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Consumer Electronics Daily News 2 9 Wednesday, January 10, 2018 No More Scooping the Litter Box with Litter-Robot An interview with David Saterstad, Director of Marketing. CEDN: What is a Litter-Robot? DS: The Litter-Robot is the solution to the litter box problem. Most can agree that dealing with the cat's dirty litter box stinks. No one likes to scoop the litter box. It's often hidden in a low traffic area of the home, which can lead to an out-of-sight, out-of-mind scenario – resulting in infrequent cleaning and unwanted protests from our feline family members. The Litter-Robot solves this prob- lem by doing the dirty work for you. It is an automatic self-cleaning litter box for cats. It detects when your cat is inside and when it's time to clean up, leaving a clean bed of litter for your cat after each use. No more scooping the litter box. All you have to do is empty the waste drawer when it indi- cated and add clean litter as needed. CEDN: Can you explain the reason for Litter-Robot's unique design? DS: There is no question that the Litter-Robot is a unique looking litter box. Its design is derived from its function – to be a comfortable space for a cat to do its business while pro- viding hands-off, automatic cleaning of the litter box after each use. CEDN: How does the Litter-Robot work? DS: The Litter-Robot uses a sensor to detect when a cat enters and exits the unit. Once the cat exits, a timer counts down, allowing litter to clump before a clean cycle begins. The clean cycle begins when the globe starts to slowly rotate. Our patented sifting process separates the clumps from the clean lit- ter through rotation and a clever use of gravity. The clumps are then deposited into a carbon-fil- tered waste drawer for odor manage- ment and easy dis- posal. CEDN: Do you have to buy special Litter-Robot prod- ucts for ongoing use? DS: No, absolutely not. The Litter- Robot was designed to be free of pro- prietary consumable products. We do sell premium clay clumping litter and biodegradable liners for the waste drawer, but our customers can simply use 13-gallon kitchen bags and a clumping litter of their choice. CEDN: Does Litter-Robot have any- thing new for 2018? DS: Yes, we do. We recently launched our Connect app. The Connect app gives you additional free- dom from your litter box duties by allow- ing you to monitor and control a single Litter-Robot or multi- ple units from wher- ever you are. You can use the app to navi- gate through features like remote control, notification history and troubleshooting. A Stats feature displays useful insights into your cat's bathroom activity that may be used to indicate abnormal behavior. The most prominent feature is the Waste Level gauge that graphi- cally displays the waste level in the Litter-Robot and will alert you via push notification when it's time to empty the unit. For more information, visit www.litter- robot.com or go to the Smart Home section at Tech East, booth #42935 in Halls A-D at the Sands. Amazing Clarity & Superb Sound through KAI Technology's KAI-X KAI Technology, Inc., located in Los Angeles, California, was founded in February 2016. The company focuses on enhancing listeners experience with its VR audio music enhancer VR audio device called m.e.™ (m.e.), which is capable of permanently changing musi- cal perceptions by adding depth, dimen- sion and definition to sounds. Chief Executive Officer John Kasha says KAI Technology is at CES first and foremost to create awareness for the company's technology and its product, m.e. He adds, "We are a startup looking for partners to help get our technology out into the world. We created a technol- ogy that will make any audio sound uncompressed and live." The m.e. was engineered to hear every sound, instrument and note with unmatched clarity. Its durable design eas- ily handles both stage and performance. When a device is plugged into the m.e., users are immediately transported to the front row of a live concert. The sound delivers outstanding VR and 3D audio to all listening devices, smartphones, head- phones, TV, gaming systems, cars and more. All that and it's smaller than a matchbook! While at CES, the company is launching new facets of the product by adding HDMI and optical interfaces so that the m.e. experience can be enjoyed with Hi-Fi systems, sound bars and TVs. "We are in the business of developing and delivering quality audio," explains Kasha, "KAI-X is our latest release. It is designed to deliver 'virtual reality audio.' This is the best description we can give to the experience of listening to any sound after its signal passes through our tech- nology. Regardless of whether the listener is hearing vocals, instru- ments or the spoken word, KAI-X delivers sound with unmatched clarity." Although the company's main customers are consumers of audio products, everyone will enjoy the enhanced audio experience with KAI Technology's products. Kasha states, "the m.e. was partic- ularly designed for musicians. Musicians are stuck with monitors shared with other musicians, so to compensate, they increase the vol- ume of amps, and the performance can go downhill. To solve this problem, personal sound monitors may be used. These systems do allow musicians to hear and isolate instruments and vocals, however, expensive earbuds are required to recreate what they previously heard with monitors and/or amps. In most cases, what musicians then hear is 'audio in a box,' sound compressed and without 'life.' Adding our m.e. to these in-ears systems ampli- fy, expand and excite the audio, which allows a musi- cian to perform even better. That it can do this for a musi- cian on-stage means that the quality is extraordinary for an individual simply listening on a device. The m.e. allows a lis- tener to hear as if it is live." Furthermore, KAI Technology's m.e. enhances any type of audio, regardless of whether the listener is using headphones, earbuds, computer sound systems, game systems, car stereos, sound bars or tele- vision. With this technology, listeners are able to "be there" even when they are home. For more information stop by booth #51668, Sands, Hall G, check out www.getmeaudio.com or call 818.739.1160. Meet Mike Watts, Founder of Three Multi-Million Dollar Startups An interview with Mike Watts, Founder, LoveHandle. CEDN: Tell our readers about how you started as an entrepreneur and what keeps you going. MW: About 17 years ago, my wife and I set a simple goal to be a family with income that allowed her the flexibility to stay home and invest in our children. We decided to start using the weekends to sell goods at consumer shows, and so began our journey into the field of entrepreneurship. Today we look at our three amazing children and our inde- pendent lifestyle as proof that this goal was worth every sacrifice and risk we took along the way. CEDN: What was your first big product? MW: We spent the first few years trying a wide variety of products to sell, includ- ing garden decorations, moisture-absorb- ing polymers for watering plants, wood- en crafts from Vietnam, ornamental plants and decorative gifts. The problem was that we were just resellers and con- stantly faced new competitors with the exact same product. Then one day I met the inventor of a product we later named the PivoTrim, a universal trimmer head for cutting and edging grass. The unique feature of this product was preventing broken trimmer lines, which frustrated weekend warriors who cut their own grass can attest to. We licensed the patents and began the process to bring the PivoTrim to the market, and just four years later, it led total sales in the entire product category. CEDN: What happened to that product? MW: You can still buy the PivoTrim at Home Depot, Walmart and Lowes today, but we sold the company a few years ago to our largest distributor. CEDN: What are you working on these days? MW: Our latest and most exciting startup to date is the LoveHandle smartphone grip. In 2014, we partnered with the inventor of this amazingly useful and simple product with the same goal of making it the No. 1 selling product in its category and making it in the USA. This company is growing faster than any pre- vious startup and we have been able to hire over 20 full-time employees and have seen a huge response in the promotional products category and at retail for this ultra-useful product line. CEDN: What's next and where can people learn more about you? MW: I am focusing on investing in tomor- row's generation of entrepreneurs by building a practical curriculum for aspir- ing youth to make their own dreams come true. I have partnered with Daymond John of SharkTank on this effort and am excited to launch a book and speaking tour soon. People can follow me at @mike100watts on Instagram or reach out through www.lovehandle.com. For more information, visit www .lovehandle.com or email sales@ lovehandle.com.