Who We Are

We are optimistic for a future where people live healthier, happier, more creative, and more sustainable lives, enabled by the automation of manual labor.

The Automation Gap

Global productivity growth has stalled, even as millions of jobs in U.S. manufacturing, logistics, construction, and agriculture remain unfilled. Automation is the only sustainable solution, yet in 2024, fewer than 35,000 new robots were deployed in the United States—and most still rely on rigid, pre-programmed motions.

The bottleneck is no longer hardware, but software capable of handling high variability, unstructured environments, and constant change. Jacobi exists to remove this barrier. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of robot automation, so that people can focus on meaningful and creative work.

Our Story

Jacobi Robotics provides intelligent automation systems that are flexible, easy to use, and affordable. Founded in Berkeley, CA by leading roboticists and AI researchers, we have transformed frontier AI technology into trusted, production systems that adapt to changes and scale across use cases.

AI-First Robotics Platform

Our general-purpose, hardware-agnostic software platform integrates high-fidelity simulation, ultrafast motion planning, and reinforcement-learning agents. This allows robots to make intelligent decisions within milliseconds and adapt to dynamic, real-world conditions.

Compounding Data Flywheel

Each deployment contributes to a shared data lake that sharpens our models. This collective intelligence enables the entire fleet to learn from experience, steadily improving performance and accelerating expansion into new applications.

Vertical Beachhead Focus

We systematically evaluate industry problems based on their economic scale, social impact, and automation readiness, then prioritize the largest opportunities first. For instance, we are tackling mixed-case palletizing because in the U.S. alone, over 80 million cases are stacked by hand every day, leading to more than 80,000 reported injuries annually.

Drop-In, Brownfield Ready

Tens of thousands of existing warehouses lack the resources or flexibility for ground-up infrastructure upgrades. Jacobi cells integrate seamlessly into existing workflows, are intuitive and easy to use for operators, and can be fully operational within days rather than months. This makes automation accessible and affordable for previously underserved facilities.

Our Progress to Date

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Algorithmic Breakthroughs - We developed the world's fastest collision-free motion planner. Leveraging this planner, we've also delivered the first unsequenced mixed-case palletizing software ever deployed in production environments.

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Live Systems - Our robots are deployed and performing real-world tasks daily in active facilities.

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Ecosystem Partnerships - Our platform supports leading hardware OEMs and is used by major system integrators, enabling smooth and rapid adoption for customers.

About the Team

We were founded by the world's foremost experts in robot manipulation and motion planning, and are supported by first-rate investors and advisors.

Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley, Imperial College London. Former consultant at McKinsey.

Max Cao

Co-founder / CEO

PhD in A.I. and Robotics from UC Berkeley. Former product manager at Cybint and engineer at Intel RealSense.

Yahav Avigal

Co-founder / CTO

PhD in Computer Science at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Developed motion planning algorithms running on hundreds of robots. Previously at KUKA.

Lars Berscheid

Co-founder / Chief Architect

Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, formerly postdoc at UC Berkeley, principal architect at SuccessFactors.

Jeff Ichnowski

Co-founder / Chief Roboticist

Professor at UC Berkeley. Has published over 300 papers, 3 books, and holds 9 US Patents. Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Ambi Robotics.

Ken Goldberg

Co-founder / Chief Scientist

Former Global Head of Service and Digital Platform at ABB Robotics. Responsible for 1,600+ people and $500M+ in P&L.