Nxt Robotics, a San Diego startup developing robots for private security, has named San Diego CyberHive and CyberTech founder Darin Anderson as CEO. Jeff Debrosse, the San Diego cybersecurity expert who founded Nxt Robotics in 2014, will continue as CTO, according to a statement from the company.
Andersen and Debrosse worked together a decade ago at Eset, while Andersen served as COO in the Slovakian anti-virus company’s San Diego headquarters and Debrosse was director of cyber threat analysis and an Eset “senior security evangelist,” according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Under Andersen, the startup has expanded its strategy beyond developing service robots to support security monitoring and alerts. Nxt Robotics now bills itself as a company that combines physical security, cybersecurity, and autonomous vehicles “to address multi-factor threats.”
In a statement from the company, Andersen says, “As a new part of what’s being called physio-cybersecurity, our platform takes the realm of intelligent, proactive threat prevention to the next level… In our view, security robotics is a technology whose impact will soon be virtually unlimited.”
The company has been developing two robots that are intended for the corporate security market. The “Scorpion” (pictured above) is a rugged all-terrain, all-weather robot for outdoor security monitoring and reporting. The six-wheeled robot, which resembles a scorpion, is 3-feet tall, 2-feet wide, and 5-feet long. A remote operator can communicate with people the robot encounters.
The “Iris” is an indoor robot with a camera mounted atop a 4-foot tall column.
Field testing and feasibility studies of both products are underway, with commercial release expected before the end of the year.
