We often hear that many domestic specialists leave to work abroad and remain there. But sometimes the life path leads some of them back to their homeland, where they manage to achieve even greater success.
One of these people is Vladimir Konyshev, general director of the Zelenograd group of companies "Neurobotics", head of the laboratory of neuro-robotics of the Central Scientific and Research Institute of Mathematics and Technology, MIPT.
“Vladimir Anatolyevich, when and why did you go to work abroad”
- I left Russia in 1992. Then, at home, scientists had a hard time. I was invited to the newly created brain research laboratory in Kanagawa Science Park (Japan). I worked there for six years. Then I got a job at Neuroscan in the USA, and received a substantial salary.
“What made you return?”
“In the US, I realized how little we know about the brain.” Having learned how it works, you can seriously try to create intelligent robots, artificial intelligence. But one cannot do such things in a state that can become an adversary of our country. I had long wanted to make robots and realized that I had reached the peak of my career as the main programmer, so in 2003 I decided to return to Russia.
“And how did it go?”
- In 2004, I founded the company "Neurobotics" at his own expense. The name was invented by my son - Dmitry Konyshev. Initial investments amounted to about two million rubles - rental and repair of premises, purchase of computers and other equipment. In the early years, the company was engaged in the development and sales of equipment and software for the study of human and animal physiology.
“Why did you decide to create your company in Zelenograd?”
- I chose Zelenograd on the advice of a friend - the general director of Medical Computer Systems LLC Dmitry Prilutsky. The advantages are: location and ecology, real and potential partners nearby, who could help with the development of electronics for our devices.
“Vladimir Anatolyevich, what does Neurobotics live with today?”
- At the moment, the Neurobotics group of companies employs about 50 people who are involved in the development, production and sales of neuroassistive devices, anthropomorphic robots (silicone, projection and plastic robots of various difficulty levels), neural network technologies, equipment and software for studying physiology and psychophysiology of humans and animals.
We work with leading universities, laboratories and research centers of the country, we have good prospects abroad. We were selected in the competition to create robot avatars AnnaAvarar XPRIZE, showed the second time result in the global competition of neurotechnologies for people with disabilities Cybathlon, were the first to train the neural networks to “see” thoughts. We experienced and are experiencing many difficulties, but I believe in our team - we still have many discoveries and achievements ahead.