From Europe to the US: Meet RobCo

Hello U.S. – Meet RobCo!

We sat down with Lorenzo Pautasso at RobCo’s new U.S. HQ to talk about a different way forward: modular robots that click together, software that just works, and a service model that shares risk instead of pushing it onto small and mid-sized manufacturers. 

From a university research project in Munich to a U.S. launch backed by top-tier investors, we follow RobCo’s path from concept to commercialization. We also tackle the “jobs question” head-on, sharing stories from the factory floor that show how robots aren’t replacing people – they’re taking on the repetitive and risky tasks so workers can focus on higher-value work. Finally, we explore lessons about automation and deployments that can be learned by Europe’s early adoption mindset.

Tune in to hear the full conversation and see why RobCo’s story is one to watch in the next wave of industrial automation.

Transcript

Live From Robco’s U.S. HQ

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hi everyone, I'm Mandy Dwight, founder of Dwight and Company, boutique sales and marketing agency for uh automation and robotics companies, also the host of Rosgoss, the podcast that you're watching/slash listening to today. Uh today I'm here in San Francisco at the Robco Headquarters, U.S. headquarters. We'll get to that in a minute. But I'm joined by uh Lorenzo Pitasso, who is the U.S. general manager here at Robco. It is such a busy, busy day here at Robco, but I am so happy that you're joining me today, Lorenzo.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Thanks for having me, Mendy, and thank you for being in San Francisco with us.

Quiet Build, Big Launch

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yeah, absolutely. Like I almost felt bad coming in here today because you know, we're so a little bit of background, what you're not seeing hearing right now is we're upstairs in one of the offices because below us there are so many people setting up for what's going to be an amazing event this week, this this evening, actually, in in an hour. No s no no stress, right? So tell us about that, Lorenzo.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

So um we've been to the to the US in for roughly eight months now, and um uh we came to this office, I guess, four months ago, both on a very low level, and we didn't tell anyone about it. And we've been here building, I think, uh, yeah, probably six to seven customer projects that went out of this office. Oh wow. Um without yeah, really a big announcement. And so um we decided, okay, maybe now there's the time to, you know, we have a a break where there's not too many robots in here, and the ones that are in here, we just pushed to one side and made space for for an event um to bring in yeah, um, friends, family, customers, investors, um else, yeah, leads people who you know um uh help us in our go-to-market, in our partner strategy, um, to just uh yeah, announce Robco formally um as um a robotics company in the US now, uh a company that assembles robots and solutions in the US um and ships them to customers, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah. No, I I four, yeah, that's a lot of projects to go out in four months.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Um yeah, so it's various sizes, right? Everything from one to eight robots. Wow. And so you can um yeah, I guess push smaller projects out quicker than than the large ones. And um the the last one I think left the office um last week. And so we're just stuck with a couple of robots now that are going into new customer projects, but we parked them over there and and made space for for the event today.

Robco’s Modular Origins

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Well, they'll be good for demos tonight. Absolutely. That'll be great. I mean, it's interesting because you know, digging into the Robco history, Robco has been a company for you know quite a bit of time now. Yet this is the US debut. So, what is the Robco story in your own words?

Funding, Team, And Momentum

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Yeah, so uh Robco was founded about five years ago in Munich, um, Germany, and uh it used to be a university project, a university research product project that existed for quite a while, and it was around modular robots. So, how can you break down a robot into drives and links, essentially, that you can like a Lego set um plug together and they understand themselves how they are configured. So anything from two axes to eight axes, um, they are intelligent enough to build a digital twin of themselves. And so everything that you know about robots in terms of you know kinematics and the way they move, um, these modular links, Lego blocks, understand by themselves and can figure out themselves how to move. And so that was a really research project that went on at the Tech Technical University of Munich. Uh Roman, our CEO and co-founder, along with two other co-founders, Paul and Constantine, um, took that research project into the real world to customers. And I think early adopters really were like, you need to found a company and you need to do this because it's um it's hugely important. And um the hypothesis there was the flexibility that a uh modular systems give you a modular system gives you is um hugely beneficial to SMBs, especially, who um you know might be contract manufacturers where um orders change, parts change, um, but also you know, SMBs who basically scale and grow and have yeah, changing or growing um uh aspirations and needs to robots, um, and that's where where Robco really fit in originally. Since then, um, we've grown to um over a hundred people um in in Munich. Um and um also going up on uh we'll need to look at the slide later, but I think going up on 25 people here in the US probably. Wow. Um and uh maybe 20 rather than 25. But uh it's um be 25 before you know it. Yes, yeah, exactly. Maybe maybe when the podcast airs. It's yeah, yeah. Um, but it's been uh it's been a really uh a growth journey over the past five years. Um with yeah, Sequoia leading the series A and then Lightspeed joining for the series B. Um and uh they'll all be here today, they'll be on the on the panel later. Um but a great set of investors. I think the other thing is a great set of people. Talent um is what originally convinced me uh besides the product to join Robco. I think I I was amazed the first time I came into the office in Munich by the people, by the drive, um, but also by the knowledge. Um and and and and lastly, yeah, the product is just something that's really well received today and is from all the way from you know, like small customers with 10 people to customers with over half a million employees.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Oh wow, yeah. I mean, thinking about that, you know, I was at Mass Robotics a couple weeks ago and we had this interesting conversation, you know, kind of like, you know, they said to me, Mandy, the US needs robotics now more than ever. And that was the topic. You you guys will see that podcast coming soon as well with with Joyce and Marita. But, you know, the US does need robotics more than ever. And I think it's interesting that now here is Robco focusing on SMBs. So, you know, why? You know, why why moving? Why looking at SMBs? What is what is the value proposition for them?

Why SMBs Need Robots Now

Robot-As-A-Service Explained

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Yeah. So I think um the robotic story is a story of accessibility and um uh story of you know cost, um, complexity to access the market, the technology. And lastly, you know, thought partnership on how to automate. And I think those three things um Robco really took upon itself with the robot as a service model. So renting the robots on a month-to-month basis rather than the huge upfront CapEx investment. Worst case, someone who then bails after and never hear from them again, right? Robot ends up not working and you're stuck with just uh uh uh yeah, that way CapEx investment. Exactly. Um, I think the second part is is the part on you know complexity and accessibility. So um we're a one-stop shop um all the way from you know initial idea to um through design and and and iteration to deployment and then servicing. Um and um what we see here is you know, if you take out um the you know, enormous complexity of oh, I need to go to a software provider to get my software, I need to go find robot hardware, then I need to find a systems integrator who maybe brings me a bit of periphery. And I think all of that, um uniting that into a one-stop shop, really um literally one person, uh, an account executive that a company uh or a customer can talk to and figure out, you know, what are my what are my needs, then we have technical uh technical account executives that help figuring out the technical aspect of it, right? And um, but it's all it's all Robco. And so if things go well, you can celebrate with Robco. If things go well, uh if things go bad, you can call up someone and shout at a single person rather than five different people. And I think that is really what um what um customers value. Um and then third is is is the fast response time, right? So um coming to the US um has been a conscious decision um because we said if we're gonna do business here and if we're you know um if we want to have happy customers here, we need to have a footprint, ideally also not only in San Francisco. I'm gonna get to that in a second, but um across the country, so we can have fast response times and um be with customers when they need us. Um so if they want to change something on the cell, if something goes wrong, right, um we want to be there with them and then just get the line back up and running very, very quickly.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah, I mean in in that whole description, there was one word that I heard over and over again, and it wasn't the word robot, it was the word customer.

One-Stop Shop, Less Complexity

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, yeah. I think um, you know, uh I my background um is in consulting. I was with McKinsey for seven years, and um I think the one thing that I took away from there was customer obsession. Yeah. Um we call it we call them clients at McKinsey, which I think is even a nicer way to speak about it. And um, you know, and I think this this client obsession is something that I'm really trying to bring to Robco as well. I know uh Roman Paul Arian, our chief revenue officer who came over from Snowflake, who led Snowflake in Europe for a long time. Um, I know we all have um this customer-centric view and this customer obsession really front of mind. Um, and then, you know, I think with a great team with a product that um fits a multiplicity of customer needs, um, whether it's you know machine tending, logistics, um, we see applications and research even, um, or data, data security, like places where you know there are things handled that just can't leave the room and can't can't be seen by humans. Um, and so that's um that's something where you know we really try to address the customer specific needs. And here in the US, um, as you said, uh more than ever, there's a true need for automation at the moment. Um, and uh it's hard to come by someone who who does as a one-stop shop and really looks at the customer and gives them what they need, I think.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah, it's so true. I mean, you know, you and I, we both went to automate, you know, we we spoke a couple of times at automate, things like that. There's a lot of noise in the there's a lot of solutions, a lot of robotics, a lot of automation. You know, how how should an end user, especially an SMB, right? Because, you know, maybe they don't have people that have an internal robotics background, how do they navigate that?

Customer Obsession As A Practice

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah. So um I think that's exactly where uh trust plays a big role, and this idea of a risk-free solution in in in a way, right? So um with our robot as a service model, if we we start charging the customer um basically a monthly fee when the robot works, right? And if the if the robot doesn't work, that means you basically have a risk-free pass um at you know, calling us up and being like, guys, you really need to make this work. My line's not standing, um, not running um with this robot currently. And so um I think we trust our product enough to say this is a business model that really works for us, but um customers trust us because they see we have skin in the game um when we um enter a deal with them and we say uh yeah, you know, the robot's gonna work otherwise that that service is basically not fulfilled, right? And so um I think for SMBs it reduces the barrier to entry really. Um and coming back to the point of they often don't have automation teams on their shop floor. So um that's really where the one-stop shop solution, the field service team that we have um with um, for example, Taylor at the moment came over from hugely beneficial because they're so close to the customer. Um, they understand their needs really well. And if if if a customer needs something, we're we're out there and we're solving their problem.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah, no, that's great. And you know, and SMBs, right? Like there's uh you always hear in the news robots are taking jobs. They've been talking about this since I got into robotics decades ago. It's like, oh, they're gonna take the jobs, and all of our PR teams would prep us for that question. I mean, how are you thinking about that with SMBs right now?

Cutting Through Market Noise

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah, so um I spoke to uh the New York Times about this, I think last week or two weeks ago, to to Farrus Dokman, um, who did a piece on you know, robots are not taking away labor, they're they're augmenting labor. And I think so so one thing um that we speak about at Robco is um we're trying to do the ordinary so humans can do the extraordinary. I I love that expression. It's it's it's it's something that we really see in practice at our customers, and I like that, you know, it's it's a great tagline, but it's also true. Yeah, um, and um so you know what we see a lot is uh when we come in, it's not about replacing labor, it's about um combating labor shortage. Yeah. Um, especially so I think there's there's regional differences here, especially in southern states. Labor shortage as soon as you get out of the big cities is a huge issue. Yeah, right. And that and so um just getting a robot in to augment the existing labor force um is something that we see probably in more than half of the cases. Um the other part that I really like about this is as soon as a robot is there, you usually have a robot operator. And uh and people get really excited from going from you know, like machine technician or or or or kind of person who works on the line to robot operator. Yeah. Um it's a cool title, it's a cool new thing to learn. And so I think um uh summing up your question, um the the need is way more in you know augmenting labor than it is about replacing labor. Um, and the second part is um people get just really excited and really happy about having robots there. Um I think there is initial skepticism oftentimes, right? And and you really need to work with that and make sure that customers understand what robots are and how they work. But eventually, yeah, I see a lot of happy faces on customer floors.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

I mean, we take it for granted, right? We see robots every single day, you know, and yeah, but these people see this robot for the first time and they're like, wow, that's amazing. And it's like, you're right, it is. I just take a step back and appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

We had a customer um tell us something really cool. So they had a bunch of other robots on their floor, and um, and we put the first Robco on their floor, I think in in February. Um, and someone walked by and said, Wow, we had the Kias until now, and now we have the Tesla. Um, and it was just such a cool thing to hear. Um, and so yeah, it's it's exciting.

Risk Sharing And Trust

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah, no, that is awesome. I mean, and you know, one thing that is really interesting about Robco, we talked about you guys are coming into the US to really support, you know, um, the fact that US manufacturers need, you know, robots more than ever. Um, but also, you know, Europe, uh, you know, whenever I've done deployments at a startup, you know, we've sat there, you know, this is going back a decade ago, you know, we're gonna sell to some US companies. Yeah. And we found that because the technology was so new that we had trouble selling that. And I'm going back to 2016, 2017. You know, US companies were a little bit skeptical. Yeah. You know, but then we were able to call, you know, Germany, for instance. I I used I did a big um inflation in Munching Gladbach, believe it or not, at one point in my life. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Um all the probably the hardest city to pronounce in all of terms.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

I spent a lot of time in Munching Gladbach. Yeah. Um, but you know, they were the early adopters. Yeah. And we said, you know what, we're a US company, we're going to Germany. We're packing up and we're going there. So Europe is the early adopters. And I mean, Robco is an early adopter. Tell me more about that.

Jobs: Augmenting, Not Replacing

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah. So I think we need to look back like 15, 20 years to understand why that is the case. And so the German automotive industry, especially, um, around 20 well, 30 to 20 years ago already, um, faced a lot of um cost pressure from especially East Asian Japanese car manufacturers coming in, right? Um so um the solution there was cut cost in a way that again um doesn't drive out people, but that augments people, and um, the solution there was a lot of automation. So historically, um the automation in Europe grew in the automotive sector at the OEM level, but then also at the tier one to three level, right? Um, and and so I think uh that particular type of cost pressure and and and kind of competitive pressure hasn't been observed in the or wasn't observed in the US um 20, 30 years ago. It's uh it's a very different market when it comes to automotive and and and and customer preferences, and so um Europe got to feel that first. Um and so uh that's where I think the uh uh the well I wouldn't say openness, but the familiarity with robotics really started. Um and then the openness I think comes with you know having robots on your floor, understanding what does automation mean and and and you know what what advantages does it does it give you. Um still I think the the difference or something that is considerably faster in the US is just the pace of doing business and and decision making, right? So um I think just the nature of how US enterprises are set up, um, the nature of how um you know worker councils or decision-making processes are set up in the US versus Europe um ensures that the US is um or it has a faster decision-making process at the end of the day when it comes to automation. And so what I observe when I compare business in Germany to business in the US is um it does lose the it does move a lot faster. Um but at the same time, as you correctly say, um the people are less familiar with robots, less familiar with automation. And so um there is a lot more capability building and education um that that one needs to do than in in Europe. I write. And that comes down to the team level where um often even medium-sized enterprises in in Europe and Germany have an automation team, even if it's only one or two people. Um you often don't see that here in the US.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Yeah, that's so true. I you know, I never thought of it like that, but you're right. Like we're kind of in the US where that automotive industry was 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Oh, definitely. Definitely. I would say that the gap, um, and you see this actually in the numbers is is probably um 10 to 15 years. And and the US is catching up rapidly.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

So if if you would have asked me, Because of companies like Robco.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Uh well, and also because of customers um just really, really embracing it, right? Um, so uh yeah, I hope I hope we can make a dent there. No, I think that's why you're here, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

I mean, you know, people need the choices, need to scale rapidly, things like that. And you know, that's a solution. Absolutely. I mean, you know, so what you've learned in Europe, like what lessons are you bringing here at Robcoat US?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

So I'm I always think uh if you can sell to a German person, you can sell to anyone.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

So having done business there. Yeah, yeah. Um, so that's uh that's I think the the first big advantage that that you come with to the US. But uh frankly speaking, uh I think German just quality standards are extremely high. And so um bringing that process over to the US is something that that has been working extremely well for us, um, because again, the customer gets a certain standard at the end of the day that they really appreciate. I think the other thing is Germany um and specifically Munich is an uh a very, very good hub for robotics. Yeah. And so developing robots there, I mean, um the the this robot is a five-year development, right? And we have anything from a two-axis tiny, tiny robot to um a 40 kilogram payload, two and a half meter retract.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

And we guess palletizing.

Europe’s Early Adoption Advantage

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Uh yeah, it does palletizing, does a ton of machine tending of heavy parts as well, um, for example. Um, and uh where else do we use him? He's called he's called Joseph. So it's we call him strong SEP, and SEP is strong for Joseph. I love it. So all our all our robots have names. Um and uh yeah, so palletizing, deparatizing, um, heavy, heavy item machine tending, stuff like that. Yeah. Um and so yeah, uh seeing that that progression in five years is I mean, I don't think many companies have done that, um, if any. And then even modularizing that is I think is truly impressive. And um, that really speaks to talent in Munich. And I think you have a couple of hubs around the world that that have comparable talent um when it comes to robotics. Um, but um certainly in in Europe, Munich is uh yeah, is the best address. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Yeah. I mean, so you know, crystal ball, right? Like we kind of know that the US is, you know, where Europe was, you know, 15 years ago. What does the next 10 years look like for the US with the automation robotics landscape, do you think?

U.S. Pace Vs. Familiarity Gap

SPEAKER_00 21:35

So I think we're gonna have um a new job profile emerging, right? Which is um the basically the automation control room, right? Um the the manager who manages robots, the robot operators who understand how to um uh yeah, uh work with robots, fix robots, um, integrate robots, right? And so I think um it also kind of translates to then how do businesses and and robotics businesses have to evolve to cater to that evolving organizational landscape, job profile capability set that your customers have. Um and and at Robco, we're really trying to enable that with you know being um software first, everything that the person interacts with, right? Um making it easy to deploy, making it easy to understand what's going on with the robot, and making it easy to um change flows or change change states of the robot is something that that we're really trying to embrace and and make sure that we catch up um or catch on to that next wave of capabilities at the customer side. One of my favorite features um that we have, for example, is so we have our own um Rob Vision AI vision solution that um you know is our models and our software that runs almost hardware agnostic across all camera systems that are, let's say, that are used in in the majority of use cases in the market. Um and um there we developed this interface where you can just drag and drop CAD files um of the parts that you want to detect. Um just in the background, trains the model, and then you like with a one with one click, just deploy it to your robot, and the robot starts handling that part, right? And it was something that we developed for a customer, I want to say, a year and a half ago, because they they were saying, Well, I have 30 SKUs each each month, and they're changing over and over. And that's one of the hardest tasks for vision out there, you know. And so we say, Okay, how are we gonna solve this? Um, okay, let's make a let's make a drag and drop thing for for for the people working with the robot where they can just upload their CAD files, it trains the model in the background, and then it can recognize that the part once the model is trained and done. Um, and so yeah, I think just you know, uh constantly adapting to that skill profile and making sure that um the way that customers, organizations, and and and people evolve is reflected in your product is something that we take very seriously and and try to constantly do. Um and let me say that's different in in in Europe than in uh to to the US, right? Um there's two different profiles, and as that this gap, this automation gap of 10, 15 years, um also kind of causes a difference in yeah, the capability, the level of capabilities and the the comfort of interacting with robots as a whole. Yeah.

Bringing German Quality To U.S.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah, I mean, and really when you talked about uploading those CAD files, dealing with vision, changing parts, I mean, you're talking about an advanced user now. So Robco solutions can be for somebody that doesn't know anything about robots, but also somebody that's very advanced. So that's very, very good.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Absolutely. So um the the uh you know the the user profile, the customer profile we see um ranges from I don't want to deal with this robot. And whenever I see something slightly off, I will call you and you need to come out and fix it. Yeah, which is perfectly fine because that's why we are a one-stop shop for robotics and we integrate ourselves and we deploy ourselves because we know our solutions extremely well and can troubleshoot either remotely by logging in over there. Wow if the customer allows us to do so. There are some customers, especially enterprise who don't, yeah. Um, all the way to customers whom we haven't heard of in four years because they bought the robot, they bought the solution, and then either um, you know, they have their own team, even exchanging consumables and just dealing with it, right? Um, or um it's it they said, look, please train a team, please build those capabilities in-house um so we don't have to constantly reach out, but we can you know start to think about automation and and the way we want to do things on our own and have that that brain in-house, basically. And so um we deal with uh customers on either end of the spectrum and everything in between, and I think that's what makes the beauty of you know, uh having having our own solutions, having our own hardware and software stack, um, that we can really decide on on how to roll it out.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

You know, I really like the difference between that Robco is between just I'm gonna buy an arm.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Yeah.

Product Range And Use Cases

SPEAKER_01 26:04

You know what I mean? There's so much more there that is customer focused.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

So I think in the end, what you're buying with Robco is you're you're buying uh labor, right? You're buying a solution that that can work for you. Um and it it's so interesting also how what the motivation is to you know procure a Robco solution. So we hear everything from um truly I don't have workers to do this, to um there is uh yeah, people people get respiratory illnesses from dust that's in the air because they're handling certain parts that are dusty that you know release particles. Um so we'd rather want to protect them and and have a robot there. And so I think um supporting clients in everything from you know just really uh combating labor shortage to making a safer, healthier environment for their employees is something that um I find really fascinating, that in the end is a I think much, much bigger purpose than just putting robots in in the field.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Yeah, no, I agree. And that's really kind of a nice place for us to close today. Um, you know, one thing that, you know, I did bring something for you. So you talked a little bit about tech hub. Munich is a tech hub, San Francisco is a tech hub, and you know, uh Catherine and I flew in this morning from Boston, which is also a tech hub. So from one tech hub to another, I did bring you something. And I brought you a Boston lobster.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

That's really great.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

And they do sell they sell live ones at the airport that you can travel with, but I didn't know how that would go on the plane. Oh, I am very serious. The legal seafoods, it wasn't open when I uh took the flight this morning, but I said, you know, we're bringing a stuffed animal.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

What should we name him?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

You know, I feel like Robco names robots so well that I think it's on you.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Lucky lobster.

The Next Decade Of Automation

SPEAKER_01 28:07

I like it. I like it. And you know, uh and thanks again for inviting us, Lorenzo, to the event. Like um, we're gonna take a little bit of footage and kind of throw it in the podcast that everybody can see it today. But um, we're so excited for you.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Um lots of things to come. I think you'll you'll hear more about new offices opening, customers, let me know.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

I want to go cover it.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Uh you'll have to come to Austin and you'll have to be prepared for a true at-scale solution engineering space.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Um I love that.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

With yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

And good barbecue all around Austin.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

And good barbecue and uh frankly, wonderful nature. Um, it's something that I didn't have on my radar until I spent quite a bit of time there and just tried to figure out where we're gonna settle.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

So yeah, well, that's great. Well, Lorenzo, thank you so much for for being here today. Thank you, man. Uh thanks everyone for tuning in, MandyDwight, uh Dewitecode.com, uh host of Ross Goss, Lorenzo Patazzo over at Robco, U.S. General Manager, and um thanks everyone.