亨利•索恩曾负责编程控制笨重的机器人，以焊接通用汽车（General Motors）装配线上的别克（Buick）君威（Regals），庞蒂克（Pontiac）Grand Prixs和雪佛兰（Chevy）Cutlass Supremes的框架。距底特律6英里有一个火花四溅的汽车研发工厂，而他就曾经是它的核心智囊之一，而那里已成为底特律自动化技术的象征。

    现年53岁的索恩开始为更小的、搭载更可爱“货物”的车辆设计机器人。他是全球唯一一款自动折叠婴儿车Origami的设计领袖。由匹兹堡的4Moms公司设计的Origami拥有按钮式的折叠和展开装置，车身配备了遥控灯光、手机充电器、里程表、液晶仪表盘、轮子上的自动充电发电机和其他一些特色装置，专为某些家长量身打造。他们不介意花上800美元，购买这辆配备齐全的婴儿车。

    4Moms是机器人婴儿产品的先驱，目前市场上也没有模仿Origami婴儿车的其他产品。芝加哥的儿童用品评论网站Baby Gizmo的创始人和CEO霍莉•舒尔茨说：“在机器人婴儿产品上，他们已经完全占领了市场。”

    索恩的机器人技术帮助4Moms成功打入估值80亿美元的美国婴儿用品市场。公司2011年销售额达到近1.7亿美元，产品摆上了塔吉特（Target）、诺德斯特姆（Nordstrom）和Babies 'R Us的货架。他们的产品与明星珍妮弗•加纳、考特尼•卡戴珊和埃尔顿•约翰的孩子们一同出镜。4Moms的成功也吸引了许多新的投资者，包括波士顿的贝恩资本风险投资公司（Bain Capital Ventures）近期也对其投资了2000万美元。

    除去Origami之外，这家拥有67名员工的公司的杰作还包括：机器人驱动、模仿人类父母动作的婴儿座椅mamaRoo；能控制水温，让清洁的水持续流动的Cleanwater婴儿澡盆；还有能一步到位，打开或折叠的婴儿床Breeze。

    从汽车装配线到Babies 'R Us，这是一条漫长的路，但对于索恩来说这是情理之中的进步。他说：“这些微型机器人比起装配线上的机器人要复杂得多。”

    体积是索恩和4Moms设计中的主要瓶颈。所有的电子设备和软件都需要装进一个小球中，并巧妙地安置在Origami的座椅下面。索恩说：“如果这个球比现在的大一倍，那就没人会买了。这个产品就从了不起的杰作降格为丑陋粗劣的次品。”

    由父所创，为母所用？

    4Moms有个充满母性的名字，不过它却出自两位父亲之手——索恩有两个孩子，分别是20岁和22岁；而另一位创始人42岁的罗伯特•戴利也有10岁和6岁的孩子。2005年创建公司之后，他们俩与戴利的妻子简和她的朋友组成了焦点小组，讨论颜色、构思和其他特色，之后就有了4Moms。

    Henry Thorne once programmed hulking robots to weld the frames of Buick Regals, Pontiac Grand Prixs, and Chevy Cutlass Supremes on a General Motors (GM) assembly line. He was one of the key brains behind a six-mile, spark-throwing spectacle that became a symbol of Detroit automation.

    Today, Thorne, 53, designs robots for much smaller vehicles that carry much cuter cargo. He's the engineering brains behind the Origami, the world's only power-folding stroller.

    Created by the Pittsburgh-based firm 4Moms, the Origami has a push-button folding and unfolding mechanism, remote-control lights, a cell phone charger, a speedometer, an LCD dashboard, self-charging generators in its wheels, and other features for parents who don't mind dropping a cool $800 on a fully loaded model.

    4Moms is a pioneer when it comes to robotic baby products, with no imitations of the Origami stroller currently out on the market. "They own the market when it comes to robotics in baby gear," says Hollie Schultz, founder and CEO of Baby Gizmo, a Chicago-based baby products review site.

    Thorne's robotics expertise has helped turn 4Moms into a player in the estimated $8 billion U.S. baby products industry. The company posted sales of almost $17 million in 2011 and placed its products on the shelves of Target (TGT), Nordstrom (JWN), and Babies 'R Us. The babies of Jennifer Garner, Courtney Kardashian, and Elton John have been photographed with their products. 4Moms' success also has attracted new investors, including a recent $20 million infusion from Bain Capital Ventures of Boston.

    In addition to the Origami, the 67-employee company also makes the robot-propelled mamaRoo, an infant seat that mimics human parents' movements; the Cleanwater Infant Tub, which controls temperature and circulates clean water continually; and the Breeze, a playard that opens or folds in a single step.

    It's a long way from the automotive assembly line to Babies 'R Us, but it's a logical progression to Thorne. "These mini-robots are more complex than the robots used in assembly lines," he says.

    Scale is a major design constraint for Thorne and 4Moms. All electronics and software had to be streamlined into a small ball that fit neatly below the Origami's seat. "If the ball were twice as big, no one would buy it," Thorne says. "It would go from awesome to ugly and inelegant."

    For moms, by dads?

    Despite its maternal name, 4Moms' products are actually the invention of two dads -- Thorne has two children, aged 20 and 22, while his co-founder Robert Daley, 42, has a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old. After starting their company in 2005, the partners held focus groups with Daley's wife Jenn and her friends to discuss colors, design, and other features; hence the name 4Moms.

    Baby Gizmo的舒尔茨相信公司的名字帮助了4Moms。她说：“如果他们叫做2Dads，可能就没有这么好的效果。母亲总是愿意听母亲的。”

    即便如此，高科技产品已经把男人们带入了这个以母亲为绝对主体的市场。舒尔茨说：“你给一个父亲展示Origami，他们会说‘看这个’。头灯可以自动开关。我丈夫邀请邻居们都来看。它激发了他们的男子气。”

    尽管在购买婴儿产品时，母亲有着最终决定权，不过父亲同样也有话语权。舒尔茨说，小孩的母亲如果知道丈夫会带着孩子去散步，可能就会更倾向于购买高科技婴儿车。她评价4Moms说：“结合了机器人技术的童车显得时髦出众。”

    舒尔茨说，尽管Origami一切都很好，却有一个设计上的瑕疵。它的倾斜角度很小，这让小孩难以在车里小睡一会，（尽管它配备了一个摇篮供婴儿使用）。她说：“仅仅由于这一点，他们就失去了很大商机。”

    从水暖产品到婴儿用品

    索恩和前风险资本家戴利原本并不打算进入这个过渡拥挤的婴儿用品市场。他们创建公司时，只是想借处理器价格跳水之机，制造电子产品（处理器价格从2003年平均14美元降到如今的70美分）。

    这两人认为水暖产业已经过时，难以创新，所以他们发明了一个配有遥控温度调节的淋浴设备。他们认为配件发烧友可能会喜欢它，不过在匹兹堡展销会上，老年人和母亲们蜂拥来到他们的摊位，让他们大感意外。因此索恩和戴利抛弃了之前设计淋浴设备的构想，制造出一个沐浴嘴盖，如今仍然受到母亲们的欢迎。

    朋友们说他们疯狂地发明新产品。他们相信他们的眼光，但是当他们带着新产品Clearwater 婴儿澡盆的原型来到2006年奥兰多的青少年产品展销会（the 2006 Juvenile Products Trade Show）时，他们也知道，自己面临着来自成熟竞争者更严峻的挑战。他们设计的婴儿澡盆能够控制水温，让清洁的水持续流动。

    戴利说：“我们认为很难同一个没有知名度，也从未做出一个产品的公司做生意。”索恩插嘴道：“而且老实说，我们不知道怎么样做产品。”

    但是婴儿澡盆立刻引起了轰动。戴利说：“Babies 'R Us告诉我们他们想要那个澡盆，放在在280家门店销售。”

    同一年的另一场展销会上，戴利说他看到一个推销员演示一款高档童车的折叠和打开过程。他觉得有些不对劲，却说不出具体是什么。于是他站在那儿，花了差不多一个小时，看着她一遍遍重复那些步骤。

    然后他想通了：她需要同时用手和膝盖来完成这些动作。在超市停车场的人行道上，一位母亲怎么能做到这些呢？

    他走向索恩，把它拉到一个安静的角落，低声对他说：“自动折叠婴儿车。”

    Schultz of Baby Gizmo believes the company's name has helped 4Moms. "If they had called it 2Dads, it would not have done as well," she says. "Moms listen to moms."

    Even so, the high-tech products have drawn men into a market that is overwhelmingly mom-centric. "You show a dad the Origami and they say, 'Watch this.' The headlights open and close on their own," Schultz says. "My husband invites the neighbors over to see it. It taps into their manhood."

    Even when moms make the final purchasing decision on baby products, dads also have influence. Schultz says mothers of young children may be more likely to buy a high-tech stroller if they know their husbands will take the baby for a walk. "They are smart to stand out with robotics," she says of 4Moms.

    For all the things it does well, the Origami has one design flaw, says Schultz. It only reclines a few inches, making it hard for a child to nap, (although a bassinet attachment is available for infants). "They have lost a big portion of business by that feature alone," she says.

    From plumbing products to baby gear

    Thorne and Daley, a former venture capitalist, didn't initially set out to enter the overcrowded baby products market. When they started their company, they just wanted to create electronics that would take advantage of the dramatic drop in processor prices (down from an average of $14 in 2003 to 70 cents today).

    The duo thought that the plumbing industry was overdue for innovation, so they invented a shower attachment with a remote-controlled temperature adjustment. They figured gadget guys would love it but were shocked when seniors and moms flocked to their booth at a Pittsburgh trade show. So Thorne and Daley abandoned their plans for the shower attachment and introduced a bath spout cover, which they still market to moms.

    Friends told them they were crazy to invent a new product. They believed in their vision, but they say they knew they'd face an uphill battle against more established competitors when they carried a prototype of a new product, their Clearwater Infant Tub -- which circulates clean and temperature-controlled water -- to the 2006 Juvenile Products Trade Show in Orlando.

    "We thought it would be hard to do business with a company no one had ever heard of and that had never made a product before," Daley says. Thorne interjects: "And to be honest, we had no idea how to make the product."

    But the bathtub was an instant hit. "Babies R Us told us they had to have it and put it in 280 stores," Daley says.

    That same year, at another trade show, Daley says he watched a salesperson demo the folding and unfolding of a high-end stroller. There was something unsettling about the sight. He couldn't put his finger on it, he says, so he stood and just watched her repeat the process for about an hour.

    Then it hit him: She had to get on her hands and knees. How could a mother do that on the pavement surface of a supermarket parking lot?

    He walked over to Thorne, directed him to a quiet corner and whispered to him: "Power folding stroller."

    大项目，小包装

    毕业于卡耐基梅隆大学（Carnegie Mellon University）、37年前加入通用汽车公司的索恩听到后会心一笑。这是一个能够让他施展机器人技术的项目。他说：“我生来就是为了设计这个。”

    索恩说他的机器人技术背景让4Moms设计团队的创新变得更简单。他说：“他们不必担心那些内部的机械难题，因为他们知道我能解决。”

    他本以为他需要一年半的时间就能实现自己的想法，实际上却花了五年。他说：“太让人吃惊了。你本以为你脑子里都想好了。但是把这个自动折叠婴儿车做出来需要花很长时间。”

    4Moms的所有产品都有高科技。制作婴儿座椅mamaRoo时，工程师使用电极模仿人类父母弹跳和摇晃的动作。设计起来最复杂的产品要数婴儿床，它由72根连杆构件组合而成。索恩说：“你从床中间往下推，床的四角就会向旁边展开。”

    4Moms现在正在研发新型的座椅、手推车和婴儿床，同时计划制作另一个婴儿类别的产品，该类别尚未命名。

    索恩说，把自动折叠婴儿车带入市场——并送入父母的怀抱，让他感到其乐无穷。他说：“在通用公司，可能只有咖啡壶旁边的五个电工会觉得我很厉害。现在呢，娜塔莉•波特曼，考特尼•卡戴珊、珍妮弗•加纳和千千万万的女性都喜欢我做的事。它的回报是千百倍的。”（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    Big engineering projects, small packages

    Thorne, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University who had worked at GM 37 years ago, beamed. Here was a project that would let him exercise his robotics skills. "I was born to make that invention," he says.

    Thorne says his robotics background makes innovation easier for 4Moms' design team. "They don't have to worry about the mechanical goo inside because they know I can do it," he says.

    He thought he'd need a year-and-a-half to bring his vision to life. It took five. "It is shocking," he says. "You think you had it in your head. It takes a long time to make a power-folding stroller."

    All 4Moms products are high-tech. To make its mamaRoo, the engineers used electrodes to mimic human parents' bouncing and swaying motions. The most complex product to design was the playard, which operates under a 72-bar linkage. "You push it down from the center, and that causes the corners to move sideways," Thorne says.

    4moms is currently developing new models of seats, strollers, and playards and it plans to introduce a product in another, yet unnamed, baby category.

    Thorne says he's had a fun ride bringing the power-folding stroller to market -- and into the arms of parents. "At GM, maybe five electricians around the coffee pot thought I was great," he says. "Now I have Natalie Portman, Courtney Kardashian, and Jennifer Garner and thousands of other women loving what I am doing. It is a thousand times more rewarding."