Lessons from robotics successes and failures

The article, based on Dorota Shortell’s presentation at RoboBusiness 2025, distills key lessons from over 20 years of experience in robotics hardware and automated systems, supplemented by interviews with leaders from more than a dozen robotics companies. These lessons are organized into five main categories: product market fit, funding, development process, team, and scaling. The primary focus is on product market fit, which is emphasized as a critical factor distinguishing successful robotics ventures from failures. A central takeaway is that robotics companies should prioritize understanding and solving critical customer problems before developing new technology. Building a robot should follow only after confirming that it addresses a meaningful need, avoiding the pitfall of creating sophisticated but ultimately unwanted technology. Successful companies employ fast feedback cycles involving ideation, customer validation, and iterative design, often working closely with clients through co-development and service-based models. This approach, exemplified by firms like Intuitive and Dusty Robotics, involves engineers collaborating directly with customers to refine the product and uncover un