Dan and Dave Pasley,  the founders of Kansas Robotics Supply Inc, are brothers and third generation makers and engineers. Their grandfather was an engineer for the USAF, and also for NASA during the Apollo Project; their father was an electrical engineer by trade who frequently built electronics at home, such as voice synthesizers and computers (when they were not yet a common household item), and he also maintained a large collection of scale RC airplanes driven by gas motors and  controlled with electric servos. Their father also did lots of research on hydrogen fuel cells, and liked to toy with robotics and other technologies.

Dan excelled at math and science subjects in public school, but he also displayed an unmatched talent for visual art, eventually going into a commercial art career specializing in branding, publishing, ink separation, and vectored commercial designs for mass production. He earned a degree in mechanical and architectural drafting as well. Dan easily established himself as a dominant force in design, gathering a long client list full of local and national businesses and organizations, and even teaching college classes on Photoshop and other topics. Not the type to be a one-trick pony, Dan also gained in-depth knowledge of automotive work as an enthusiast and as a side job, dabbled with 3D printers, nitro/LiPo RC cars, rockets, helicopters and other types of drones, as well as a number of other technical interests for hobbies.  

Visit Dan's Professional Site 

Dave also had a foray in professional art, running a recording studio for over a decade, still continuing to serve choice clients worldwide with mix-mastering services today. His career goals took a sharp turn after he went to college for his electrical engineering degree, intending to learn how to build and repair audio equipment. While in undergrad, he came across some information about a minor in robotics and decided to give it a try; He ended up veering head first into a career working on intelligent systems, accepting his first job offer as a civilian with the Department of Defense months before he graduated. Dave now holds a Master's degree from a Tier 1 research institute, with a focus on controls theory, sensor fusion, and robotics, He has worked on dozens of robotic projects wearing multiple hats within government, academia, and industry as well. 

David James on LinkedIn 

The infusion of art and engineering talent, holistic attention to both design and functionality, is a quality both the founders possess which makes them exactly the type of people to make a company like KRS thrive and succeed.  The company is still in its early stages, but this is good news for those doing business with KRS because it means the processes they need specifically for their products are what will get developed first, and receive the most attention. It is also a good time to develop a relationship with KRS because the people who believe in us now are the ones who will still be a priority later. 

If you'd like to contribute as a partner, we'd love to hear from you! To learn about investment opportunities with KRS, visit our investor info page!

Now: CustomRobotParts.com

KRS has a "start small, think big" mentality when it comes to growing the business. The company currently has launched their engineering and prototyping services platform, CustomRobotParts.com, in order to provide services appropriate for their current scale. These services are self-expanding, as the machines and robots used to create prototypes can also be used to incrementally scale the products and services we can make available - essentially by scaling machines, and building new ones. The rapid-prototyping portion will also scale via project-based remote workers with a diverse range of engineering expertise, and their own rapid-prototyping capabilities. We want to give these engineers resources to grow their own labs and capabilities, while we grow our manufacturing facilities to support our clients with faster and higher quality manufacturing services.  We also partner with fabrication and manufacturing companies around the US in order to offer extra services that we could grow into, or continue to outsource if it is the best option for our clients. 

For more information, visit the website!

Next: DIYDroids.com

We don't just plan on using the robots we build - we'll be selling some of them too, and DIYDroids.com is the platform where we'll be doing that. As the name might suggest, the shop will sell parts to build robots, everything from 3D printers and other fabrication machines, but also AI-ready platforms. Many of the product lines on the site will be in-house, and many will be from clients. The key product we offer will be a fully customizable DIY platforms that maybe only require a few standard, low-cost hardware store items to complete and then can be used to develop AI using common open-source APIs. 

The hope is that we can develop DIY AI-ready service platforms that are near the price point of a regular customer, perhaps like comparing it in cost to a washer or a dryer, or a flat screen TV instead of to a home or a Mercedes. Talented people in the open-source software community are already doing amazing things working with advanced AI models. Having a simple and modular platform like ours available opens up access to groups who otherwise wouldn't have the resources, like small and low-budget software-oriented researchers and teams. 

The philosophy behind DIYDroids.com is that the biggest advances in practical AI service robots (i.e. those that might be used for in-home health care or elderly care, or even for doing routine jobs around the house that working families don't enjoy or have time for) are going to be made by the people in the open source community who create them out of necessity or inspiration... or laziness, but one man's robot that is trained to get things out of the kitchen while he sits on the couch playing video games, is another man's robot that can tell whether to get insulin or a sugary item from the kitchen when a diabetic is alone and too weak to move.

To see what products we currently have available, visit the website!