READY Robotics, developer of the Forge/OS enterprise-grade operating system for industrial automation, today announced two key hires to its team. Juan Aparicio joined READY Robotics as vice president of product and Mark Patterson was named director of business development. Both Aparicio and Patterson will be tasked with scaling Forge/OS.

Aparicio spent more than a decade at Siemens, leading its advanced manufacturing automation team. While at Siemens, Aparicio was awarded MIT Tech Review Innovator Under 35 Europe, granted numerous patents, and recognized as Siemens’ 2020 Inventor of the Year. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Advanced Robotics in Manufacturing (ARM) Institute, a member of the A3 Strategic Advisory Committee on AI, and a startup advisor at UC Berkeley’s Skydeck.

Aparicio also spoke in our RoboBusiness Direct Series about “Robotics at the Edge: Flexible Manufacturing, Intelligent Machines, and Edge Robotics.” You can watch the session on demand here.

“When I joined Siemens in 2010, I couldn’t have dreamt to have such an impactful career. It’s been the honor of a lifetime,” said Aparicio. “As I look into the future, the opportunity to lead product for READY Robotics is impossible to pass up. My personal mission is to democratize access to robots and unleash the power of automation, and there is no better time and place to do it than right now at READY. The field of robotics is on the verge of a Cambrian explosion, in terms of the amount of robots and applications where they will be deployed. I look forward to working with the READY team to help make this a reality!“

Patterson came from Schunk where he built out its collaborative robotic sales channels from the ground up.

“It’s exciting to help READY smash the barrier that prevents robot adoption,” said Patterson. “With their established end-user relationships and automation expertise, distributors and integrators will play a critical role in getting Forge/OS-powered automation in the hands of manufacturers. I’m eager to build a network of trusted partners that believe in the value of Forge/OS as much as I do.”

Founded in 2016, Columbus, Ohio-based Ready Robotics’ Forge/OS is a drag-and-drop programming interface designed to make programming robots and automation easier for those who don’t have coding experience. It is compatible with the leading robotics brands, such as ABB, Fanuc, Kuka, Universal Robots and Yaskawa, and provides a common OS and programming interface across brands.

Ben Gibbs, co-founder and CEO of READY Robotics, has often said his goal is for robot programming to no longer be a barrier to deploying automation.

“I couldn’t be more excited to add Juan and Mark to the READY team. Juan’s impact at Siemens, and on the greater automation community, cannot be overstated. His expertise will be invaluable in refining Forge/OS into a platform that can unlock automation and ignite innovation,” said Gibbs. “Of course, getting automation technology into the hands of the market is about more than building a great product, which is why I’m equally excited to add Mark Patterson to lead channel partner development. Mark’s experience building out the collaborative robotics sales channels for Schunk will enable READY to build a powerful distribution network that makes Forge/OS-powered automation accessible to all manufacturers.”

READY Robotics recently partnered with the Eastern Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing Institute (eKAMI) to retrain coal miners to be robotics technicians. In the middle of coal country, Kathy Walker has built a model for the future at eKAMI, which is teaching unemployed coal miners the advanced manufacturing skills that U.S. manufacturing sorely needs.