It’s not a surprise to hear that many of today’s roboticists were inspired by George Lucas and the Star Wars films to create their own “droids” and intelligent machines. As the world recognizes Star Wars Day (May 4, as in “May the Fourth” be with you), we noticed some similarities between the droids in a galaxy far, far away and the ones now populating planet Earth. We also realized that much of the universe-saving that goes on in the movies rely on the assistance of these mechanized beings.

We’ve said it here before, but it’s worth repeating – robots fail, and they fail more often than you think. When companies talk about the benefits of robotics, they tend to gloss over some of the downsides of autonomous systems, especially those that work in dynamic, changing and chaotic environments. Robots get stuck, they get lost, they break down … and occasionally they even catch fire or fall down an escalator.

At InOrbit, most of our time is spent thinking about robots and how to make them perform better. But part of that vision includes robots and humans working together – without the human factor, robots are just a collection of metal and plastic parts. We are starting a series of posts highlighting some of the outstanding humans on the InOrbit team, also known as InOrbiters. The posts will share details on some of the newest members to the team, what drove them to work here, and what they find most interesting about robotics and the development of the InOrbit platform.

A healthy organization is constantly evolving and growing. That’s why we are very pleased to share that our executive team at InOrbit is growing with the addition of Diego May as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO).

Diego has a track record of driving business growth. With a rich experience in sales, marketing and business development, and roles ranging from startup founder and board member to venture capitalist and driving sales/BD at public companies, Diego is the perfect complement to InOrbit’s founding team.

“The robotics industry is at an inflection point and InOrbit is uniquely positioned to be a catalyst for the current growth,” said Diego. “I am excited to join this amazing team to help realize the vision and create this new software category.”

InOrbit is a leading partner of the Qualcomm® Robotics Platform and a member of its Qualcomm Advantage Network. Qualcomm and InOrbit have integrated the next generation of AI-enabled, 5G-connected autonomous robots with a modern, distributed data platform that can maximize the potential of every robot. 

Robots operating in unstructured environments are bound to run into situations that require human intervention. Having the right incident management system is key to meeting service level agreements (SLAs) to help prevent robots from failing constantly.

With 2020 in the rear-view mirror, the world turns its focus to 2021 and the challenges of adapting to the new world created by last year’s global events.

To say 2020 was a challenging year for all of us would be like saying water is wet. Duh. Instead, we turn to some of our favorite films for inspiration to explain why challenges are good for people and companies.

Gratitude comes in many forms, from the simplest “thank you” to the cashier at the grocery store, to a hand-written note or bouquet of flowers sent to an appreciated colleague on a job well done. In this crazy world of frenzied deadlines, headlines, appointments and endless video conference calls, it’s nice to have some time to sit back to reflect on where we’ve been and where we want to go.

The change of seasons and the beginning of the holidays for many offer a perfect opportunity to express our gratitude to those around us. While in previous years we may have skipped right past this time in our eagerness to get to the mall or begin our Cyber Monday shopping lists, 2020 and all of its insanity has reminded us of thinking about what’s truly important.

Today I’m happy to announce four new members have joined the InOrbit Board of Advisors, representing outstanding expertise in the field of robotics, cloud technology, supply chain management and venture funding. Our advisors help InOrbit accelerate our vision to help companies scale their robotic fleets through our cloud-based robot operations (RobOps) platform.

The four new advisors represent a wealth of experience across different fields:

Martin Hitch, one of the co-founders of BossaNova Robotics, who helped the company pivot from consumer products to service robotics. During his tenure at Bossa Nova, he raised more than $40 million in venture investment.


Patricio Echague, co-founder and CTO at Split.io, is an entrepreneur and engineer passionate about data and high-performance systems. At Split Software, he’s changing the way software companies release features and add value to their customers. He was also part of the engineering founding team at RelateIQ, which was acquired by Salesforce.