Meetup In 2 days
November
Thursday
17:00–20:00 2026 · San Francisco time
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What does it actually take to get a robot out of the lab and into the real world? Three founders who have done it in three very different ways sit down for an honest panel at Mission Robotics.
Thursday, Nov 12, 5 to 8 pm at Mission Robotics, 3001 19th St, San Francisco
THE PANEL
Anand Lalwani, Co-founder, Cardinal Robotics (Forbes 30 Under 30)Anand worked as a janitor before earning his robotics PhD at Stanford. He started Cardinal as a student, and it has grown to 30,000+ cleaning robots deployed with partners, without institutional venture money. On the panel: what running robots at scale teaches you that a demo never will.
Abhinav Das, Co-founder & CEO, Orangewood Labs (YC W18)Abhinav has been building robot arms since 2016, after a first startup making rough terrain vehicles. Orangewood makes affordable arms for small manufacturers that you program in plain English. On the panel: selling robots to customers who have never owned one.
Max Williams, Co-founder & CEO, Axonnic (YC F26)Max did his research at Oxford on reading the muscle signals in your forearm. Axonnic turns that into a sleeve that captures how skilled hands move and how hard they press, so robots can learn dexterous work. On the panel: why video alone won't teach robots to use their hands.
WHAT WE'LL DIG INTO
What breaks when a robot leaves the lab, and what you only learn from customers
Where the data to train robots really comes from
When to build, buy or rent out your robots
What each of them would do differently if they started again
MODERATORHenri Mäkivirta, ex-Slush CPO, now building his second company. This fall he has interviewed more than 60 leading robotics founders, researchers and engineers in SF.
PROGRAM5:00 pm: Doors open, food and drinks5:45 pm: Panel with Anand, Abhinav and Max, moderated by Henri6:30 pm: Audience Q&A6:45 pm: A short intro to our Build Sprint in Shenzhen (more below)7:00 pm: Drinks and conversations until 8
WHO SHOULD COMEFounders and builders working on robots, from first prototype to first fleet, and anyone seriously thinking about starting a robotics company. Spots are limited and every request is reviewed, so add a line about what you're building.
FROM SF TO SHENZHENBuilding hardware sooner or later means sourcing parts and manufacturing, and much of that runs through Shenzhen. We close the evening with a short intro to the Delta & Bay Build Sprint: two weeks in Shenzhen in mid-January, meeting, visiting and testing the makers for the part you're building. It's free for selected hardware teams, with accommodation and coworking included. Can't make January? Tell us your own dates and we'll see what we can set up.
Interested? Tick the box when you request to join, or find Shawn or Joel on the night.
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