Robot on Rails has been awarded $253,431 through the Massachusetts Robotic Digital Twin Initiative, a program of the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MassTech). We were one of six organizations selected in the program's inaugural cohort, which awarded nearly $2 million in total.
Our grant funds a digital twin — a virtual, data-driven replica of our robot — designed to lower the barriers to adopting automated systems in lab environments, and to support the growth and scaling of startups. The project is also intended to strengthen collaboration between Massachusetts' robotics and life-sciences sectors.
Digital twins let teams test robots virtually before deploying them in the real world — reducing cost, improving safety, and accelerating innovation. Each grantee makes a digital twin of its product publicly accessible for the broader robotics ecosystem, building a shared library that other innovators can develop and test against.
In their words: "Robot on Rails, an early-stage startup focused on standardizing lab automation, was awarded a grant for $253,431 to create a digital twin designed to lower barriers to adopting automated systems in lab environments supporting the growth and scaling of startups." — MassRobotics
We're proud to be building this alongside fellow Massachusetts grantees including Boston Dynamics, Northeastern University, BlueFusion, Luminous Robotics, and SAMIS AI — and to keep advancing physical AI for the lab bench, right here in Boston.