Harout Markarian | Founder, MARKBOTIX | Empowering Independence with Assistive Robotics & His Passion for Helping People

Harout Markarian, founder and CEO of MARKBOTIX, shares his journey from Lebanon to the US, transitioning from a professional basketball player to a skilled roboticist. He discusses his educational background in mechanical engineering, robotics, and business, leading to the creation of MARKBOTIX. The company develops GRACE, an assistive robot for the elderly and disabled, aiming to reduce falls and improve quality of life. Harout's passion for engineering and helping people drives his mission to enhance independent living and accessibility.

Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haroutmarkarian/ | https://www.markbotix.com/

Charity supported: Save the Children

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at podcast@velentium.com.

PRODUCTION CREDITS Host: Lindsey Dinneen Editing: Marketing Wise Producer: Velentium

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Episode 039 - Harout Markarian

[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

[00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

[00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

[00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I am so excited to introduce to you as my guest today, Harout Markarian. Harout is the founder and CEO of MARKBOTIX, an innovative assistive robotics startup focused on transforming care for the elderly and individuals with disabilities.

Harout, a skilled roboticist with multiple patents, holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, a master's in robotics, and an MBA. His professional path has been marked by significant leadership roles in engineering at top firms, including the Boeing company, where he designed the air refueling flight controls algorithm for the Boeing C 17.

At MARKBOTIX, Harout's team is developing GRACE, Ground Robotic Assistant for Care Enablement, robot designed to reduce risks of falls, hospital readmission rates, and caregiver burnout, while providing support for everyday tasks. Under his leadership, MARKBOTIX has garnered significant interest, including over a hundred letters of intent from various facilities and is currently involved in beta testing with organizations like the VA Hospital.

Harout is also a published author and speaker, advocating for the right use of robotics to improve independent living and accessibility through his book, "Mobility and Inclusion." His work extends beyond business as he actively contributes to the community, particularly through support for organizations aiding the elderly and individuals with mobility challenges.

All right. Well, welcome Harout. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited to talk with you.

[00:02:23] Harout Markarian: Likewise.

[00:02:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. Well, I wondered if you wouldn't mind starting off by just telling us a little bit about who you are and a little bit about your background and maybe how you got into medtech.

[00:02:36] Harout Markarian: Sure. So I, I am an immigrant from Lebanon, a former professional basketball player, danced ballet for a little bit, and at one point ,my parents decided to immigrate to the United States. Needless to say that my academic career was a tremendously suffering when I was busy with the basketballs and the ballet dances of the world. So, so when they decided to immigrate to the United States. States. I was strongly against it, but deep down I knew that my parents always did things for the benefit of me and my sister. So, unwillingly I followed them. I came to the United States in 2008. I was 23, about to be 24 years old.

And at that time, basically everything that I knew disappeared from my life. Everything that was normal to me disappeared. So I had to do something. I had no money. My parents didn't come with money. So I had to support, I had to help, so I worked full time as a waiter and I was also going to school full time to continue my undergrad in mechanical engineering. Mind you that I already completed three years of engineering back in Lebanon. When I got here, they said, "Oh the institution that you attended is not accredited." And my luck, I guess the institution got accredited a year after I left.

[00:04:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, no.

[00:04:05] Harout Markarian: But it was a blessing in disguise. As I said, I wasn't the best student at the time. So the grades were reflective of that too. So, now that everything is no, no more distractions were in my life, I focused on my studies, finished three years of undergrad in mechanical engineering in a year and a half. My GPA went from 1. 8 to 3. 5 by the time I graduated. And during my final year when I was developing the senior design with my team, I experienced a tremendous shift in my life because I was part of this project where we built a six foot tall, fully autonomous robot. And we won the first place internationally in the autonomous unmanned system vehicle international competition.

And that was a really a shift in my career in the way I viewed engineering, I viewed education, because up until that point, it was just to satisfy my parents. I'm like, "Here you go. This is the paper you wanted. Get off my back." But ,but right after that, it was like, okay, I want to know more about this robotics world because I really enjoyed it and I'm very curious individual. So robotics has different disciplines, sub disciplines I should say. So there's a mechanical design team, there's the cognition vision team, there's the electrical team, there's a navigation team. So, and I wanted to learn it all and I got involved with everything. And I really enjoyed it.

So I ended up pursuing my master's immediately right after I graduated my bachelor's degree. I pursued my master's in robotics, and I was the only one in my cohort or not just cohort, in that year, that opted out of the, the comprehensive exam and wanted to do a thesis dissertation. Because I really enjoyed it. For me, theory alone doesn't mean anything. I need to see it in application. And that's kind of how I pursued it. I was able to build a stair climbing wheelchair. And that's a scale prototype of a stair climbing wheelchair that I presented it to my thesis committee and I learned a lot. I learned a lot and I graduated, but mind you at this time, I'm already working, I'm five years into my, my career in aerospace and defense. So things are going well. Really nothing medtech or healthcare related in my life yet. Except for that stair climbing wheelchair.

And, and the reason for that is because I had the opportunity to work with a severely paralyzed person on brain computer interface technology that allowed him to propel his wheelchair through his thoughts. And when I got signed up to this project, I said, "Oh, moving things with your thoughts. That's cool. Let's do it." So, but I was approaching it like so mindlessly, if you will, because I didn't understand the impact that could have on individuals, especially individuals with disabilities, individual with limited mobility and elderly and everything in between.

So while we were testing this technology with this individual, it required some training, basically. It's like an electrode that attaches to your skull. So it's a helmet that you wear. And as you think thoughts, it transfers to electrical signals that moves, that propels the wheelchair, moves the motors, right? A very simplistic way of explanation, of course. And, I was trying to test it by myself. So wearing the helmet, trying to move this wheelchair one way or the other. And it was very difficult because it's not second nature to me. I don't, I'm not a wheelchair user. So I, that's not a thing in my mind, but for this individual who was a paraplegic, it was, that was his legs basically. So for him, it was very second nature, right? So, and he got on there and I put the helmet on, set up everything for him and he was driving his wheelchair like I drive my car. That, that, that's how second nature it was for him. And for a moment there, I felt like I was the one with the disability. I couldn't even move a freaking wheelchair with my, so that was a big lesson for me in terms of understanding how limited we can be in, in different aspects of our lives, right?

So, at that point I was, that was the first time I realized when I saw how independence and accessibility, what it meant to that individual. That was the first time in my life I said that I want to start a robotics company to help people become more independent. So, so to, to make their environment more accessible for them and to o for the elderly, to have them age with dignity. And that was the purpose. But nothing happened. I just continued with my life, with my job in the aerospace and defense industry.

And then sometime later I decided, okay, I think I have a decent background in the technical side of things. I don't know much about business. Let's go get an MBA. So, so, so I went back to school. I did MBA at Pepperdine University. And I loved it because Pepperdine, at least the cohort that I was in and the teacher that I had, everybody was industry professionals and had their PhDs in their respective fields. So it wasn't, I wasn't just learning theory. I was learning how to apply that theory to real world problems. And that's how I learned that. That's where I thrive, right. And once, once I graduated with my my master's degree from Pepperdine, I, next day I went and incorporated the company. Literally the next day I went there and I was like, "Okay, I'm going to incorporate the company." And that's how MARKBOTIX was born.

I'm not a hundred percent medtech. I'm approaching medtech from a different angle, if you will. But part of that, when I incorporated the company, I didn't really know what products or service I was really gonna offer. I knew who I wanted to serve, who were the people with disabilities, elderly, people in home cares, assisted living facilities. But I didn't know how to best serve them and with what. So I took a year and a half of going around and talking to people, basically doing customer discovery.

And part of that customer discovery session, I stumbled upon the Ground Robotic Assistant for Care Enablement, which we call GRACE now. And all that robot does it initially, at least all that it did, was to pick items up, retrieve items for individuals so they don't risk a fall and then now they're in back in hospital or they injured something. And we're talking about fragile people, right? So when they injure something, the repercussions from it is really could, it could be hefty basically. And as I kept on talking to people, I built this prototype that retrieves items initially, and I tested it with over 300 people, and the more I tested it, the more apparent the need was. People were actually helping me feature up. So, we started with item retrieval, it went to real time video and audio interaction, remote operability, and other stuff that were included in the robot that right now is in development mode.

And that's brings me to today where we're raising our first round of funding to bring this to life. We have a bunch of letters of intents from assisted living facilities and somewhere along the way that the DOD got interested in it. We got in contact with the Veterans Hospital. So everybody seems very interested in working with us. So we're, so today we're raising our first round of funding to bring this to life.

[00:11:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my goodness. That's incredible. Well, there's so much to your story. I'm so excited to dive in deeper. But first of all, congratulations on your company and its success and the interest, and I'm so excited because I know you're going to be helping so many people and there's such a need for it. So kudos.

[00:12:18] Harout Markarian: That's the goal. Yep. Thank you.

[00:12:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, okay. So your story is so interesting and it has so many different twists and turns. And I'm kind of curious, especially knowing, you started off with basketball and ballet and you did your academics of course, but maybe that wasn't quite the focus, could eight year old you have ever pictured you now doing what you're doing?

[00:12:44] Harout Markarian: No. So two things. So I knew I wanted to be an engineer, even though I didn't know what that meant at that time. Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to be an engineer, but I can confidently tell you that I didn't know what that meant. I just, my dad was a mechanic body shop person. He was an entrepreneur. He has his own place. So I thought that was, that's what I was going to be doing if I studied engineering. So that was stupid I was. The other thing is that, no, I mean, my dad was also a professional basketball player.

[00:13:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay.

[00:13:15] Harout Markarian: So, so having those two in mind, eight year old me would never picture me being here today, let alone leaving the country, right?

[00:13:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So, do you still do anything with either basketball or ballet or has?

[00:13:29] Harout Markarian: No, I don't actually want. So once I left both ballet or dancing in general and basketball, I just completely abandoned it.

[00:13:40] Lindsey Dinneen: Ah, okay. Fair enough. Do you miss it?

[00:13:43] Harout Markarian: No, I don't, because I mean, it was good while I did it and I did it for a long period, I mean, relatively long period of time. So I did dancing for about 10, 12 years. And basketball, I did it from 16 when I went to professional to 23 years, 23 years old. I mean, relatively short career. But for me, my biggest passion was basketball. Just seeing my dad play, and then me being in that world. It was the biggest passion, and when it was taken away from me, or however you want to look at it, or I gave it up. I didn't give it up. I didn't want to give it up. Even long after it was over, I didn't want to accept that was not part of my life anymore. I was passionless for a while. So, finding that robotics world where I'm interested in something again, was a big shift for me.

[00:14:36] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. That's a really big deal. And that is hard, but I feel like it speaks a lot also to your resilience and your willingness to, to change and to pivot, as much as that word is overused. But you know, the thing is you have such a growth mindset, clearly. I mean, you're such a lifelong learner, you've gone and done the things that you wanted to do, but those aren't easy things that you've decided to do and you've had such a robust career so far. I mean, I love the fact that I think you're such a great testament to the ability to keep learning and keep enhancing your skillsets and keep going even when it is frustrating or you feel like you've lost this crucial part of you, but you still are able to keep going and do something amazing with your life. I think that's...

[00:15:24] Harout Markarian: Absolutely.

[00:15:25] Lindsey Dinneen: ...courage.

[00:15:26] Harout Markarian: I mean, I mean, you have to do that because the only constant in your life is change. So you either adapt or you just fall behind and become miserable. And everything bad that goes, that follows that, right? So, if you don't change, time is moving forward, so you're just falling behind.

[00:15:43] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You started off in your career working for others and you had a amazing experiences, it sounds like, with very well known companies and brands, and then you switched to starting your own business and I know you got your MBA and I'm sure that helps you feel more prepared, but I do feel like there's often this-- once you actually do it, how much you have to learn on the job, so to speak. So I would love if you wouldn't mind speaking about your entrepreneurial journey and how that has changed and grown over time.

[00:16:15] Harout Markarian: Yeah, so, so I'll tell you that college education doesn't mean that you're going to be able to thrive in the business world, right? Whether it's a technical side of thing or the business side of things. Unless you dive in there and do it yourself, you're just going to be dumber than a bag of rocks. So, I'm sorry for the expression, but that's that's how it is. Basically what engineering taught me is how to figure things out. They didn't teach me to find a job and hit the road running with that job, right. So everywhere I went, every company I worked for, I had to restart from scratch, go into my baggage of tools that college education gave me and depending on these knowledges, just figure out how to do my current job today and how to learn more. Because what you learn in school is just a baseline thing. It's just nothing really.

And nowadays you can learn anything and everything online. I would even argue that nowadays, unless you're a doctor or an engineer a lawyer, maybe you don't really have to go to school. Everything else can be learned online. And there's a lot of resources today that back 10, 15 years ago, we didn't have. So on the job learning is the most real thing anyone can ever think of. Pepperdine came really close because I did my actual business plan to the company that I'm building today, I did it at Pepperdine. So it was a benefit for me because I studied, I got my education at the same time I worked on my business, so that's why I liked it a lot. But don't think that you're going to go to college and you're going to take a job.

And all employers know, by the way, all employers know that they're going to teach you a lot when they hire you, they're just hiring you based on, I don't know, your enthusiasm, the willingness to learn, willingness to be adaptable, your demeanor, your behavior. That's what they're hiring. And I'm a Director of Engineering right now at different companies. So I hire people all the time. So that I don't hire them. I don't expect them to know things. I expect them to know basic things, but I don't expect them to hit the ground running regardless of where they are in their career.

[00:18:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Sure. So when you stepped into this, this entrepreneurial journey, and you're the owner of a company, you are the leader of this vision-- did you find that to be a relatively easy transition because of the past experiences that you'd had? Or was that element of stepping into this high leadership role, was that, yeah, difficult in any way?

[00:18:56] Harout Markarian: In different things that I tried in my life, I felt like I was always adaptable. I was always willing to learn. And I never quit. I failed a lot, but I never quit. Right? So I feel like that definitely contributed to, to how I'm managing myself in this role. Is it easy? It's not easy at all. It's difficult. Whoever tells you starting a company, building a company is easy, it's out of their mind, especially in the beginning stages. Because having other people get on board and see your vision, it's the toughest challenge a founder can embark on. So if you overcome that, then you definitely have what it takes to lead a company.

[00:19:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. And so are there any moments that stand out to you as you've started this company or even prior to that, where it just kind of confirmed to you, "Yes, I am in the right industry, at the right time for a purpose." Was there like a moment that you thought, "Wow, this is why I'm here."

[00:20:05] Harout Markarian: Well, first and foremost, I pray to God every day. I asked God for his guidance. If it's not part of his plans, please give me a sign. So I just go do something else, right? And till now he didn't give me any sign to abandoning it, but or I'm that, I'm just that's too but that i'm not realizing it but no, that's that's my first go to right? I always embark on my day, on my journey, by asking God to guide me through it. Having said that, the countless numbers of interviews and research that I've done-- and this, mind you, this is not leveraged research-- this is me talking to people one on one. So over 1000 interviews over the past year and a half, or almost two years talking to people, it was reassuring to me that, okay, this is needed and I'm going to be helping a lot of people.

And that's really what kept me on this journey. Just now I feel responsible for all the people I talked to. I have a responsibility to see this through. If I focus on the competitors, the market, the investment, the investor, then I would give up long time ago. Then that's not the right way because the market, the investor, the Investment, they didn't do the work I did in terms of talking to the end user and how it's going to benefit them. So they don't really know that, they don't understand that. So it's my job to, we talked about vision, it's my job to clarify the vision to the investor, in this case. So it sees that how many people is going to benefit from this. So that was the reassuring factor. Conducting that customer discovery was so important. Because that sets the expectations for myself and everyone I talk to.

[00:21:58] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. I think it's helpful, so helpful to have those moments, something to hold on to when it does get hard because it's inevitably going to get hard and frustrating and discouraging at times. So being able to go, "Oh, wow. But I know this is impacting people. And if I don't do it, will anybody else?" That's, but that's powerful to motivate you.

[00:22:22] Harout Markarian: Yeah, and I mean, I want more people to do what I'm doing because the market supports it, right? Just, we're talking right now, a little left brain, right? Logic. The market supports it, there's gonna be more people older people. The elderly population is increasing, is going to get bigger. So there should be more companies like mine addressing the same need because one or two or three companies are not going to be able to close the gap.

[00:22:50] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. So what are you most looking forward to both perhaps personally and then professionally with your business? What is on the horizon that you're excited about?

[00:23:02] Harout Markarian: Personally, I just want to enjoy my family, enjoy my wife, my kids, my parents before they're gone, because of everyone, everyone's going to leave at one point. So I would love to have some quality time with my parents, with my kids, with my wife. That's on the personal side. That's what's really meaningful to me.

On the business side, I just want to add value to people. Hopefully this will be the vehicle, how I'd be able to do that. And as I said, I feel like I have the responsibility right now to see this through just because of all the conversations that I've had with people with different disabilities, with different challenges that this technology could help them overcome that.

[00:23:45] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. And it's exciting. You're in a really exciting growth phase too. So there's a lot to, a lot to be joyful about, I suppose.

[00:23:54] Harout Markarian: Yeah.

[00:23:55] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's amazing. Well, pivoting the conversation just for fun, imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want. It could be in your industry, but it doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach and why?

[00:24:12] Harout Markarian: For them to be connected with God more because I feel like, and I don't know if I'm the right person to teach that, right? But because everything else doesn't matter. Everything else is temporary. I think the divine is, is the only thing that is not temporary. Your spirit, your soul is the only thing that is not temporary. Your challenges, your difficulties, your tough times, your good times, your money, your lack of money, all of that is temporary. What's not temporary is your soul and spirit and what happens to it afterwards. So, a lot of people today are behind social media and the fakeness of the world. And that's what I want to separate myself from, and see if I had the opportunity, I would just teach people to be more authentic and more connected to God.

[00:24:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. And then how do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world?

[00:25:05] Harout Markarian: I don't know if I want to be remembered, but if I do good to people, if I serve people in this world, in my time here hopefully I'll I please my God. And that's what's important to me, because pleasing God is serving others. So that's what it means to me. If I do that, then hopefully I'm pleasing God and helping people in the way. That's my thing.

I don't know what being remembered means really who's remembering me, right? That's the question that I always ask and I wasn't always I didn't always think this way. I didn't always think this way. I always said to myself, okay, I want to be remembered like this great athlete, for example, right, when I played basketball. Or I want to be remembered like the person who founded the biggest assisted robotics company in the world. All that doesn't mean anything, because all that is material stuff, in my humble opinion. And I'm not saying I'm right, right? This is how I think. As, as long as I'm serving others, I'm helping others, hopefully doing it in a gracious way, that's what I'm looking for.

[00:26:04] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that's incredible and that's, I frankly wish that more people felt that way. So I think that's a, I

[00:26:15] Harout Markarian: Well, I, it's a hard thing to do and I'm not saying I'm doing it perfectly. Sometimes we have a lot of distractions. That's not the norm So if we follow what's around us, then we're not going to think that way and I struggle with it too. So I constantly strive to keep myself true to what I just said right now.

[00:26:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yep. There you go. And then, final question, what is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it?

[00:26:42] Harout Markarian: Oh, my kids. My son is five, my daughter is two ,and they're hilarious, even when they're a pain in my ass, so. So, sometimes the things they say is, and then, I like to also I'm a light guy. I like to think that I'm a light guy, so everything is a joke to me. I don't take a lot of things seriously. So I'm always giving people hard time kind of in a humorous way. So I like to pick on my wife, pick on my sisters. So these kinds of things make me smile. Sometimes it's stupid. Sometimes it's makes others smile to you, but it's just light stuff. I just enjoy my life, enjoy the time I have with the people I love the most.

[00:27:20] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. That's fantastic. Yeah, well, first of all, again, thank you so much for sharing your story and your insights. And, it's so interesting to me how you have had such resilience and a growth mindset and now discovered this sense of humor as well. I mean, I'm sure that helped exponentially as you had to go through so many different iterations or stages or seasons, whatever you want to call it of your life. And some of them sounds quite difficult. So I just want to say thank you for sharing that story and thank you for talking about it and giving inspiration and hope to somebody else who might also be in maybe a transition period or something like that, where it might be a little harder. So I, anyway, just... thank you.

[00:28:05] Harout Markarian: And I, I don't downplay the challenges, right? Of course I recognize them, but I just choose to take it lightly because as I said, nothing is permanent. Everything is temporary, so don't think too much about it. Just, pray and move along.

[00:28:23] Lindsey Dinneen: That should be on a t shirt that you sell or something.

[00:28:26] Harout Markarian: Yeah, that's a good idea. I might I'm that might be merchandise. I'll say I sell on MARKBOTIX's website.

[00:28:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Please do. That's amazing. I love it. Oh my gosh. That's so fun. Well, this has been such a great conversation. I've enjoyed it so much and I'm very appreciative of you spending some time with me today and talking, and we are so honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today. And that is to Save the Children, which works to end the cycle of poverty by ensuring communities have the resources to provide children with a healthy, educational, and safe environment. So thank you for choosing that charity to support, and we just wish you continued success as you work to change lives for a better world.

[00:29:11] Harout Markarian: Thank you so much. And thank you for your time as well, Lindsey.

[00:29:14] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. And thank you also to our listeners for tuning in. And if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I would love if you would share this episode with a colleague or two, and we will catch you next time.

[00:29:25] Ben Trombold: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium. Velentium is a full-service CDMO with 100% in-house capability to design, develop, and manufacture medical devices from class two wearables to class three active implantable medical devices. Velentium specializes in active implantables, leads, programmers, and accessories across a wide range of indications, such as neuromodulation, deep brain stimulation, cardiac management, and diabetes management. Velentium's core competencies include electrical, firmware, and mechanical design, mobile apps, embedded cybersecurity, human factors and usability, automated test systems, systems engineering, and contract manufacturing. Velentium works with clients worldwide, from startups seeking funding to established Fortune 100 companies. Visit velentium.com to explore your next step in medical device development.