OTTO Motors
Sector Robotics
Headquarters Kitchener-Waterloo
Founders Bryan Webb, Matt Rendall, Patrick Martinson, Ryan Gariepy
Founded 2009
Employees 251-500
Funding CAD $102.3M
What started as a fourth year project for four engineering students at the University of Waterloo in 2009, became one of the leading autonomous material handling robot companies operating in facilities around the world. Originally launched as Clearpath Robotics, the company started in a shared basement where the founders built an ever-growing roster of robotic creations. They focused on supporting researchers automating some of the world’s “dullest, dirtiest, and deadliest” tasks including mining and bomb disposal. With demand building for facility automation, OTTO Motors was born as a fleet of robots and an AI-powered software platform offering autonomous capabilities that have racked up more than four 4 million hours of safe operation within factories the world over. In addition, their Clearpath Robotics brand continues to grow, whether it’s patrolling landfills for gas emissions, helping with wildlife conservation in Antarctica, or helping NASA prepare for future exploration missions to the moon and Mars.