You have your concept. You’ve developed your drawings, specifications and requirements for your autonomous navigation robot. Now you’re ready to pitch your idea and secure financing. If you’re in the private space working as a robotics product manager or you’re an entrepreneur pioneering new frontiers in interior autonomous navigating, this likely means getting in front of investors. Or maybe you’re a university researcher looking to a board to allocate grant funding for your project. No matter the case, your job is to sell your idea and bring your concept to life so that your investors can share in your vision.

But it’s hard to visualize and conceptualize without a working sample. It is almost impossible to know if you have precisely and effectively communicated every aspect of your concept to your stakeholders, or whether certain points you think you’re making have been lost in translation.

Explaining the complexities, nuances, requirements and functionality of a new product or idea requires enormous effort and comes with the risk of misinterpretation. But what if there was a solution that would remove the haze and increase your odds of funding, reduce costs and speed up time to market—all while eliminating the need to conceptualize? There is.

The solution is robotic prototyping.

Robotic Prototyping and Why it Matters

A prototype brings your ideas to life as a functional model of your concept or product. Functional prototypes are often necessary, not only for concept evaluation, but also for securing grant money and are popular across a range of industries, including computer science, education and defense.

Compared to drawings or theoretical research, a working robot prototype will give you the strongest and most persuasive tool to gather accurate feedback, work out design flaws, minimize errors, eliminate misinterpretations and rework and demonstrate your idea to potential investors or stakeholders.

Watch this video to see a recent prototype we developed for a client who needed an advanced mobility solution to address the shortcomings of a skid steer system.

Want more proof that a robotic prototype will improve your project’s potential to get funded? Here are the top 8 advantages of using a robot prototype:

8 Advantages of Using a Robot Prototype

1. Shorter Development Time

In many cases, development time is shortened because once the prototype is introduced, you can immediately test issues and concerns on a tangible, working product. This cuts out the guesswork and creates real results without hypothesizing.

2. Reduced Cost

Prototyping potentially reduces development cost by minimizing review rounds and theoretical discussions.

3. More Clarity

When it comes to autonomous navigation robotics, a working prototype will bring immense clarity and transparency to an otherwise theoretical idea. You can dispel ambiguities or misinterpretations, discuss concerns, and clients can gain a very clear understanding of the product. This creates accurate expectations across the board.

4. Accurate Requirements and Research

You can create more accurate requirements because a prototype brings clarity to a concept. Using a functional robot prototype is also extremely beneficial when conducting research, because, as previously mentioned, conceptualizing is hard, especially when it comes to autonomous navigation robotics and interior autonomous navigation. By allowing focus groups access to a functional model, you greatly increase the accuracy of your feedback and hence your research results.

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5. Increased Speed to Market

Speed to market increases due to a quicker development process, transparency and highly accurate requirements and research.

6. Foundation for Financial Support

One of the greatest benefits of using a robot prototype is the solid foundation it gives you to sell your product or idea. Often times, grant funding or financial support requires a functional prototype. Demonstrating a working model significantly increases your chances of acquiring investors.

7. An Edge Over the Competition

In competitive spaces, using a working robot prototype can give you a significant advantage over those just using drawings, theories and concepts. When it comes to business, the real thing is always better than the imagined.

8. Faster Patents

A robotic prototype, like any prototype, can help your team speed up the patent process, which is helpful in competitive arenas where filing a patent first is important.

By creating a working robot prototype, you will know exactly how your product works; you will quickly identify flaws or problems; and you can demonstrate your autonomous navigation product potential to investors or funders.

Robotic Prototypes in Action

Combining robust architecture with advanced dynamics and control, Stanley Innovation creates robotic prototypes that are unique, innovative and to specification.

View our Advanced Mobility Prototypes page to see two of our recent robotic prototypes in action: ARTI and MINI PUMA.

Stanley Innovation specializes in customized robotics solutions, specifically in autonomous navigation robotics. From concept selection to delivery, our unique talents and in-house prototyping capabilities put your project on the right development path—and fast. We have the skills, tools and experience to deliver working prototypes quickly and efficiently.

If you are ready to get started on your robot prototype, contact us. We are ready to help.