Hardware
Robot Arms · Industrial Platforms
Robot Arms · Industrial Platforms
Machine Learning · Perception · Autonomy
Tools Built Here · Shared with Everyone
Deploy · Monitor · Control from Anywhere
Builders · Engineers · Researchers
Sunnyvale, CA · Est. 2024
AuTomato Labs is a community-run robotics and AI lab in Sunnyvale, CA. We give curious, motivated people access to industrial hardware, compute resources, and each other — so they can build things that actually matter.
Inside: UR5e robot arms, autonomous mobile platforms, electronics benches, GPU compute for AI training, and a growing library of open-source tools built right here. Every project pushes both the hardware and the intelligence behind it.
We're in Build Phase — the lab is growing and the people shaping it now will have the most influence over where it goes. Come early. Build something real.
UR5e cobots. Autonomous mobile platforms. Sensor arrays. Electronics benches. All available to members working on real projects — not toys, not demos.
We pair every hardware project with software and AI work so the systems are intelligent, not just mechanical.
From perception pipelines and object detection to reinforcement learning and LLM-driven robot control — we're building AI that runs on real hardware, not just benchmarks.
GPU compute available in-lab. Cloud VM access for members. ROS integration across all AI systems.
Everything we build — from the 3D-printable automatic tool changer for the UR5e, to our lab inventory system, to our ROS packages — gets open-sourced.
Lab Inventory System — running in-lab
Make the tools cheaper and more accessible for every lab, startup, and researcher.
The lab runs a full remote access stack — members can develop, test, and control robots from home. Authenticated access, role-based permissions, and live robot telemetry over a local server with cloud VM fallback.
Founder · Engineer · Mentor
Douglas is an engineer, mentor, and R&D specialist with deep roots in robotics, computer vision, and experimental systems design. He has spent his career building things that didn't exist yet. From unified robotics characterization labs to automated CI/CD test infrastructure across thirty hardware-in-the-loop testers.
His expertise spans software development, image and depth analytics pipelines, sensor characterization, rapid prototyping, and PCB design. He's built robot testing infrastructure, written motion control systems, and mentored dozens of people — many from low-income backgrounds — into skilled technical roles.
AuTomato Labs is the natural extension of everything Douglas believes in: give people access to real hardware, a real team, and a real reason to show up — and they'll build things that matter. The lab is open because he wanted a place like this to exist, so he built it.
Everyone who desires to learn and contribute is welcome. We teach at all skill levels — and every project we work on has something for you to contribute to.