Most factories want automation but only few can afford the complexity. Programming robots are slow, expensive, and requires expert coders. For most manufacturers, it’s just out of reach.
That’s the problem Daryl Lim, Chong Voon Foo, and Leong Yong Shin set out to solve with Augmentus.
Whether it’s scanning a part, planning robot movement, or preventing collisions—Augmentus handles it without a single line of code. All in real-time and from an intuitive interface.
Built to Simplify: How Three Founders Took on Automation
Daryl Lim, Chong Voon Foo and Leong Yong Shin may have hailed from different backgrounds, but they shared a common problem: robotics was simply too inaccessible to the people who actually wanted to use it.
Daryl had spent years creating products, and starting companies at places such as NUS and Leap, always seeking to close the loop between tech and real-world application.
Voon Foo brought sharp business instincts from his time in deep-tech sales, while Yong Shin had been immersed in code and systems architecture, constantly asking how machines could be made smarter—and simpler.
What brought them together was a shared frustration—and the belief that they could build something better. Voon Foo brought his business development expertise from ST Engineering and Dassault Systèmes, while Yong Shin had deep technical knowledge in software architecture and computer vision.
Their paths crossed through their engineering networks in Singapore, and they quickly found common ground in one thing: automation was too complicated for most of the people who needed it most.
The Origin of the Idea
The trio witnessed how painful and slow it was to program industrial robots—especially in high-mix manufacturing settings. Traditional automation required weeks of coding and integration, often by specialists. That was a bottleneck. They wondered what it would be like if programming robots were as easy as using an app.
That spark gave birth to Augmentus, a no-code robotics platform designed to automate the hard stuff—like path planning, error detection, and collision avoidance—without writing a single line of code.
The Leap into Entrepreneurship
In 2019, they co-founded Augmentus in Singapore. They had no corporate safety net and no pre-built customer base. They Just believed in the idea, and an understanding that if they could get it right, they’d change the face of industrial robotics forever.
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Refining Through Failure: Built in the Real World
Working in a small space, they constantly experimented and iterated on their approach. The early models were flawed, the sensors were inaccurate, the software not very polished. They worked with small local manufacturers to test in live environments and collected real-world data to refine the system.
From Skepticism to Success
Building a no-code platform for something as complex as robotics isn’t easy. Manufacturers were skeptical—many had been burned by overpromises before. Convincing them that a lean startup could out-innovate legacy players was a challenge.
Additionally, getting real-world data from factory floors during COVID lockdowns slowed down progress. But the team leaned into those constraints, iterating faster and proving results through small pilot wins.
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The Turning Point
The breakthrough came when Augmentus deployed its system in a valve coating factory. It previously took days of manual programming, soon it handled in minutes with 3D scanning and auto-generated paths. The factory saw a reduction in downtime. Suddenly, large manufacturers—and even robotics OEMs—wanted in.
No-Code Robotics Startup Augmentus Goes Global
From a few clients in Singapore, Augmentus now powers robot programming across multiple factories globally, including in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Their Series A and Series A+ funding rounds, led by Sierra Ventures and Cocoon Capital, helped them expand their team and launch deeper integrations with major robot brands.
Vision & Impact
They are trying to democratize automation by taking coding out of the equation. They’re giving the price of control to the everyday operator, people who know how to do the job, not just code.
They see a world where factories won’t require armies of engineers to automate production. Instead, a part is scanned by the operator, it takes entering a few buttons, and then he ergonomically lets the robot take over. It’s fast, affordable, and scalable.
Augmentus Culture
The founders lead with humility and hands-on energy. Daryl is known for jumping into customer conversations to understand real pain points. Voon Foo focuses on long-term partnerships, while Yong Shin keeps the tech team engaged in solving real and complex problems.
They believe in building with the people who use the product, not just for them. Their culture is defined by openness, feedback loops, and obsessing over usability.
Future Scope
If there’s one thing the Augmentus founders live by is: Solve painful problems, not flashy ones. Instead of chasing hype, they built something useful, tested it and stayed honest about what worked.
With their latest funding, Augmentus is expanding its European and U.S. presence. They’re building advanced features like multi-axis planning, improving robot adaptability, and launching a System Partner Program to scale even faster.Their long-term goal is to Make robotics programming so simple that anyone can do it.
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