The Pransky interview: Mitchell Weiss, CTO, Seegrid Corporation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned-entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market. Design/methodology/approach The interviewee is Mitchell Weiss, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Seegrid Corporation, a manufacturer of stereo vision-guided robots and vehicle control systems. As an accomplished executive of automation and robotics companies, Weiss shares his experiences and industry knowledge, including his first full-time job out of college at Unimation, the world’s first robot company. Findings Weiss received a Bachelor of Science from MIT and a Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property (IP) from Northeastern University, has taught at Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania and has lectured at MIT. He has served as the Chief Operating Officer at Seegrid Corp.; CTO at Brooks Automation; CTO and Vice President of PRI Automation; President of ProgramMation, Inc.; and Chief Engineer and Co-Founder at United States Robots, Inc. Originality/value Weiss holds 24 patents, is an expert witness in IP litigation, is Vice Chair of ASTM F45 Driverless Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and is a member of ANSI/ITSDF B56.5 Safety Standard for Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and Automated Functions of Manned Industrial Vehicles. He is also one of the co-authors of the 1986 McGraw-Hill book Industrial Robotics: Technology, Programming, and Applications. Weiss has led his high-technology robotic and automation companies to be successful in the installation of worldwide automation systems in semiconductor manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, automotive and warehousing and distribution. His technical achievements in product design, development and production combined with his business expertise in fund-raising, initial public offering and mergers & acquisitions provide companies with a unique, forward-thinking technology roadmap.