Reach Robotics, a robotics firm founded in 2013 by Nigerian-British Silas Adekunle, 26, has called it a day.
Based in Bristol, Adekunle, the CEO was working alongside John Rees (COO) and Chris Beck (CTO) and they had build Reach Robotics, an augmented reality gaming company that creates robots for both fun and STEM education. Silas, who was born in Nigeria and later moved to the UK at 11, is a robotics technology graduate from the University of the West of England.
“The consumer robotics sector is an inherently challenging space -especially for a start-up. Over the past six years, we have taken on this challenge with consistent passion and ingenuity. From the first trials of development to accelerators and funding rounds, we have fought to bring MekaMon to life and into the hands of the next generation of tech pioneers,” wrote Adekunle. “Unfortunately, for Reach Robotics, in its current form at least, today marks the end of that journey.”
Not much was known of the company, based in Bristol UK, until they signed a major sales deal with Apple Inc. in November 2016 for their first and biggest product yet, The Mekamon, a unique hybrid of virtual and real-world play.
MekaMons are spider-like four-legged robots that players can control via a smartphone using a companion app for augemented reality gameplay. Multiple players can have their MekaMons battle each another. The MekaMons are connected to each other via infrared signals and Bluetooth to allow for multiplayer gaming.
Mekamon is sold in Apple stores in most parts of USA and UK, and was to be expanded to other parts of the globe. Each Mekamon was retailing for $300.00 and was controlled via iOS or Android apps.
“I am immensely proud of what we have achieved. Since founding Reach Robotics at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, we made huge strides in our technology both in terms of our hardware and app development. We took MekaMon from prototype to market, introduce the world to the first gaming robot with seamless AR integration, launched in dozens of territories and developed a unique education offering that will live on through many initiatives,” added Adekunle.
Though Reach Robotics was calling it a day, Adekunle adds that it began with the vision of creating advanced and accessible robotics to entertain, inspire and educate and he hopes to carry that vision forward into the future.
“Following some travel and much-needed rest, the journey will continue in the Non-consumer Robotics sector and the STEAM Education sector,” the entrepreneur concluded.
