# Robotics Factory Accelerate — Fit Evaluation

_Evaluated: April 2026_
_Program deadline: July 18, 2026_
_Program URL: https://www.roboticsfactory.org/accelerate_

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## Program Summary

The Robotics Factory Accelerate program is a **12-month startup accelerator** for early-stage
robotics companies in the Pittsburgh, PA area (SWPA). Up to 6 companies per cohort receive:

- Up to $100,000 in funding
- Office space at the Lawrenceville facility
- Prototyping workshop and robotics testing equipment
- Mentorship via Pittsburgh Robotics Network
- Business coaching and manufacturing bootcamp

**Eligibility requirements:**
- Must be a pre-seed startup with a robotics product (sense, perceive, act)
- Must have completed customer discovery and be engaging with potential customers
- Must maintain significant physical presence in SWPA during the 12-month program and for
  5 years afterward

## Fit Assessment: **Not a fit — recommend skip**

| Criterion | Required | roboharness | Fit? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entity type | Startup/company | Open-source project | ✗ |
| Product type | Robotics hardware/software (sense, perceive, act) | Testing harness / dev tool | ✗ |
| Geographic requirement | Physical presence in SWPA (Pittsburgh, PA) | No fixed location | ✗ |
| Customer discovery | Completed, actively engaging customers | No commercial customers | ✗ |
| Revenue stage | Pre-revenue acceptable | Pre-revenue | ✓ |

### Conclusion

roboharness does not qualify on three fundamental criteria:

1. **Not a company.** The program is explicitly for startups. roboharness is an open-source
   project maintained by an individual contributor, not incorporated as a business.

2. **Product mismatch.** The program targets robots that "sense, perceive, act" — physical or
   embodied robotics products. roboharness is developer tooling (a testing harness), which
   sits one layer above the hardware/firmware the program is designed for.

3. **Geographic constraint.** The program requires 5+ years of physical presence in
   Southwest Pennsylvania. This is a hard disqualifier regardless of other criteria.

## Recommendation

**Do not apply.** No amount of positioning or framing changes the fundamental eligibility gap.
Applying would waste evaluator time and reflect poorly on the project.

**Better funding targets (already in progress):**
- Anthropic Claude for Open Source — deadline June 30, 2026
  (see `docs/funding/anthropic-oss-application.md`)
- Google DeepMind Accelerator: Robotics — monitor for future cohort announcements
- GSoC 2027 org application — prepare Q4 2026
- NumFOCUS affiliated project — evaluate end of Q2 2026
