About

OZZIE robotics develops robot software and hardware, to meet diverse service robot application needs. OZZIE develops AI-based solutions for robot perception, cognition, safe and human-aware navigation, human-robot interaction, focusing on service robots that operate in indoor, outdoor and smart environments:
- Robots that can detect humans, understand their actions and interact with them. - Robots that can take decisions based on the state of their environment. - Robots that autonomously move, grasp and manipulate objects. - Robots that operate in diverse settings, from homes and caregiving settings through to public spaces, warehouses and factories for human-robot collaboration and logistics purposes. Alongside, we design and fabricate custom service robots, building the hardware and integrating the necessary software that enables them to fulfill their aims. OZZIE robotics is a spin-off company of the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), building upon the 20-year long experience of the founding team in relevant research projects. The OZZIE founders experience in robotics research includes their R&D, integration and technical coordination efforts within the EC-funded, Horizon 2020 RAMCIP project, as well as in further relevant Robotics Research and Innovation Actions. The first integrated product of the company is a service robot can assist older persons at their own home, as well as in nursing/care homes.

Solution & Product

OZZIE Robotics develops cutting edge software for service robots that operate in indoor, outdoor and smart environments. Robots that detect humans, understand their actions and interact with them. Robots that take decisions based on the state of their environment. Robots that autonomously move, grasp and manipulate objects. Robots that operate in diverse settings, from homes and caregiving settings through to public spaces, fields, warehouses and factories.
Alongside, we develop from scratch custom service robots, building the hardware and integrating the necessary software that enables them to fulfill their aims.
Our first integrated product is the OZZIE caregiver robot, aimed to support older persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) at home and in caregiving settings, through assistance in the tasks of: medication intake and nutritional activities, monitoring and reporting seniors’ health status remote communication of older persons and patients with relatives and friends.

Innovation & Scalability

OZZIE robotics develops cutting-edge, innovative solutions for robot perception, cognition, safe and human-aware navigation, human-robot interaction, as well as novel, integrated service robots. As such, innovation is exactly at the company’s core activities, while the first prototype service robot of the company, the OZZIE robotic assistant for older persons, with MCI and at early AD stages, is aimed to become one of the first service robots of its kind, which will reach the market in the near future.
The OZZIE robotic assistant technology comprises a mobile robot platform equipped with a touch display that shows robot facial expressions as well as speakers and microphone that allow human-robot communication. It uses vision-based sensors for environment understanding, human activity monitoring and human-aware navigationOur robot services are oriented around the monitoring and support of older persons’ nutrition, medication, overall activity levels and health, allowing also remote communication of older persons and patients with relatives and friends. The main element that differentiates the OZZIE robot from its competitors is that it is the first robot that can perform such human activity understanding and support in real, domestic and care home environments.

Traction & achievements

The company has been incorporated as a spin-off of the Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, building upon the 20-year long experience of the founding members in relevant research projects in ICT and Robotics. These project include the EC-funded, Horizon2020 project RAMCIP, which was coordinated by the founders and developed the RAMCIP service robot prototype, aimed to support MCI persons at home. During the company’s first steps, OZZIE was among the 2020 winner startups of the EIT Digital Venture Program. In terms of technical achievements, the company has managed to develop and integrate on the OZZIE assistive robot, all components that are necessary to support the targeted use cases, i.e. mature and concrete software solutions for human-aware navigation, activity recognition, fallen person detection, person identification and high-level task planning. These are integrated on our newly designed and developed service robot mobile platform H/W.

Team & Why Us

OZZIE robotics is a spin-off company of the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH). The founders of OZZIE Robotics are:
Dr. Dimitrios Tzovaras (R&D and Innovation Manager) is a Senior Researcher and the President of CERTH. He holds a Diploma and a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering.
Dr. Dimitrios Giakoumis (CEO) is a Senior Researcher at CERTH/ITI. He holds a Diploma and a Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Mr. Andreas Kargakos (CTO) is a Senior Research Associate at CERTH/ITI. He holds a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Mr. Alexios Papadimitriou, Mr. Petros Toupas and Mr. Georgios Tsamis hold a Diploma in in Electrical and Computer Engineering and significant experience in robotics research.
The growth potential of OZZIE can be considered on two complementary, yet distinct dimensions. The first concerns the company activities as custom robot software (e.g. for robot vision, navigation, etc.) provider. Along with the anticipated ever-increasing need for advanced service robot solutions OZZIE robotics can play a key role to support both robot provider and consumer companies with custom S/W development, as well as consultancy services oriented around custom service robot design. The second dimension focuses on the growth potential associated with the company’s integrated service robot solutions, which have the OZZIE assistant robot as a solid starting point.

Funding Needs

The funding needs of OZZIE Robotics are currently mainly related to the company scale-up and elaboration of the two main company products (OZZIE and OZZIE XL Robots).