What Is Romotive?

Romotive In Las Vegas

<p><keyword id="841528" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Romotive">Romotive</keyword> is a robotics startup part of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tony-hsieh-downtown-project-2012-12">Tony Hsieh's Downtown Project in Las Vegas</a>. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">So, what's life like running a startup in Sin City?</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/romotive-iphone-robot-demo-2013-2">Keller Rinaudo and Jen McCabe of Romotive</a> tell us that <keyword id="2390" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Las-Vegas">Las Vegas</keyword> provides a more collaborative vibe than Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>Find out more about startup life in Las Vegas below:<br /> </p>
<div style="display:none;" id="kalturavideoplaceholder">kalturavideoplaceholder</div>
<p><em>Produced by Business Insider <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">Video</keyword></em></p>

Las Vegas Startups Have One Big Advantage Over Silicon Valley

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://romotive.com/">Romotive</a> is the startup behind "Romo" – a device that turns your <keyword id="6354606" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="iPhone">iPhone</keyword> or iPod Touch into an interactive robot on wheels.</span></p>
<p>You can control Romo from anywhere in the world using any other smart device, or a browser. That means Romo can essentially act <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">as a sort of "Skype on wheels."</span></p>
<p><keyword id="841528" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Romotive">Romotive</keyword> is also working on smile and frown recognition, which would enable Romo to read and react to human emotion.</p>
<p>You can reserve a Romo now <a href="https://romotive.com/store">for $149</a> with a shipping date of April 2013.</p>
<p>Keller Rinaudo and Jen McCabe of Romotive tell us how Romo can become Toy Story-like relatable robot in real life.<br /><br /></p>
<div style="display:none;" id="kalturavideoplaceholder">kalturavideoplaceholder</div>
<p><em>Produced by Business Insider <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">Video</keyword></em></p>

This Adorable iPhone Robot Brings 'Toy Story' To Real Life

<p><table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4f6c8af8eab8eaef28000049-400-300/romotive.jpg" border="0" alt="romotive" /></div><p class="source">Kane Hsieh</p><p class="caption">Romotive co-founders playing with the robot</p></td></tr></table>For about a decade now, people have been slamming <keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="California">California</keyword> as being one of the least business-friendly states in the Union.</p>
<p>The refrain goes something like this: taxes are too high, Sacramento too dysfunctional, pollution too suffocating.</p>
<p>And there is definitely something to this. </p>
<p>The talk recently heated up when Texas Gov. Rick Perry <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/12/business/la-fi-perry-jobs-20130213">aired a series of ads</a> across California touting his state's lower taxes and more favorable regulations.</p>
<p>But one tech CEO says that, for his industry, there remains no alternative to the Golden State.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Last month, Las Vegas-based <keyword id="62549" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Robotics">robotics</keyword> company <a href="http://romotive.com/">Romotive</a> announced it was picking up stakes to move somewhere in <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> (they haven't narrowed down exactly where yet).</span></p>
<p>Keller Rinaudo, the company's founder, spoke to us via Skype late last week to explain the decision to move from a low-tax state to a back to California.</p>
<p>He said he actually agreed with the criticisms that folks like Perry have made, to a point.</p>
<p>"It was not a short-term economic decision," he said. "California is one of the most friendly and unfriendly business environments in the world."</p>
<p>The company anticipates more taxes and a higher cost of living, he said.</p>
<p>But to achieve their goal of building <a href="http://downtownproject.com/2013/a-letter-from-romotive-the-team-not-an-actual-robot/">the world's first affordable personal robot,</a> they had to be on the West Coast.</p>
<p>"<strong>We have to find</strong><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><strong> experienced roboticists, and that really only exists in a few places in the world, and California is one of them</strong>." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The California advantage is not limited to <keyword id="16719" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="robots">robots</keyword>. Many startups crave the engineering talent pool coming out of places like </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Stanford, he said. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">And for tech, the Valley is still where the money is.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"I know lots of other tech companies that end up moving to the Bay Area, I think in a lot of cases though it has to do with needing investment. We're backed by a lot of really strong investors, and then finding proximity to a research center...We're building robots, not building an e-commerce store."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">MIT and Carnegie Mellon have the talent, he said, but Boston and Pittsburgh lack the startup community that's flowered in and around San Francisco.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Rinaudo said he's spoken with lots of other firms already in the area to try to narrow down exactly what town they want to be in.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"There are lots of startups in the Bay Area who are approximately our size who were super helpful about opening their financials, giving us a sense of going into it with eyes wide open."</span></p>
<p>Bottom line is this: For all the talk about taxes and trying to lure dynamic companies out of the state, it's really hard for other places to match the Silicon Valley talent and money community. And for dynamic companies there's just no substitute for that.</p>

STARTUP CEO: Here's Why I'm Moving My Company From A State With Low Taxes To California

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:590px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/517e70dbeab8ea621a000002-900-675/surf-4.jpg?maxX=590" border="0" alt="surfer cowboy beach" width="590" /></div><p class="source">REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson</p><p class="caption">John Broz wears a cowboy costume during a surf contest in Santa Monica.</p></div>We recently told you the story of why Vegas-based robotics startup Romotive </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/robotics-startup-ceo-on-moving-to-california-2013-4">is moving to California</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p>The gist of their reasoning was that while they knew they'd be paying more in <keyword id="6368033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Taxes">taxes</keyword>, but that they'd be in closer proximity to like-minded firms and entrepreneurs, as well as investors.</p>
<p>We were interested by their story in the first place, though, because <keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>'s business climate has received some bad press this year.</p>
<p>And the state most responsible for giving it? </p>
<p><keyword id="15710" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas">Texas</keyword>.</p>
<p>It started with Gov. Rick Perry's move to <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/12/business/la-fi-perry-jobs-20130213">run advertisements in the Golden State</a> touting Texas' more favorable tax and regulatory environment. </p>
<p>This was followed, among other things, by <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Texas-vs-California-myth-busting-time-4257744.php">an op-ed from the Texas Public Policy Foundation</a> "dispelling" myths about Texas' disadvantages versus California.</p>
<p>The TPPF's <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CDYQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.texaspolicy.com%2F&amp;ei=QHljUcDzKK2g4AOzo4HQCQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNF5E-PZplV2ZnJVS-_DrS2OY4o4Hw&amp;sig2=qdCI0o01A1SlNU0D4LFQdQ&amp;bvm=bv.44770516,d.dmg">mission</a>, in case you didn't know, is to "<span>promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas."</span></p>
<p><span>So arguably they may not be the most impartial arbiter of the question. </span></p>
<p><span>So we have taken it on ourselves to be so.</span></p>
<p><span>We looked at five broad categories — taxes, health, education, housing, and sports and leisure — to determine which state is superior. </span></p>
<p><span>We took the perspective of a business executive or family trying to determine which of the two states is for them.</span></p>
<p><span>It comes down to the wire.</span></p>
<p><span>But the winner makes a convincing case.</span></p>

FORGET WHAT YOU HEARD: Here's Why California Is Better Than Texas For Business And Your Family

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55199d3feab8ea625d16d74b-1200-924/don-draper-mad-men-21.jpg?maxX=600" border="0" alt="Don Draper, Mad Men" width="600"><p class="source"><span>Michael Yarish/AMC</span></p><p class="caption">Don Draper could probably use something to help him moderate his drinking habits.</p></img></div><p></p></div>In the US, we frequently believe that there's only one solution for people who develop a serious drinking problem: They have to quit, cold-turkey, start going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and at that point, one drink is too many.</p><p>But that might not be the only way - and in fact, the 80-year-old AA approach to substance abuse treatment might be a pretty poor way to treat addiction compared to more modern methods, according to Gabrielle Glaser, author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Her-Best-Kept-Secret-Drink-And-Control/dp/1439184399">Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink-And How They Can Regain Control</a>," writing <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/03/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous/386255/?utm_source=BIFB">in The Atlantic</a>.</p><p>Other strategies like interventions by a doctor, therapy that helps people understand why making a change is essential, and <strong>drugs that can ease cravings</strong> may work far better than AA according to a book Glaser cites, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Alcoholism-Treatment-Approaches-Alternatives/dp/0205360645">The Handbook of Alcoholism Treatment Approaches</a>," which ranks AA 38th out of 48 possible treatments for alcohol-use disorders (the term "alcohol-use disorder" has replaced "alcohol abuse" and "alcoholism" according to the American Psychiatric Association's book listing psychiatric disorders, the DSM-5).</p><p>It's worth pointing out that some disagree strongly with the assertion that AA doesn't work well, like Jesse Singal at New York Magazine, <a href="http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/03/why-alcoholics-anonymous-works.html">who says there's much better scientific evidence that AA works</a> than Glaser thinks.</p><p>Still, pointing out that there are other ways to treat problem drinking is helpful too, especially since not all drinking disorders are the same and some people may have different needs or respond better to one type of treatment than another. Singal agrees that these other options "may not always get the attention they deserve."</p><h2>A pill for people with drinking problems?</h2><p>One of those options is naltrexone, a drug prescribed to help people reduce their drinking to moderate levels in Europe. It's occasionally prescribed in the US too, but only to help people stop drinking altogether.</p><p>Glaser says that less than 1% of people who receive treatment for alcohol disorders in the US are prescribed any of the drugs known to help people cut back, even though we spend $35 billion a year treating substance abuse - some <a href="http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/drug-addiction-treatment-worth-its-cost">estimates of substance abuse cost</a> (including drugs) put those costs far higher.</p><p>The idea that a pill could treat what many think of as a behavioral problem that can only be helped by quitting drinking altogether sounds crazy, like a too-good-to-be-true solution for people who want a drug to solve their problems instead of really dealing with them.</p><p>But if you think of a compulsion to drink too much as something affected by brain chemistry and then you do something to modulate that brain chemistry, it makes much more sense.</p><p>As Glaser explains, research has shown that alcohol makes people's brains start producing certain chemicals (and inhibiting others) that help make the brain feel good. As people become heavy drinkers however, their brains sometimes start to counteract that by producing more of the chemicals that make people feel anxious in general, at which point "instead of drinking to feel good, the person ends up drinking to avoid feeling bad."</p><p>This cycle of tolerance and dependence - needing more to feel the same - is <a href="http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-abuse-addiction">how addiction functions</a> in general, though alcohol has its own unique effects on the brain and other factors (genetic and environmental) are involved as well.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54de6cc86da811267c8b4567-800-656/screen shot 2015-02-13 at 3.19.08 pm.png" border="0" alt="brain scan alcohol mri"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3636085/pdf/pone.0062260.pdf">PLOS One, "Increased Cortical Activity in Binge Drinkers during Working Memory Task: A Preliminary Assessment through a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study"</a></span></p><p class="caption">An MRI shows alcohol's effects on the brain.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Drugs like the opioid antagonist naltrexone regulate those feel-good effects that alcohol can have, making it easier to stick to one or two drinks instead of ten. People in Finland and Spain that are prescribed the drug take one about an hour before drinking to help them have a moderate evening, Glaser explains. Why rush to have more if it doesn't make you feel particularly good?</p><h2>Cold turkey isn't the only option</h2><p>It helps to remember that even though some people might need to cut themselves off from alcohol completely, not everyone does. The vast majority of people who drink too much <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/does-drinking-a-lot-make-you-an-alcoholic-2014-11">aren't alcoholics, according to the CDC</a>.</p><p>Clinicians look at seven indicators of problem drinking: tolerance, withdrawal, impaired control (the inability to stop drinking once you start), unsuccessful attempts to cut down or stop drinking, continued use despite problems, neglect of activities, and time spent in alcohol related activity (having a large portion of your life revolve around drinking).</p><p>Three or more of those indicators constitute a disorder, six or seven a severe disorder.</p><p>People with particularly severe disorders may not be able to opt for a "moderation" approach and may need something like AA that provides an abstinence support nextwork.</p><p>But the vast majority of people who drink too much might have other options to help control their drinking, options which Glaser argues are underused in the US.</p><p>Aside from naltrexone, she mentions the similar drug nalmefene and also mentions acamprosate, which helps moderate cravings, and Antabuse, which makes people feel sick if they drink alcohol, helping those who want to abstain completely. Some things work for some people but not all, as is true for all medication. Behavioral therapies are options too, including some that are referred to as "moderation management."</p><p>So why take medication that makes drinking less pleasurable in the first place instead of just quitting overall?</p><p>For one thing, it works. One Finnish group of clinics, Contral Clinics, that Glaser visited says they've helped 75% of their 5,000 visitors cut down to safe drinking levels over the past 18 years - a much better response rate than most abstinence-only programs can boast. While it's hard to verify the clinic's claims specifically, there are a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3970823/">number</a> of <a href="http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10826089509055828">studies</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2001.tb02356.x/abstract">confirming</a> the effectiveness of pharmaceutical treatments that help people reduce drinking, including<a href="http://www.contral.fi/en/publications"> many conducted along with</a> the clinic.</p><p>And for that great number of people who aren't severely dependent but still drink too much - affecting their health, family lives, and jobs to some degree or another - an approach that makes moderation possible could be hugely beneficial for society.</p><p>As Glaser writes:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">[P]romoting abstinence as the only valid goal of treatment likely deters people with mild or moderate alcohol-use disorder from seeking help. The prospect of never taking another sip is daunting, to say the least. It comes with social costs and may even be worse for one's health than moderate drinking.</p><p>As a psychologist who runs a moderation management clinic in Florida told Glaser, "We cling to this one-size-fits-all theory even when a person has a small problem," thinking that they are going down a dangerous road they must turn away from. "But we have 50 years of research saying that, chances are, that's not the way it's going. We can change the course."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/main-cause-obesity-sugar-health-weight-science-2015-3">This one ingredient is making a lot of Americans fat</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="tod2RwczoKRgFw6jLE57PdEvB0FByefx" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'tod2RwczoKRgFw6jLE57PdEvB0FByefx',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

You Searched For "Romotive" and got 7 results

What Is Romotive?

Romotive In Las Vegas

Las Vegas Startups Have One Big Advantage Over Silicon Valley

William Wei

This Adorable iPhone Robot Brings 'Toy Story' To Real Life

William Wei

STARTUP CEO: Here's Why I'm Moving My Company From A State With Low Taxes To California

Rob Wile

FORGET WHAT YOU HEARD: Here's Why California Is Better Than Texas For Business And Your Family

Rob Wile

There's a pill that could help heavy drinkers cut down to one drink a day

Kevin Loria