Forge Robotics

The US manufacturing sector is facing a crisis—415,000 unfilled jobs right now and a projected 3.8 million workers needed by 2033. Traditional factories can't hire their way out of this. Eoin Cobbe and Robert Cormican looked at this problem and said "we'll build robots that run the whole shop floor."

That's Forge Robotics. They're building modular autonomous factories in shipping container-sized units that snap together like Lego. Each module is self-contained, configurable in software, and runs 24/7 without operators. Welding, scanning, laser engraving, logistics—every function autonomous. They achieve sub-millimeter accuracy (under 100 microns), hit 99% first-pass yield, and can have a new module up and running within a week. To double capacity? Add another module. Production doubles a week later. No new headcount required.

The labor math is brutal and undeniable. Forge's modular approach solves it by removing the need for humans to actually run the machines. They just finished Y Combinator's F25 batch with $500K pre-seed from YC and angels who actually understand robotics. The future of manufacturing isn't bigger factories with more workers—it's intelligent modules that see, decide, and adapt. Forge is building that future one shipping container at a time.

They're based in San Francisco and looking for engineers who want to automate the backbone of the global economy.