Robostarter Nonprofit Launch Funder

Thanks for visiting our fundraiser supporting the launch of our new nonprofit, Robostarter!
Our mission is to improve the lives of the Developmentally disabled by expanding access to some of the most promising new tools for therapeutic interventions for children affected by Autism, Down Syndrome, and many other Developmental Disorders:
Social Robotics for Therapy.

We started Robostarter after our youngest daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder, the symptoms of which are highly autistic behaviors, as well as other physical irregularities.
The diagnosis did not come easily, and was only gained after numerous tests performed over several years had eliminated dozens of potential syndromes; enough to allow the board at Seattle Children's to approve authorizing an advanced testing method called Whole Exome Sequencing (WES).
The test confirmed what had already been suspected, that our daughter's constellation of symptoms and delays did in fact stem from a genetic cause; a de novo mutation on a single gene of the number one chromosome, known as the POGZ gene.
This particular gene was only discovered in 2013, and we only know of 8 others worldwide that share a POGZ gene diagnosis.
All we know of the others is that they all were identified using the (WES) test, and were enrolled in a significant study numbering 6500 undiagnosed participants with intellectual and developmental disorders.
The goal of the study was to gain a better understanding of genetics with a possible role in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
By Acknowledging that our daughter's symptoms have a certain cause that she will not grow out of, it allowed us to re-focus on her cognitive profile, which is that of a severely autistic child, and ways in which we can best mitigate her challenges.
Currently age 4 1/2, Lucy is non-verbal, and only began walking just before the current school year began. She attends Pre-K at our local elementary where she receives her special education services and therapies.
When approached with the concept of integrating robotic therapy devices into the practices prescribed under her Individual Education Plan (IEP) the teacher and therapists were very receptive to the idea.
That brings us to the cause of this effort:
To launch our organization and fund the ability to acquire the robotic devices, and work with the schools to initiate their use into programs for addressing specific needs of students with (IEPs).
By stimulating engagement in the student, social robots give therapists a powerful new tool to use in encouraging participation with the therapy, and assisting in realizing quantifiable gains in abilities.
As with any therapy program, early intervention provides the best results, so it is with that thought in mind that we want to make these methods available to our daughter while the term "early" still applies.
We are accepting of the fact that our daughter's special needs will continue to one degree or another as she ages, and are confident that the best way to ensure her continued access to robotic therapies as she progresses through school will be to help normalize their use in the schools she will be attending.
In the following video links, the first two videos provide a good introduction to the use, and potential of robotic units for improving engagement in therapy settings. The third introduces Romibo, which is the particular unit we will start our efforts with, and the last is a cell phone video of Lucy absolutely entranced with a partially broken Let's Rock Elmo (I love it when she goes in for the kiss!) . It was seeing her reaction to Elmo that tipped us off that she is likely to have a good response to robotic therapy methods.
Please check out each of the videos, all together they are less than 12 minutes and you will be able see why we are excited with the direction of these developments.











Thank you for your support!