Moxi can deal with routine duties for hospital workers akin to delivering provides, lab specimens, and drugs. | Supply: Diligent Robotics
Diligent Robotics has added two former executives from autonomous automobile developer Cruise to its management group. Diligent Robotics named Rashed Haq chief know-how officer (CTO) and Todd Brugger chief working officer (COO). The corporate, identified for its Moxi robotic, stated the additions will assist drive its growth past its preliminary concentrate on hospital logistics within the U.S.
For years, Cruise was one of many main autonomous automobile builders within the U.S. Nevertheless, 2023 introduced main street bumps. These culminated within the California Division of Motor Automobiles (DMV) suspending its permits within the state. Cruise wasn’t capable of get better from this. In December 2024, GM stated it was now not funding Cruise’s robotaxi work.
“As probably the most delicate and high-stakes environments you may deploy in, hospitals have been the last word proving floor for our know-how,” stated Dr. Andrea Thomaz, CEO and co-founder of Diligent Robotics. “We’ve already seen a outstanding impression, and with Rashed and Todd’s seasoned management from their time at Cruise, we’re well-positioned to scale. Their experience will likely be instrumental as we speed up AI-driven product improvement and develop the attain of our humanoid robots into broader business purposes.”
Diligent reaches past hospital purposes
Since its founding in 2017, Diligent has centered on advancing healthcare automation with Moxi. The corporate has deployed Moxi in additional than 30 hospitals throughout the U.S. It has additionally achieved over a million deliveries and saved hospital workers almost 600,000 hours.
Earlier this yr, Thomaz informed The Robotic Report that Diligent may deploy Moxi into assisted residing amenities, for instance. This could assist the corporate adapt to much less structured environments. “If we go from hospitals to assisted residing, for instance, then you definitely begin to see a really attention-grabbing trajectory the place an organization may go from hospitals to structured nursing properties to finally the house,” Thomaz stated.
“The tech stack powering our robots attracts on most of the identical core applied sciences as self-driving automobiles – multi-modal notion, predicting human behaviors, real-time planning beneath uncertainty, and extra,” stated Vivian Chu, co-founder and chief innovation officer of Diligent Robotics. “However deploying AI-native humanoid robots at scale in human environments is the subsequent frontier of autonomy. That’s precisely why Rashed and Todd are becoming a member of us – they see what we see: an enormous alternative to use their expertise scaling self-driving to the much more complicated area of human-aware manipulation and mobility.”
Chu will likely be talking at RoboBusiness (Oct. 15-16 in Santa Clara, CA), a robotics improvement convention produced by The Robotic Report. Her discuss will concentrate on AI for dexterity and adaptation in high-stakes environments. She’ll clarify how Diligent Robotics takes a hybrid method to autonomy by combining the reliability of classical robotics with the facility of next-gen AI fashions, all whereas deploying in dozens of actual hospitals the place no two elevators, badge scanners, or workflows are the identical.
Inside Haq and Brugger’s experience
Diligent Robotics CTO Rashed Haq (left) and COO Todd Brugger. | Supply: Diligent Robotics
Haq most not too long ago served as Cruise’s VP, head of AI and robotics. He helped construct autonomy for self-driving autos and scale Cruise to over 5 million miles of absolutely driverless autos in over cities. With deep experience in deploying manufacturing AI at scale, he’ll proceed constructing Diligent’s AI roadmap and unlocking new capabilities for Moxi.
“Humanoids and embodied AI programs characterize one of many largest industries of our future, akin to foundational sectors like power and transportation,” stated Haq. “Diligent’s traction in important, ADA-compliant environments like hospitals is a transparent proof level for product-market match, and the group’s pragmatic method to creating an information flywheel reinforces their means to construct new kind components for purposes in different industries.”
Brugger most not too long ago served as COO of Cruise. He led Cruise’s robotaxi operations and created the framework to scale its fleet from zero to over 500 automobiles on the street. His new position as Diligent’s COO will concentrate on delivering and scaling the total lifecycle of the enterprise. This consists of something from constructing and deploying robots to supporting them within the discipline and driving the business technique that powers progress throughout healthcare and past.
“From spending my profession serving to new applied sciences make the leap from R&D to real-world deployment, it’s clear that AI and robotics are at a historic inflection level,” stated Brugger. “Diligent stood out due to their concentrate on execution over R&D. I’m excited to assist scale what they’re already doing—incomes belief, guaranteeing security, and creating suggestions loops from deployments to engineering.”
