Realtime Robotics Names Kevin Carlin CEO as Co-founder Peter Howard Moves to Chairman

Realtime Robotics has named Kevin Carlin as chief executive officer, effective immediately. Carlin succeeds co-founder Peter Howard, who will stay on as non-executive chairman of the board. The Boston company builds Resolver, an industrial AI platform that plans and deploys robot systems on factory floors. Realtime Robotics says Resolver is gaining traction in automotive manufacturing, where OEMs use the platform to shorten development timelines and manage increasingly complex production systems.

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Carlin joined the company in 2022 as chief commercial officer and was promoted to president and chief commercial officer in 2025, taking the top job after building out the customer relationships behind that run. Before Realtime Robotics, he spent more than 13 years at Analog Devices in senior roles across industrial automation and AI-based sensing. Howard, meanwhile, co-founded the company in 2016 alongside Duke University researchers Daniel Sorin, George Konidaris, Sean Murray, and Will Floyd-Jones, building it out of DARPA-funded motion-planning research before growing it into a company that has raised roughly $86 million, according to Tracxn (other databases report higher totals).

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The Handoff Runs Through the Customer List

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Founder successions are often presented as a company moving into a more operational phase. That reading only partly fits here. Howard will remain involved as chairman and continue supporting key relationships and long-term strategy. Day-to-day execution has passed to the executive who spent three years building the relationships behind what Howard called “proof that the world’s most demanding manufacturers need and want what we’ve built.”

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The succession reflects a shift in the company’s immediate challenge, from establishing the technology to selling it at scale. Realtime Robotics has worked with manufacturers and automation companies including Mercedes-Benz, FFT, ValiantTMS, and Schaeffler, while its platform supports industrial robot systems across major OEM brands. Carlin enters the CEO role with direct experience building those commercial relationships.

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Strategic Capital Has Backed This Company for Years

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Realtime Robotics has attracted backing from major industrial and automotive investors, including Toyota Ventures, Mitsubishi Electric, Hyundai Motor, Omron Ventures, and SAIC Capital. Mitsubishi Electric first invested in the company's Series A round and came back to lead the 2024 Series B, adding a board seat along with fresh capital. The repeated investment shows a long-term relationship and continued confidence from a major industrial backer. No public source connects the investor base to the timing of the CEO change. The funding history establishes that Realtime Robotics enters its next growth phase with strategic industrial capital behind it.

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Howard's own words point toward commercial proof. He described Carlin as instrumental in building the customer relationships and commercial engine behind the company's progress.

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What This Appointment Suggests for Industrial AI Leadership Searches

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Carlin's path offers one example of how an industrial AI company can approach succession as it enters a commercial growth phase. He came from Analog Devices, where he worked across industrial automation and AI-driven sensing before joining Realtime Robotics as chief commercial officer.

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That background gave him experience with industrial customers and the operating demands surrounding physical systems. For boards hiring in robotics and physical AI, adjacent semiconductor or automation companies can provide credible CEO candidates when commercial expansion becomes the immediate priority.

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Realtime Robotics plans to expand beyond automotive into other manufacturing sectors under Carlin. His appointment offers one possible succession model for companies at a similar stage, with the co-founder retaining board involvement while a commercially focused executive assumes responsibility for growth.

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