Hello! These days I’m on the investing side at Emerald Technology Ventures in Zurich, looking at physical AI and robotics startups and asking myself the same question I used to ask in the field: does this actually help the customer, or does it just look good in a demo video?

Before that I spent five years at ANYbotics, most recently leading the field engineering team that delivered autonomous inspection robots to industrial customers around the world, from mines deep underground to power plants and production facilities. As Field Engineering Leader I built teams up and led them in Zurich, San Francisco, and Barcelona, and led deployments through a period where the company more than tripled in size. I learned that getting a robot to walk is honestly not the hard part, actually delivering customer value day after day is.

Together with Marco Tranzatto, we built a community that almost all robotics field leaders in Zurich and the wider region have since joined (in case we missed you, apply here). We meet regularly to compare field learnings, exchange on best practices and tools, and try not to make the same mistakes twice.

I hold an MBA and a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich, where I did both my Master’s and Semester Thesis at Disney Research Zurich, the second one together with the artists Pors & Rao. Before ANYbotics I worked as a Field Application Engineer at Sensirion, working with customers, mostly in Asia, to turn their requirements into new sensor solutions. I enjoy intercultural, cross-functional work. In practice this means calls at strange times of day, long flights, and lots of (hopefully great) coffee at early morning meetings, but also rich cultural learning, amazing food, and connections all around the world.

Outside of work I spend time with my family, go running, and enjoy water sports . I also love to cook and eat well, and that travels with me. My friends will tell you I’m not just good for restaurant tips wherever you go. I take my coffee and ice cream just as seriously, two more passions of mine. Every now and then I come up with some new side project you can find on GitHub or somewhere else on the web, like eatup.ch, maurinwidmer.ch, or my Murphy desk hidden inside an IKEA PAX wardrobe.