Atelier West is a 12-week, cash- and equity-free residency program for committed, ambitious Physical AI startups

Cohort companies work out of our San Francisco Mission Rock labs, get structured time to work directly with experts in design, strategy, hardware, and AI, and close the program with a demo day in front of enterprise partners and investors.

Cost & Commitment

The program is free for participants: no equity, no cash. You will be asked for a refundable deposit tied to lab access. The only commitment we ask is to partner with us on joint case studies, reference architectures, pilot projects, and/or thought leadership.

Program timeline

• Weeks 0-1, Onboarding & Lab Training
• Weeks 2-11, Build, with cohort events built around your problem set
• Week 12, Demo Day for enterprise partners and investors

Lab & Facilities Access: six prototyping labs

• Rapid Prototyping
• Industrial Design
• Mechanical Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Metrology Lab
• New Product Introduction (NPI)

Expert Mentorship

Scheduled office hours with experts from frog, Synapse, and Capgemini Experience Engineering across strategy, design, hardware, AI, simulation, and embedded software.

• John Robins, Physical AI
• Carl Fattal, Robotics Hardware
• Sarah Pinner, Strategy
• John Staskevich, Embedded Software
• Peter Hauser, Manufacturing Readiness
• Chris Blower, Robotics Hardware
• Soheil Sarmadi, Computer Vision
• Kamil Klamann, Strategy
• Inna Lobel, Product Design
• Ryan Starling, Product Design
• Chuck Yust, Solution Architecture
• Nate Silverman, Simulation & Digital Twins

Events & Enterprise Access

Group workshops built around your cohort’s needs, connecting you with relevant enterprise companies, and a closing demo day.

Partner Benefits

Participants are prioritized for AWS for Startups ($100,000-200,000 in AWS Activate Credits).

We’re looking for committed teams building in Physical AI and solving a clear, named problem.