology always lie in getting your product into the schools. Schools notoriously have a lot of red tape when it comes to partnerships and the use of outside or public resources and products. I ran a tutoring company for over two years, so I have a lot of experience in this regard. Moving forward, we will likely find some champions to help us break through a lot of the red tape, and also with our product already present in some schools, we’ll have a raising level of credibility that we can fall back on.
What has the most rewarding part of creating Roboteurs been so far?
With any new company, that first large order is always the most rewarding and exciting part of it all. It’s essentially a way of somebody saying “Yes, what you’re doing makes sense”…just in the form of money. Funny enough, we had our largest order so far last week, and so presenting and celebrating at the bar is almost serendipitous for us.
Any advice to students and recent alumni working on a startup?
Keep your network of genuinely good and helpful people strong by keeping social and being open to most everything; it’s hard to do everything by yourself, and you never know when the right person will come along to help get you from point A to point B. That said, try to limit the amount of time and effort you spend on people and things not beneficial to you and your end goal. Also, from my previous experience, make sure to keep your business lean and your team dynamic. The last thing you need is extra weight and redundancy when you’re trying to be productive and getting things done.
You’re an alumni of the Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation program at McMaster University. How has going through that program helped you as a startup founder?
It’s often said that you can’t teach entrepreneurship, it’s something you’re either born into, or acquire a hunger for. Having graduated this masters program, I can still stand by that statement. The program itself did not turn me into the entrepreneurial person that I am today, but it certainly helped me embrace my hunger by having me surrounded by like minded people in my program – “You are the company you keep” is essentially what I’m getting at.
What can the community do to help you make Roboteurs successful?
Events like StartupDrinks is a great example of what we need to make our company, and companies like ours, successful. Like minded people gathering and feeding off each other’s energy, while also giving tangible support, job opportunities, partnerships, and more. Hamilton is a great city with ample opportunities in its younger ambitious crowd. It’s important for us all to support and share those ambitions with each other.
