NextShift Robotics was co-founded by Mary Ellen Sparrow. Mary Ellen first began creating material handling robotics systems for the Semi-Conductor Industry while at PRI Automation (which was brought by Brooks Automation). Mary Ellen focused on all layers of software and her teams were responsible for deploying 30+ systems in Fabrication plants across the world for Intel, IBM, AMD, Motorola, Promos, etc. She has held software management positions at Brooks Automation, AS&E, Symbotic, and Veeco, where she managed software, systems, controls, software quality, field service, and program management teams; was a member of the companies’ strategic planning boards; and company representative for several semi-conductor standards committees.