Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1078362
56 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2019 The STYL booth was full to bursting with staffers eagerly talking to lots of visitors. The smartphone app software talks to a custom- designed baton that the player uses as a pen, spinning it around the hand in any one of the many possible tricks. The app tracks the pen's motion, enabling any number of games, chal- lenges, and videos to be made available to the online community within the app. A crowdfunding project is planned to go live within the month. Still, Chapuset would like the opportunity to find additional (more tra- ditional) investors. His team is also looking to build a list of potential distribution partners. Chapuset is going to need manufacturing, but so far, he's made no significant manufacturing contacts at CES. Robbox Andrei Matei gave me a tour of the Robbox products based out of Vancouver, British Co- lumbia. He said, "We're here to revolutionize the power tool industry. We're taking the tech- nology that's already out there today and in- tegrating it to give you much more use out of your tools. We have two lines. One is a modu- lar line, and the idea behind that is to reduce the number of batteries, chargers, and cables in the home. You have one unit, one battery, and one charger, and then you purchase whatever attachment heads you need for jobs around the house—the garden, garage, you name it." When I asked if the individual tool heads iden- tify themselves to the base unit, he nodded and continued, "Each tool attachment has dif- ferent features. You connect the head, and the features are accessed through the touchscreen interface on the base handle unit." Robbox's primary objective for exhibiting at Eureka Park included, "Building our brand awareness. We knew from the first year that people loved our product. We want to stay in touch with the big competitors like Stanley, Black & Decker, and TTI. We want to keep them up to date and let them know we're still here. We open those doors and continue that conversation to see where it leads us." The Robbox products are working models, and Robbox is looking for investors. Robbox is working with a company that specializes in mergers and acquisitions, allowing the Robbox team to concentrate on product and channel development. I sensed that Robbox also sees a purchase by one of the large tool companies as an option as well, though Matei did not say so outright. I asked about the components in the electron- ics, and Andrei answered, "I'm in charge of the business development side, so I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable on design. I do know everything is built in-house. We do the software and all of the firmware. We purchase the com - ponents separately." Matei confirmed that Rob- box is looking to talk to manufacturing partners The Robbox smart Modular Driver handle with various tool attachments.