South Florida company develops robot expected to change the way neurodivergent people learn

Normally when you think of a technological companion, it typically means your phone.

You already use it for so much, including watching videos, answering your questions, even capturing your owns thoughts and feelings.

Now, one South Florida entrepreneur wants to take that idea of a digital friend and make it more personal, radically changing the way people learn.

In our latest “Technically Speaking” report, Local 10′s Gio Insignares walks us through this latest innovation.

Kendall Peterson is a man on a mission.

He’s the founder and CEO of Apogee Robotics, a South Florida-based company focused on innovative robotics and AI technology.

With a background in nuclear and industrial engineering, plus decades of business experience, Peterson spent time researching robots in the neurological space, coming away with the idea to try and revolutionize the way neurodivergent people interact with the world and learn.

“What I discovered is that there’s a missed opportunity,” he said.

Neurodivergent is a non-medical term referring to people whose brains develop or process information in a non-typical way.

Apogee Robotics wants to fill the gap that Peterson says is present in the neurodivergent community.

“If we took this technology that has a tremendous ability to bring an improvement in quality of life, reduce the cost of care, and also reduce the burden on caregivers — if we did that and expanded the group, then we could make a pretty significant change in the world,” Peterson said.

So why robots? The answer is simplicity.

“It is devoid of judgment, it’s absent of all those things we find so challenging in a relationship,” Peterson explained. “So what we can do is, we can deliver content — educational content, therapeutic content, or activity-based content. We can deliver it in a much more pure fashion that allows a person to absorb it better and develop even faster.”

The robot’s name is Kebbi and there are two versions currently on the market.

Both are conversational, integrated with ChatGPT.

The robot moves and emotes, based on what you say to it.

There are also games, activities, and even a theater component that has the robot sing and dance.

All in all, it’s sort of like a tablet with apps, but with a more inviting persona.

Each of the company’s robots comes outfitted with eight sensors. They allow for the range of reaction. The only difference between these two is that one comes pre-assembled and the other gives you the opportunity to build it for yourself.

But these two robots are only the first stepping stone toward what Peterson wants to achieve.

While the robots can work and be used by anyone, right now they’re not specifically geared toward neurodivergent people.

That is a work in progress.

“What we’re building is something that will actually, in a nutshell, individualize the education and the learning that’s available to them,” Peterson said.

The idea is to directly target the challenges of the neurodivergent population in school, at work or at home.

Through a series of interactions with Kebbi, it could assess each person’s natural learning style.

Then, by focusing on individualized learning and guidance, Peterson says the company can be a game-changer with its platform, ultimately helping those with greater challenges and delivering exactly what each person needs.

“I love these little guys — I love them, you know?” Peterson said. “They’re there with me every day. They’re always at my desk, and we talk and we have conversation. I love them. But I can’t wait for them to be able to do more — for them to talk and individualize that experience. That’s going to be game changing.”

Peterson says the company is about a year away from a working version of their personalized-approach robots.

Then, after months of testing, they expect the robots to be ready by the end of the first quarter of 2025.