Building the Operating System for the Future of Automation with Ryan Gariepy of Clearpath Robotics

In this episode of Tank Talks, Matt Cohen chats with Ryan Gariepy, CTO and Co-Founder of Clearpath Robotics, on how a garage project from four Waterloo grads turned into one of Canada’s biggest deep tech exits. Ryan takes us behind the scenes of Clearpath’s $600M acquisition by Rockwell Automation and the company’s journey from building robots for researchers to dominating the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) space.

The conversation covers building during a hardware-unfriendly time, the harsh realities of supply chains, the open-source bet that changed robotics, and what it really feels like to pitch in a room of 50+ Rockwell execs. Ryan also breaks down why humanoid robots are still far off, the evolution of talent in robotics, and how Canada can stay in the game. A must-listen for anyone building in frontier tech, hard tech, or just trying to scale something real.

Garage to Global Robotics Platform (00:00:49)

* Building Clearpath as a first job out of university

* From LEGO and sci-fi to industrial-grade robots

* “We didn’t incorporate until we sold our first piece of vaporware.”

* Early clients and funding in a post-2008 downturn

Finding Product-Market Fit in Robotics (00:07:22)

* Observing where researchers were getting bored and the industry was getting excited

* Why they skipped the self-driving car race and focused on logistics

* Clearpath’s strategic bets: industrial automation, mining, and inventory tracking

The Role of Strategic Investors (00:10:00)

* Caterpillar, GE, and Hyundai backed Clearpath with market-aligned capital

* “They were bought into the vision before the checks were written.”

The Rockwell Deal: Behind the $600M Exit (00:10:48)

* Term sheet to close in five months: “It felt like an eternity.”

* Surviving a 50-person technical due diligence call

* Lessons from being tested by Fortune 500 execs: “I’m proud I made it through.”

* On integration: "Separate your identity from your company early, it helps."

Post-Acquisition Life and Scaling with Rockwell (00:16:16)

* Transitioning from founder to employee

* How joining Rockwell offered the scale Clearpath couldn’t build alone

* The upside of collaborating with seasoned technical leaders

ROS, Open Source, and the OSRA Launch (00:17:11)

* Founding the Open Source Robotics Alliance

* Making open-source robotics enterprise-ready

* “We want people to build on reliable tools, not reinvent the wheel.”

AI, Hype vs. Reality in Robotics (00:20:03)

* Why LLMs aren’t yet revolutionizing robot performance

* Cautioning against overhyping early AI integrations

* “Writing the algorithm is the easy part, everything around it is the hard part.”

The Evolution of Robotic Talent (00:23:07)

* From grad-school coders to cross-industry engineering pros

* Production-grade code becoming the standard

* The underrated value of hiring low-ego, heads-down engineers early

Lessons from Scaling Hardware Through Crisis (00:27:23)

* Navigating power cable shortages during COVID

* Being vertically integrated saved them barely

* “Our margins took a hit, but our suppliers knew we were long-term partners.”

Why Autonomy in Plants Will Win (00:34:07)

* Factory robots vs. public-road self-driving cars

* Simpler operational environments = faster ROI

* “We already have the existence proof for factory autonomy.”

The Future of Robotics (00:36:59)

* Hoping for better sensors, especially depth cameras

* Small, on-device AI models for better HRI (Human-Robot Interaction)

* “The tech isn’t quite conscious, but we’re close to robots that can explain themselves.”

About Ryan Gariepy

Ryan Gariepy is the CTO and Co-Founder of Clearpath Robotics, a Waterloo-born robotics company that pioneered open-source development in autonomous mobile robots. In 2023, Clearpath was acquired for $600M USD by Rockwell Automation. Ryan is a board member of the Open Source Robotics Foundation, co-chair of the Canadian Robotics Council, and a vocal advocate for AI and robotics leadership in Canada.

Connect with Ryan Gariepy on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/rgariepy

Visit Clearpath Robotics Website: https://clearpathrobotics.com/

Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1

Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/