Palm Garden AI launches Coherence Guard for service robots to interact safely with people

Palm Garden AI's Coherence Guard addresses a specific gap that has emerged as service robots become more technically capable. The company's CEO, Joachim Scheuerer, observes that while current robots can navigate, perceive, and execute tasks, the real difficulty in human environments is often relational rather than technical: knowing when to approach, pause, withdraw, or adjust tone based on a person's comfort and boundaries. This insight comes partly from the company's background in psychotherapy-related software and retreat facilitation, and partly from three years of structured observation at Palm Garden Retreat in Thailand, where the team witnessed real-world human-robot interaction scenarios including vulnerability, trust-building, and respectful withdrawal.

The software layer is designed to be platform-agnostic, sitting above or beside existing robot control stacks, ROS 2, and safety systems rather than replacing them. It evaluates candidate actions using a framework that measures timing, proximity, emotional tone, and boundary signals—distinguishing between what is technically possible and what is socially appropriate. Scheuerer emphasizes that this complements formal safety systems at the hardware and control level; Coherence Guard operates at a relational and contextual layer above them.

The company's approach to validation is cautious: simulation is treated as a first filter for testing defined scenarios and identifying failure modes, but conclusions are framed as behavioral hypotheses rather than final claims. Real-world pilots will focus on narrow, observable benchmarks such as approach distance, pause timing, and withdrawal behavior, validated through human feedback. With active technical discussions underway with robotics providers including Robotera and Hanson Robotics, and commercial licensing under preparation, the company is positioning Coherence Guard as infrastructure for the next phase of human-facing robot deployment.