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Robots
Become Sports Stars Shaquille O'Neal has his collection of cars and trucks to play with. He has a stable of Jet Skis. He has an arcade of virtual reality games. Shaq soon will have something almost no one else has: a robot. The Orlando Magic center has agreed to let Florida Robotics use his likeness in advertising and promotions in exchange for a robot, built by the east Orlando company. While O'Neal might be its most famous individual customer, Florida Robotics has sold or rented robots to hundreds of companies and sports teams. This year, the company hopes to hit $1 million in revenues mainly because of the new contracts with the Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints, Jacksonville Jaguars and NFL Properties. Those sports contracts are in addition to ones with the Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Orlando Magic. "This year, the sports angle is a big part of our budget." says Fay Leuzzi-Martin, who owns Florida Robotics with her husband, Russ Martin. "Teams are calling us up for robots." The Martins didn't even think about the sports market when they started Florida Robotics in 1993. The company, housed in a small office/warehouse in walking distance from the Martins' Wedgefield home, is based on a combination of their personalities. Russ Martin has built robots as a hobby for nearly 20 years, but worked as an electrician. Fay Leuzzi-Martin sang as her hobby, but worked in corporate sales. Martin still builds each robot, a mix between R2-D2, Rosie from The Jetsons and the robot from Lost in Space. Leuzzi-Martin finds companies having parties or events that want to rent the robots or buy Martin's creations. In the beginning, it was all rentals - $34,000 from renting robots the first year. "Those rentals were the hard way, $200 here and there," Martin says. "There was a lot of work and effort." The sporting events angle came as a surprise. The Martins were talking with the operator of Airship International's mini-blimp at the Orlando Arena, who said they should try to put a robot at Magic games. Leuzzi-Martin, who thought sports teams just cared about winning games, called up the Magic, and after some talking, the team hired Florida Robotics for a Christmas season game. The first Magic game robot was a talking, moving Christmas tree. It was such a hit, the Magic now hire Florida Robotics for just about every special game, such as every playoff game. "It's really neat for the kids because of the way they (Florida Robotics) operate it. It's difficult for the kids to tell who's operating it." The robots are remote-controlled. Leuzzi-Martin works some of the robots; others are controlled by one of eight employees. The controller stand about 10 feet away and uses a disguised control panel. A wireless microphone and headphone also are hidden on he controller. The robot alters the controller's voice. While the robots are similar in appearance, all 35 robots Martin has built are different. The Dolphins' robot has a football helmet and Jersey in team colors. Others have fiber optics or baseball caps. Anything can be added to the robot, such as a television, stereo or squirt gun. Martin says O'Neal's robot will have a sound system to rival the ones in O'Neal's trucks. What goes into a robot affects the price. The robots cost $5,000 to $50,000 each. By placing different items in the the robot, each robot can have a different use. For instance, Florida Robotics next year hopes to line up a deal where TV 18 would sponsor the robot and put a television in the robot at Magic games. Another robot is wired to be used in laser tag games. Using the robot, a video arcade in South Florida will offer a moving target that shoots back at game players. Martin also is working on his first mass-produced robot. The new robot will serve as a moving trash can for amusement parks. The idea came from a competitor's criticism. "Our competitor called our robot a trash can with a a head," Martin says. "Now we're building one with a trash can. That comment turned out to be a prophecy." Martin plans for the robot to be operated by the street cleaner that walks the park. A control panel for the trash can robot will be in the broom handles. Martin is also working on a life-size version of Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots, the old kids game where two robots boxed until one of the robots' heads popped up. In Florida Robotics' version, contestants will control the robot at the edge of the ring, again trying to knock the head off of the other robot. And next year, the robots might be part of a monster truck show. Leuzzi-Martin has been negotiating with one show's producers to buy nine or 10 robots to be chased by the monster trucks. The trucks would run over the robots in the end and destroy the fleeing machines. Some ideas fail. For instance, Martin built an 8-foot-tall, two-headed robot that was too bulky to transport and move around. With all the new ideas, the Martins hope sales of the robots continue to climb. When the company first started out, all its revenues came from rentals. Now the mix is about 40 percent sales and 60 percent rentals. "The rentals aren't going down," Martin says. "Sales are going up." |
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