LEADERSHIP Conversations with the Captains of Industry
Time to Pour on the Gas and Grow
When he wasn’t cramming for exams or working on multiple engineering assignments at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Matt Rendall spent his time in the robotics lab. “Building early prototype autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) quickly became a passion,” Rendall says. Years later, that passion engendered a startup, as Rendall and three university colleagues formed Clearpath Robotics to create robotics platforms for research and development. In 2015, Clearpath formed a new business division, OTTO Motors, which develops AMRs for material handling. Rockwell Automation acquired Clearpath Robotics and OTTO Motors in 2023. Rendall heads Clearpath and OTTO as CEO. He recently gave us a look at OTTO’s evolution, discussed the impact of the Rockwell acquisition, and discussed how he leads his teams. IL: What is OTTO Motors’ origin story? As Clearpath became a market leader, around 2013 we got our first R&D contracts for AMRs in material handling applications. We recognized this quickly emerging opportunity as the first big end use application for AMRs. So we decided to take our amazing technology and deploy it vertically into that category. IL: Is there a lesson you learned early in your career that has helped to shape you as a leader? We started our company with just $200. We didn’t have money to develop prototypes; we didn’t even have enough experience to know what prototypes to develop. So we concentrated on product and customer development. We said, “Let’s find customers who have a problem that’s so painful, they’re prepared to buy an idea on paper.” From day one, it has been part of our DNA to ask customers probing questions, get to the root of their challenges, find the patterns, and turn that information into opportunities. To this day, our leadership position comes from our relentless focus on listening to the customer. IL: What does it mean to OTTO Motors and the industry you serve that you are now part of Rockwell Automation? Rockwell has brought the AMR industry credibility that it never had before. We did great work in the past, but we were a mid-sized company trying to serve the world’s largest
Matt Rendall CEO, OTTO Motors
After starting his company with just $200, Matt Rendall has learned to focus relentlessly on product and customer development, lead with humility, trust his gut, and allow his team to learn from mistakes.
by Merrill Douglas
10 Inbound Logistics • April 2024
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