Robotics & AI Venture Studio

Carnegie Foundry is a one-of-a-kind robotics and AI venture studio, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.

In partnership with the world leader in autonomous robotics and AI - the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) at Carnegie Mellon University - we scope, mature and commercialize cutting-edge IP and advanced prototypes, already market tested and primed for new and expanded applications.

​

Our team has a long track record of enabling advanced, complex and diverse tasks - many previously unachievable. Our model, which ensures access to a critical mass of broad and deep robotics expertise, mitigates the engineering risk, long lead times to market ready products and high burn rate that often foils other robotics companies - allowing us to build-out and spin-off multi-use technology solutions better, cheaper and faster.

Over $400 million is invested in the proprietary hardware and AI algorithms that power 25 years of NREC products, prototypes and IP that Carnegie Foundry leverages.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Photos courtesy of National Robotics Engineering Center, Carnegie Mellon University

​

​

We scope the most promising of that work for customization and redeployment in other sectors or to extend autonomous solutions across an industry's value chain. In partnership with NREC and its 140+ engineers, we can simultaneously scale multiple projects, and multiple technical challenges - to spin-off innovative new companies aligned with industry needs in a fraction of the time it would take others to mature only one.

Pittsburgh is a hotbed of innovation for robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, thanks in large part to the influence of National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

In the past decade, more than eighty local companies were acquired by the likes of Amazon, Autodesk, Delphi Automotive, IBM, Philips Healthcare, and Yelp.

Additionally, major technology companies, including Amazon, Uber, Facebook, Apple, Bosch, Caterpillar, Google, GE, and Tata, have opened technical or research offices in Pittsburgh.

Our work spans industries, including...

Autonomous Vehicles & Transportation Agriculture & Food Automation Manufacturing & Logistics

Warehouse and Materials Handling

Retail Automation

Healthcare & Health & Wellness

Defense, Security & Intelligence

Energy, Mining & Natural Resources Robotics Retraining & Upskilling

Critical MAss of Robotics & AI expertise, including...

Unmanned & Assisted Vehicle Systems

Robotic Manipulation & Navigation

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) 

Situational Awareness & Perception

 Sensor Design & Integration

Hybrid Cloud & Edge Processing

Video & Audio Forensics

Applied AI & Deep Learning Systems

Complex Systems Integration

​

The Executive Team

Robert J. Szczerba, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer 

​

Co-founder

Former Technology Executive and Senior Fellow Emeritus in Robotics & Automation at Lockheed Martin, and CEO of several tech startups

​

​

​

Herman Herman, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer

​

Co-founder

Current Director of the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) at Carnegie Mellon University and founder of multiple Robotics Companies​

​

​

Jeff Legault

Executive Vice President Business Development Co-founder

Current Associate Director of the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) at Carnegie Mellon University leading relationships with 100+ industry executives on Robotics & AI

Karl Sanchack

Chief Operating Officer

Operations, Product Acceleration

Former President & CEO of the Erie Innovation District and veteran operations, innovation executive at Lockheed Martin​​

Michael Lutzky

Chief Strategy Officer

Strategy, Marketing, Licensing, Partnerships

Former McKinsey & Company Management consultant and​ global media executive at Associated Press and NPR