Oct 21 2020
Lantronix Inc., a global provider of Software as a Service (SaaS), engineering services and hardware for Edge Computing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Remote Environment Management (REM), today announced that its engineering team supported Embodied Inc., an industry-leading robotics and artificial intelligence company, in the creation of, a revolutionary new companion robot for children.
“Security and privacy have been an uncompromising priority for us since the inception of Moxie, which is why it was extremely important for us to work with Lantronix Engineering Services. Lantronix has an impressive track record and a deep and solid expertise in security,” said Paolo Pirjanian, CEO and Founder of Embodied Inc. “With the support of the Lantronix team to aid in the development of a secure operating system with advanced IoT, privacy, security, and camera technologies, we were able to bring Moxie to market.”
Designed to promote children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development through play-based learning, Moxie utilizes advanced AI, IoT and robotics technologies. Moxie is a new type of robot that has the ability to understand and express emotions with believable facial expressions, emotive speech and body language, tapping into human psychology and neurology to create deeper bonds to help support child development.
Challenge: Create a Secure AI-based Robot for Children
Privacy and security are top requirements for mobile and robotic products, especially those designed for use by children. Challenges included developing secure over-the-air operating system updates, secure boot, Android-verified boot, secure external interfaces and avoidance of backdoor intrusion. In addition, Moxie needed advanced camera technologies with the ability to adjust to scene changes and varied lighting environments.
Solution: Lantronix Engineering Services
Embodied’s designers chose the Lantronix Engineering Services team to support the development of a secure operating system with advanced privacy, security, and camera technologies to ensure that Moxie would be safe for use by children. In addition, the Lantronix team helped deliver the most appropriate options for camera exposure control to ensure image quality in challenging imaging environments. Implementing advanced camera technology enables Moxie to interact while adaptively adjusting to scene changes, such as dim lighting conditions.
Results: Moxie, A Secure Robot to Help Children Develop Meaningful Skills
With the support of Lantronix’s Engineering Services, the Embodied team created Moxie, the first-ever animate companion robot for children. With Lantronix’s Engineering Services delivering advanced privacy, security and interactivity features, Embodied was able to quickly develop a market-ready prototype. In addition, Lantronix’s contributions supported and freed up resources for the Embodied team, enabling them to spend their time and efforts on creating Moxie’s interactive and educational capabilities. Lantronix’s contributions helped Embodied bring Moxie to market faster, more affordably and with built-in security updates and patches that can be remotely updated.
Deliverables included:
Security & Privacy Deliverables:
- Secure Boot, ensuring that the only initial software that can be run on the device is authorized, ensuring a secure boot sequence/chain
- Android Verified Boot, verifying the Android kernel and filesystems are authenticated cryptographically
- Secure external interfaces, ensuring no ports are susceptible to backdoor intrusion
- Secure device software updates, enabling application of security patches and future features
Advanced Camera Deliverables:
- Auto-exposure library, providing the ability to adaptively adjust to scene changes with varied lighting environments, particularly in dim lighting conditions.
“Moxie’s advanced AI-driven operating system, created with support from Lantronix’s Engineering Services team, gives children a companion robot that delivers a unique developmental experience,” said Jonathan Shipman, VP of Strategy for Lantronix. “With Lantronix Engineering Services, Embodied was able to affordably jumpstart the design, create a usable prototype and deliver a market-ready Moxie to market.”