Esben Østergaard

Østergaard was a co-founder of Universal Robots and served as CTO for 14 years, creating the product, growing the product portfolio, and enhancing the products. They are the CEO of REInvest Robotics, which partners with executives and entrepreneurs to grow robotics companies through business technology, strategy development, and direct investment, focusing on products that make the world better according to the UN's SDGs. They currently hold multiple roles, including board member at Blue Atlas Robotics (2020–Present) and Lifeline Robotics co-founder (2020–Present), as well as co-founder of RobSub (2022–Present) and Robothania (2024–Present). Their education includes a Ph.D. in Robotics and AI from the University of Southern Denmark (2001–2004) and studies in Physics, Multimedia Science, and Computer Science at Aarhus University (1993–2000); they were a researcher and assistant professor at the University of Southern Denmark (2001–2005) and worked as a research scientist at USC Robotics Labs and as a visiting researcher at AIST.