Special Events

September

12
Tue
Samay Kohli Co-Founder & Board Member GreyOrange
Tuesday, September 12
11:00 am to 12:30 pm
Newell-Simon Hall 3305
Founding a successful Robotics Startup
Join entrepreneur Samay Kohli as he traces his journey taking industrial robotics from university research to mass adoption. Kohli will reflect on key inflection points in scaling his company’s solutions, including pivoting from individual robot products to an integrated system, building for variability in emerging markets, and aligning with industry needs. He’ll discuss critical mindset shifts required at each stage of evolution – from an idea, to a product, to an application, and eventually a scalable solution. In the second half of his talk, Kohli will share insights on how he could have accelerated this expansion through clearer focus on core problems first rather than technology, seeking global expertise early, and identifying adjacent growth opportunities like software services. Attendees will learn frameworks for developing university research into real-world technologies, strategies for survival and growth amid industry disruptions, and lessons in entrepreneurial perseverance from Kohli’s 15+ year journey. With Kohli’s experience taking robotics from labs to warehouses worldwide, this talk provides a unique perspective for aspiring entrepreneurs at the intersection of innovation and implementation.
 
Bio: Mr. Samay Kohli is a Co-Founder and serves as a Board Member at GreyOrange. He served as Chief Executive Officer at GreyOrange. GreyOrange is an industry-leading robotics company that develops warehouse automation solutions. Under Samay’s leadership over the past decade, GreyOrange has become one of the fastest-growing robotics companies globally, with over 650 employees and offices in India, Japan, Germany, Singapore, and the US. The extraordinary growth pace of GreyOrange speaks volumes of Samay’s contribution both as a builder/leader and a visionary who has transformed the supply chain automation industry globally with over 10k robots deployed. Samay himself is an impressive entrepreneur and thought leader in the robotics space. He has over 13 years of experience working in robotics, supply chain technology, and manufacturing industries. Samay’s passion for Robotics started about a decade ago. He was part of the team that created one of India’s first indigenous humanoid robots – AcYut. Samay has participated in robotics competitions across 13 countries; winning a Gold medal at the ROBOlympics in 2009. An alumnus of BITS (Pilani), India, Samay has been a keynote speaker at several prominent technology conferences around the world, and has been featured in many publications including Forbes, Economic Times, The Fortune, and has made his way to MIT Technology Review’s global list of “35 Innovators under 35”.