Eric Litman, the visionary behind Aescape, is pioneering the combination of AI and robotics into wellness to ship customized, high-quality therapeutic massage experiences. He based Aescape in 2017 with a management staff that features consultants from Amazon, Uber, and Meta, aiming to revolutionize self-care by way of AI-driven robotics. In spring 2024, Aescape launched its first absolutely automated, customizable therapeutic massage expertise, just lately rolling out at 10 Equinox places in New York Metropolis and the ila Solely Spa at Lotte New York Palace. The corporate additionally made its Miami debut and first set up outdoors of New York on the Privai Spa at Kimpton Epic Lodge. Supported by $80 million in funding, Aescape addresses gaps out there by leveraging cutting-edge AI and human insights to supply wellness options tailor-made to particular person wants.
Requested in regards to the driving pressure behind designing a therapeutic massage robotic, Mr. Litman mentioned, I’ve been constructing tech corporations for so long as I’ve been employed. Aescape is in some ways the fruits of my experiences through the years and the illustration of my greatest passions in life, that are my very own private wellness and well being journey and in bringing know-how and data-backed options to the development of our wellbeing.
We spoke with Eric Litman about his journey, Aescape’s mission, and the challenges robots will help resolve within the hospitality and wellness industries.
Can we discuss extra about the place the concept for Aescape got here from?
Sure. I’ve been computing since I used to be very younger, and together with which were implementing all of the frequent practices of hunching over with poor posture and poor physique place, whereas additionally being very athletic. Plus, I’ve additionally spent numerous time on airplanes. The mixture of these issues actually put a toll on my backbone and I spent eight months of my life needing a therapeutic massage day by day to handle the very particular drawback of a bulging disc. I obtained massages in each nation and each location you’ll be able to think about, and it usually didn’t resolve the issue. That is how I discovered in regards to the challenges of discovering prime quality folks to ship nice massages, and it appeared like there was a possibility to usher in an alternate answer that might let folks like me, with a really particular want, get what they need.
It’s a really totally different product from a therapeutic massage therapist and we’re deliberately not making an attempt to duplicate a therapeutic massage therapist. The 2 will dwell aspect by aspect and do various things for the world. We’re right here for the people who need to self direct their care and who’re in search of specificity and consistency irrespective of the place they go. There’s by no means any guesswork.
Can we go a bit additional into the challenges this know-how addresses for the trade?
Curiously, should you have a look at the annual ISPA PWC report, they are saying that about one in 5 US adults obtained a therapeutic massage within the final 12 months. Our analysis has proven there’s about one other one in 5 who say they’d get common massages if it wasn’t from an individual, due to points like physique sanctity, physique dysmorphia, and nervousness with strangers of the identical or reverse gender. We see that right here on a regular basis. We’ve got folks are available in for Aescape massages which have by no means had a therapeutic massage with an individual earlier than, by no means needed one, and so they find it irresistible and are available again as repeat members.
There are clearly advantages to working with a therapeutic massage therapist, however there usually are not sufficient folks to satisfy demand, and what occurs is the people who find themselves notably good on the job really feel the squeeze as a result of they find yourself choosing up additional shifts when there aren’t sufficient LMTs accessible. Our product creates a baseline degree of availability that offers the therapists extra predictability to their schedule. Plus, we imagine over time this can in the end elevate the financial worth for the therapist. We predict therapists will be capable of cost extra as a result of there’ll be a premium on prime quality service from a human therapeutic massage therapist. We consider ourselves as a labor augmentation.
What are some extra advantages?
The robotic permits an operator to rethink a lot of their service design selections and create new income alternatives. You possibly can provide a therapeutic massage at 5 o’clock within the morning when somebody will get up early, or at 11 o’clock at evening. Let’s say a traveler is available in from a protracted set of flights and their room isn’t prepared. You could possibly give them a drink on the bar, or you would give them a therapeutic massage when you’re getting the room prepared. And since it’s a clothed therapeutic massage, you don’t essentially have to put it right into a spa. You possibly can put it in an open space, perhaps with a display across the mattress for some light-weight privateness. Or perhaps you flip over one of many rooms, put our desk in there, and now can provide wellness facilities. Your entrance desk workers might be those to information folks to the desk and hand them a set of garments. You require little or no operation to associate with it.
We’re additionally right here to assist with driving utilization. We’re not simply dropping off a product. We ship a service. We assist to drive demand and to easy the demand curve all through the day. We actually companion with the locations and places the place we deploy these tables.
There are different corporations which have created therapeutic massage robots or related merchandise. Why do you suppose we haven’t heard extra from them? What makes Aescape totally different?
That is extremely complicated. It’s not a troublesome concept to conceive of, notably should you’ve lived in or recognized the trade and know in regards to the labor scarcity. However it’s very straightforward to vastly underestimate the complexity of constructing one thing that may perform safely and autonomously round all of the totally different physique shapes and types and all of the human behaviors. It’s actually onerous.
So, whereas we positively would say that we’re one of many extra superior robotics corporations on the planet, that’s not the purpose. The purpose is that we create nice experiences. We predict by way of all the small print from the start to the tip of the journey to make sure that everybody that encounters this seems like their wants have been met. And there’s simply a lot to that.
We’ve got a buyer satisfaction price above 90%. Our peak consumer price continues to develop even with restricted availability as a result of the tables are inclined to all be booked out. The market is telling us that we’ve carried out fairly effectively. Now, from our perspective, we expect we’re solely in the beginning and we all know how rather more we are able to do, however market suggestions says we’re on a superb observe.
How does it work?
It’s very easy. You e-book the expertise by way of an app, such as you would e-book a restaurant or automotive service. You come into the room, you placed on actually cool garments that make it so that you simply don’t must have lotion or oil. You’re not showering afterwards, you’re not nude in entrance of a stranger or in an odd setting. You lay on the desk. We’ve got sensors that scan you into the system, make a mannequin of your physique, and use that to hyper personalize a therapeutic massage. Then, as you lay on the desk, there’s an enormous stunning contact display displaying your physique in 3D, and you may make desired adjustments. You’re knowledgeable always of what’s taking place and what will occur subsequent, so that you’re by no means questioning if it’s going to get to your glutes or hamstrings. That’s all laid out for you in entrance of you.
And it remembers you. So, irrespective of which location you return to, whether or not you’re at an Equinox, the Palace Lodge, or some other location into which we’ve been deployed, you have got an expertise that’s tailor-made to you.
Please discuss a few of these places – the place are you and the place are you going to be?
We’re in Equinox and ila Solely Spa at The Palace Lodge. We’re additionally in Previ Spa on the Kimpton EPIC in Miami. At present we’re rolling out two to a few new places each week and also will be asserting partnerships with skilled sports activities groups, company workplaces, and extra lodges. There’s fairly a little bit of distribution developing.
And are you enthusiastic about some other know-how within the wellness or hospitality panorama proper now?
I like what persons are doing with what I consider because the mitochondrial journey. So you have got warmth and chilly and light-weight remedy, all driving mitochondrial advantages. These are tremendous fascinating and there’s a ton of analysis behind it. I like seeing extra know-how being built-in into health tools the place you can begin to quantify the work that you simply’re doing all through your health journey and entry metrics to drive you and provide the insights you might want to set actual objectives and actual targets different than simply displaying up in a health club day by day. There’s so many thrilling issues taking place on the market.
For a lot of time we’ve relied upon custom and anecdote to drive how we take into consideration our well being and what works effectively for our well being. And we’re now at a time limit the place we’ve a greater understanding of why sure issues impression us the best way they do, which permits us to recraft options from the target perspective. I feel we’re simply on the very starting of that.