Analog Devices doubles down on robotics startups with renewed MassRobotics sponsorship
The semiconductor giant is giving Boston-area robotics founders direct access to its engineers, sensor technology and seed funding through its internal startup incubator.
Key points
- Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), a semiconductor company with more than $11 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2025, has renewed its strategic sponsorship of MassRobotics, a Boston-based robotics startup accelerator.
- ADI's internal incubator group, Analog Garage, gives participating startups hands-on access to sensor hardware, signal-processing expertise and engineering mentorship.
- ADI will judge the MassRobotics Startup PitchFest at IROS 2026 on 28 September, with applications closing 20 August.
- The company will also appear at RoboBusiness on 20 and 21 October in Santa Clara, California, running workshops for early-stage robotics founders.
Building a physical robot is brutally expensive. The sensors alone can sink a startup before it ships a single unit.
That is the problem Analog Devices Inc. (ADI), a company that makes the specialist chips and sensors that sit inside everything from factory arms to medical scanners, is trying to help solve. This month, ADI renewed its strategic sponsorship of MassRobotics, one of the world's leading robotics startup accelerators, first reported by The Robot Report.
What does the deal actually mean for robotics founders?
Startups inside MassRobotics get direct access to ADI's engineering team and its technology stack, including the sensors, signal-processing chips and power-management components that are often the hardest parts of a robot to get right.
Central to the partnership is Analog Garage, ADI's internal corporate venture and incubator unit. Think of it as the part of a large company that acts more like a startup itself: it combines seed funding, technical staff and prototyping resources to help early-stage ideas become shippable products.
"Developing hardware and advanced robotics is notoriously capital- and engineering-intensive," said Joyce Sidopoulos, co-founder and chief of operations at MassRobotics. "Having ADI's technical expertise and mentorship directly accessible to our startup community is a great asset for accelerating the development of commercial-ready physical systems."
In plain terms: founders get to borrow the kind of deep hardware knowledge that would otherwise cost them years and millions to build in-house.
Where can founders meet ADI in person?
ADI has a busy events calendar lined up. The nearest opportunity is MassRobotics' 9th Annual Robot Block Party in Boston on 26 September.
After that, ADI will serve as a judge at the MassRobotics Startup PitchFest, held at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2026) on 28 September. Applications for that pitching competition close on 20 August.
Then, on 20 and 21 October, ADI joins the Robotics Startup Bootcamp at RoboBusiness in Santa Clara, California. Colm Prendergast, senior director and head of the Emerging Tech Hub at Analog Garage, will run sessions explaining how startups can move from a proof of concept through to a pilot programme and eventually full commercialisation.
Founders who want a seat at those workshops can register directly through the RoboBusiness site.
