Email this page
Print this pageMan's Best Friend
Joe silva thought his daughter had an imaginary friend. The five-year-old had been telling him for weeks that she had a friend in the house who spoke to her. Finally, she brought her father to a storage space, where he heard a loud voice: “I need to be recharged.”
It was the disassembled police robot Silva had stowed away almost a decade before.
“It took all that time for his batteries to wear down,” Silva recalls with a laugh. The robot, named Aexeous, had been a prototype for Silvacross, a company Silva formed in the eighties to create protective security robots for police units. Although there was
interest, the robots proved prohibitively expensive, and Silva closed the business.
His daughter’s discovery inspired him to rebuild the 800-pound robot, much to the delight of her friends. “The kids thought it was cool,” says Silva. Aexeous, who stands twelve feet tall at his full height, can speak, navigate his surroundings and follow commands. As Silva watched the robot and kids interact, the seed of his next business venture was planted.
Today, thirteen years later, Aexeous travels with Silva to local schools to get kids excited about math and science. “Our goal is to inspire kids to stay in school and see the possibilities of what you can do,” says Silva. “I want to get them fired up about technology — not just using it, but actually creating it.
Outside of the classroom, Aexeous makes the rounds at office parties and sci-fi conventions. Silva, who is a field technician at Axion Business Technology in Cranston, credits his success to his wife, Christin. “She’s brilliant,” says Silva. Not to mention a good sport about living with a massive robot. “When I first made Aexeous, he had hydraulic fuel,” says Silva. “Imagine that on the carpet.” For more information, visit aexeous.com. —N.M.
Most Viewed
Newsletters
Special sections
Copyright 2010 Rhode Island Monthly
| A Godengo Technology | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
Community Partners
Roger Williams Park Zoo | Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce | Rhode Island Hospitality & Tourism Association
Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island | Trinity Repertory Company | The Rhode Island Philharmonic | Block Island Tourism Council
East Greenwich Photo & Studio | Opera Providence | Rhode Island International Film Festival | Federal Hill Commerce Association
| Blackstone Valley Tourism Council | Pawtucket Red Sox | Providence Chamber of Commerce | Providence/Warwick CVB
UrbanPlanet | Newport Chamber of Commerce | Providence Performing Arts Center
| This site is a member of the City & Regional Magazine Association Online Network | ||||
AlabamaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCalifornia
ColoradoConnecticut |
DelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIllinoisIndianaLouisianaMassachusettsMarylandMichiganMinnesota |
MissouriNorth CarolinaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkOhio |
OregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandTennesseeTexasVirginiaWashingtonWashington DCWisconsinWest Virginia |
|
Please be civil. We reserve the right to edit or delete any comments.
Reader Comments:
My children and I saw you at the Westfield Air Show on Saturday the 21st of August 2010. They thought Aexeous was great. My daughter was picked to command Aexeous and was excited to do so. Great fun! Thanks for showing us Aexeous, and now we are going to ask our school to invite you to give the students a great learning experience. Thanks, The Desjardin Family (may the force be with you!)