READY Robotics is a technology company.
READY Robotics has raised $42.0M across 3 funding rounds.
READY Robotics has raised $42.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
READY Robotics develops ForgeOS, a hardware-agnostic industrial operating system that enables users to control robots from any brand and manage automation hardware via a single intuitive interface.[1][2][3][4] The platform serves manufacturers facing labor shortages by simplifying robot deployment, programming, and operation—allowing non-programmers to automate tasks like palletizing or machine tending in hours rather than weeks—while offering complementary services such as automation readiness assessments, project management, and an online academy for workforce training.[1][2][3][6] This solves key barriers in industrial automation: vendor lock-in, high expertise requirements, and slow integration, helping companies boost output, cut costs, and augment workers without building custom code.[2][3][5]
Growth momentum includes seed funding totaling $3.5M from investors like RRE Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Drive Capital, Sagamore Ventures, and Emerald Development Managers, plus a Series A round, alongside partnerships with giants like NVIDIA (via Omniverse integrations) and customers such as Stanley Black & Decker, which deployed robots in a day using ForgeOS.[4][6] Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio—near 60% of U.S. manufacturing—the company has raised SBIR/STTR awards, secured patents (e.g., for programmable adapters), and maintains a world-class robot testing facility.[1][3][4][5]
READY Robotics emerged from cutting-edge robotics research at Johns Hopkins University, where PhD candidate Kelleher Guerin led development of intuitive robot control interfaces.[3][5][6] Guerin partnered with Benjamin Gibbs, then at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, to secure funding and commercialize the technology; Gibbs now serves as CEO, with Guerin as CIO.[4][6] Founded in 2016 and spun out to Columbus, Ohio, the company addressed a core pain point: manufacturers struggled with siloed, brand-specific robot programming requiring scarce experts.[1][3][6]
Early traction came from proving ForgeOS's "no-code" approach, enabling drag-and-drop task setup for non-programmers, validated through hands-on testing with robots from top OEMs.[3][6] Pivotal moments include NVIDIA Omniverse integrations for cloud-based simulation, Stanley Black & Decker deployments automating CNC machines, and funding rounds that fueled platform expansion.[4][6]
READY Robotics rides the industrial automation surge driven by U.S. manufacturing labor shortages, reshoring, and demand for flexible "lights-out" factories amid post-pandemic supply chain shifts.[2][3][5] Timing is ideal: as robots become cheaper, the bottleneck is integration expertise—ForgeOS democratizes this, much like ROS did for research but hardened for production.[1][6] Market forces favoring it include NVIDIA's Omniverse push for simulated digital twins, reducing deployment risks by 10x, and rising "robots-as-a-service" models from peers like Formic.[1][6]
The company influences the ecosystem by upskilling workers via its academy, fostering a broader automation talent pool, and enabling SMB manufacturers (previously locked out) to compete—potentially accelerating industry-wide adoption of multi-vendor cells.[2][3][6]
READY Robotics is poised to dominate as the de facto OS for next-gen factories, expanding ForgeOS with AI-driven palletizing, adaptive retooling (via patents), and deeper Omniverse/Isaac integrations for edge-to-cloud workflows.[1][4][6] Trends like generative AI for robot teaching and U.S. CHIPS Act manufacturing booms will amplify growth, with Series A capital likely fueling enterprise wins and global OEM partnerships.[4][6] Its influence may evolve from pioneer to standard-setter, empowering "automation for all" and redefining manufacturing scalability—turning today's labor challenges into tomorrow's competitive edge, just as its Johns Hopkins roots promised.
READY Robotics has raised $42.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
READY Robotics's investors include B Capital Group, ENIAC Ventures, Intuitive Ventures, Lobby Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Oak HC/FT, Redpoint Ventures, RRE Ventures, Section 32, Sierra Ventures, Surface Ventures, Umami Capital.
READY Robotics has raised $42.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $23.0M Series B in February 2020.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2020 | $23.0M Series B | B Capital Group, ENIAC Ventures, Intuitive Ventures, Lobby Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Oak HC/FT, Redpoint Ventures, RRE Ventures, Section 32, Sierra Ventures, Surface Ventures, Umami Capital, Jeremy Yap, Shane Neman, Todd Rovak | |
| Dec 1, 2017 | $15.0M Series A | B Capital Group, ENIAC Ventures, Intuitive Ventures, Lobby Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Oak HC/FT, Redpoint Ventures, RRE Ventures, Section 32, Sierra Ventures, Surface Ventures, Umami Capital, Jeremy Yap, Shane Neman, Todd Rovak | |
| Nov 1, 2016 | $4.0M Seed | B Capital Group, ENIAC Ventures, Intuitive Ventures, Lobby Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Oak HC/FT, Redpoint Ventures, RRE Ventures, Section 32, Sierra Ventures, Surface Ventures, Umami Capital, Jeremy Yap, Shane Neman, Todd Rovak |