Big news: today was my last day at Observable. After five and a half incredible years—first as Head of Customer Success and, for the last year and a half, as a Senior Developer—we built a fantastic data‑visualization platform (with D3, Plot, Notebooks, Framework, and, lately, Canvases), and I’m excited to see how it continues to evolve. Here are a few shots of Canvases, which was my main focus for the past nine months.
I’m joining Diligent Robotics as VP of Robot Management Systems.
We are a human-centered robotics company. Our mission is to make technical advances towards robots and humans working together side by side, with an emphasis on human-centric design. Diligent Robotics is developing a suite of artificial intelligence that enables robots to collaborate with and adapt to humans in everyday environments. Our service robots are designed to participate and work together with teams of humans. Our first product is a hospital service robot that can assist clinical staff with logistical tasks, allowing them to spend more of their time on direct patient care, improving patient satisfaction, quality of service, and safety.
A few things I’ve learned:
- Nurses often walk several miles per 10‑hour shift, much of it transporting supplies and samples (NIH study).
- There’s a significant nursing shortage, which is expected to grow, in the U.S. (AACN Fact Sheet, 2024).
- It’s demanding work, and turnover is a persistent challenge. Moxi, Diligent’s hospital service robot, takes on routine tasks so nurses can spend more time with patients.
- Nurse‑to‑patient ratios correlate with patient outcomes, including mortality (Aiken et al., JAMA 2002).
I’m excited to help evolve Moxi and get more robots into hospitals.
