May 25, 2022
Fighting Crime & Providing Security using AI Robots by Knightscope w/ William Santana Li
- BRT S03 EP21 (120) 5-22-2022
What We Learned This Week
- Knightscope makes AI Security Robots that monitor business & provide a physical deterrence to lower crime
- Knightscope security robots bring peace of mind 24/7/365 & have already logged over 1 mil hours of service with paying clients across the U.S. in busy parking lots/structures, shopping malls, hospitals and corporate campuses
- More coverage, at a lower price. Augment your existing security program at a fraction of the average rate for one 24-hour security post
- Robot Roadshow – go see the AI Security Robots as Knightscope is doing a national tour
- Li has a tech & automotive background, held multiple business and technical positions at Ford Motor Co across 4 continents, including COO of Greenleaf, an automotive recycler
Guest: William Santana Li - CEO of Knightscope
https://www.knightscope.com/management/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamsantanali
Knightscope – started 2013, shipped first robot in 2015, went public (IPO) Jan. 2022, ticker symbol KSCP, Founded by William Santana Li, CEO (former Ford Exec), and Stacy Stephens, Exec VP (former law enforcement in Texas)
Knightscope – More coverage, at a lower price. Augment your existing security program at a fraction of the average rate for one 24-hour security post. The Autonomous Security Robots (ASRs) are Made in the USA – Designed and Built in Silicon Valley by Knightscope – and offer security patrols as well as a physical presence that deliver real-time, actionable intelligence anytime and anywhere, giving you and your security team the ability to detect and react faster.
Knightscope security robots bring peace of mind 24/7/365 and have already logged over 1,000,000 hours of service with paying clients across the U.S. in busy parking lots/structures, shopping malls, hospitals and corporate campuses. Let them bring that experience to your doorstep. Eye-level, mobile surveillance provides unprecedented deterrence capabilities, increased awareness with a conspicuous physical presence, and high-quality evidence to prosecute criminals. The results speak for themselves.
William Santana Li, Chairman and CEO
William (“Bill”) Santana Li has served as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) since April 2013. Mr. Li is an American entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience from working in the global automotive sector and founding and leading a number of startups. From 1990 to 1999, Mr. Li held multiple business and technical positions at Ford Motor Company across four continents.
His positions at Ford ranged from component, systems, and vehicle engineering with the Visteon, Mazda, and Lincoln brands; to business and product strategy on the United States youth market, India, and the emerging markets in Asia-Pacific and South America; as well as the financial turnaround of Ford of Europe. In addition, he was on the “Amazon” team, which established an all-new modular plant in Brazil. Subsequently, he served as Director of Mergers & Acquisitions.
After internally securing $250 million in financing, Mr. Li founded and served as COO of GreenLeaf LLC, a Ford Motor Company subsidiary that became the world’s second largest automotive recycler. Under his leadership, GreenLeaf grew to more than 600 employees, 20 locations worldwide, and annual sales of approximately $150 million. At the age of 28, Bill was the youngest senior executive at Ford Motor Company worldwide.
After successfully establishing GreenLeaf, Mr. Li was recruited by SoftBank Venture Capital to establish and serve as the President and CEO of the Model E Corporation, a newly established automobile manufacturer that focused on the “Subscribe and Drive” model in California. Mr. Li also founded Carbon Motors Corporation in 2003, and as its Chairman and CEO until February 2013, focused it on developing the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement patrol vehicle.
Mr. Li earned a BSEE from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy.
Notes:
Motivated by Sandy Hook school shooting (2012)
First robot shipped 2015
Lower crime with robots, physical deterrence
IPO 1/2022 – mostly crowd funding vs. VC money
Four robot models – cost of $7 / hr.
Car has 14K part, robots have a lot less – 1000
Crawl, walk, run –
Attitude towards scale
Autonomous security robot (ASR)
From NY, still affected by 9/11, very concerned with security.
Assists guards at locations 24/7
Robot is the height of a person, moves at walking speed
Robots patrol 24/7, take breaks every 3 hrs for charging. Charging stations at doc station, but still monitoring.
Self driving, autonomous, EV, AI, can operate in the rain.
Lasers and sonar with 360® video Hi-def at high level.
Cost effective at $7 /hr.
Security industry – high level turnover
On boarding – voices, gender, specific set-up for each robot
Four robots – 3 in production, 1 in development
No Sci-Fi Killer Robots
K5 – most popular and used outside, 5 ft.
K3 – smaller version, 4 ft.
K1 – stationary, larger. Hospitals, malls, casinos, parking structure, HOA
Mission to secure country.
First rule of government is to protect people
Will lower security and damage costs
Knightscope is a tech/security company.
Department of Defense $800 billion and 2 million staff
Government needs help with security - issue and opportunity
Cost and capabilities – costs going down and capabilities going up. Sensor cost has dropped from $30K to $4K.
Do not sell robots, rent them.
Knightscope does monthly updates
Needs to be affordable – cost $3-9/hr
Luxury model at lower cost
Saas margins
L/T – more robots and security. Robots will be larger (autonomous vehicle) and smaller
Schools, factories, property
Has 1 million hours in the field
Kinghtscope.com – video samples and demo button, crime page
Casino example: facial recognition to identify people tossed in past, 3 identifiers.
May need a few robots for particular site and needs, then robots are tailored.
L/T could save money on insurance
V/R walk through of site through Knoghtscope robot – real time risk assessment
Per William – future possibilities:
Insurance lower, crime lower, property is worth more, public safety
Robot Roadshow – go see the robots as Knightscope is doing a national tour.
https://www.knightscope.com/roadshow/
BRT Flashback Clip - BRT S01 EP33 9-20-20 -
Topic: Business can be Complicated from A.I. to AML
Guest: John Cassara, former Federal Agent
http://www.johncassara.com/index.html
Former Gov't Agent on AML (Anti-Money Laundering), illegal activity by criminals, common forms of AML, and tales from his past working for the US Government, undercover assignments, and giving testimony to Congress.
John's Newest Book:
Money Laundering and Illicit Financial Flows: Following the Money and Value Trails is the first book to take a hard look at our anti-money laundering (AML) track record. Written primarily from a law enforcement perspective, the book examines old and new money laundering methodologies. It exposes threats, enablers, and facilitators. Making the case for an AML paradigm shift, the book offers alternative steps forward. Combining facts, straight-forward explanations, case studies, as well as the author's personal experiences, views, and commentary, this book is valuable to the public and private sectors, policy makers, as well as students and concerned citizens. Now available via Amazon in both print and electronic versions.
Bio:
John Cassara retired after a 26 year career in the federal government intelligence and law enforcement communities. He is considered an expert in anti-money laundering and terrorist financing, with particular expertise in the areas of money laundering in the Middle East and the growing threat of alternative remittance systems and forms of trade-based money laundering and value transfer. He invented the concept of international “Trade Transparency Units,” an innovative countermeasure to entrenched forms of trade-based money laundering and terrorist financing. A large part of his career was spent overseas. He is one of the very few to have been both a clandestine operations officer in the U.S. intelligence community and a Special Agent for the Department of Treasury.
Notes:
Matt had mentioned Ozark. A few years ago John was interviewed by the Ozark producers for a Netflix show promo. Here is the link to the 3 minute promo video. The questions are general in nature and set the stage for what money is and why it is important.
Here is also a link to John Cassara testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about why money laundering efforts are failing. The testimony might appeal to a business audience. Anti-money laundering compliance costs for U.S. and Canadian financial institutions are over $30 billion a year - about 10 x the amount we recover annually from criminals.
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Cassara%20Testimony.pdf
Additional Info on John Cassara website w/ articles, etc.:
FULL SHOW: HERE
Tech Topic:
https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Tech-Startup-VC-Cybersecurity-Energy-Science
Best of Tech:
https://brt-show.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=best+of+tech
Investing Topic:
https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Investing-Stocks-Bonds-Retirement
‘Best Of’ Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+of+BRT
Legal Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Legal-Asset+Protection-Estate+Planning
Thanks for Listening.
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