About Rooted Robotics
We're farmers and engineers building the automation equipment we wish we'd had.
Our Mission
We're on a mission to make commercial grade automation accessible to farms of all sizes. Too many farmers are stuck choosing between expensive industrial equipment designed for massive operations, or continuing with manual labor that prevents profitable scaling.
Rooted Robotics was founded to fill this gap. We build tabletop automation equipment that delivers commercial performance without the commercial facility requirements or the pricing games other manufacturers play.
Based in Boulder, CO, we design and manufacture all our equipment in the USA.
How We Started
Rooted Robotics was born from firsthand experience running microgreens operations. Our founders spent years dealing with the same labor bottlenecks every grower faces. Seeding hundreds of trays daily. Hand harvesting for hours. Scrubbing endless stacks of dirty trays.
When we looked for automation solutions, we found a frustrating reality. Industrial equipment costing $50,000 to $100,000+ with no published pricing, or cheap tools that barely improved on manual work. Nothing served the mid sized operations processing 100 to 2,500 trays daily. That's the backbone of local microgreens production.
So we built what we needed. Tabletop machines that fit existing workflows. Published pricing so farms can actually budget. Equipment designed to be repairable because we know downtime kills farms. And a commitment to supporting farmers before, during, and after the sale because we've been there.
Our Values
Rooted in Support
We pride ourselves on our commitment to farmers before, during, and after a machine is delivered. You're not buying equipment. You're gaining partners who understand your operation.
Thoughtfully Designed
Everything we design and build is meant to be repairable, because we know farms can't afford downtime. If something breaks, you should be able to fix it, not ship it across the country for weeks.
Fairly Priced
Keeping prices low is one of our top priorities. Both small and large farms should have the ability to automate. We publish our pricing. No sales games, no "request a quote" runaround.
Experience
We know what it's like to be a farmer, because we were farmers ourselves. Every design decision comes from real-world experience dealing with the exact problems you face daily.
Meet the Team
MAXIMILIAN KNIGHT
CEO
Max is an experienced entrepreneur & systems engineer with a diverse skill set spanning robotics, software, sales and business development. He previously worked on product management in the renewable energy industry and later started an environmental control system company that launched a successful Kickstarter campaign.
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ERIC ROTH
COO
Eric has over 13 years of experience operating indoor farms. He co-founded his own aquaponic farm which he sold to FarmedHere (the largest vertical farm in North America at the time). After working at FarmedHere as Director of Agriculture, he gained experience as a consultant for Agritecture, an industry leading consulting firm. Most recently he worked at Kalera as Head Grower, where he grew over 12 million heads of lettuce a year.
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DR. SEBASTIAN VAZQUEZ-CARSON
CTO
Sebastian holds a PhD in atomic molecular and optical physics from Columbia University. During his PhD he became experienced in mechanical design, designing and programming complex control systems with hundreds of inputs. Since his 3 years out of academia he has leveraged his technical skills to become a full stack developer and expert in robotics, and computer vision.
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CHRISTIAN MALJIAN
Head of Engineering
Christian graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has since worked in a variety of industries where he mastered mechanical engineering and design principles. He now leads Rooted Robotic's engineering team as we build, design, and test our machines.
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Let's discuss how Rooted Robotics can help transform your operation.