Path Robotics is hiring for more than 50 Columbus roles in physical AI
The AI welding company now employs more than 300 people. Its CEO, a machine learning engineer who joined in March, and the executive who has built its team since 2020 explain why they build physical AI in Ohio and what daily life in Columbus adds to the work.
Path Robotics has grown from a family-founded startup into a company of more than 300 employees, and it is still adding people in the city where it started. The Columbus company is hiring for more than 50 positions locally, across AI, robotics, engineering, sales, and operations, as demand for its systems grows.
Path Robotics develops AI models that let robots autonomously perform complex manufacturing tasks, starting with welding and expanding into new applications. CEO and co-founder Andy Lonsberry explained that keeping that work in Ohio was a decision made at the start.
“Ohio is in our DNA,” Lonsberry said. “I grew up in a manufacturing family here, and when my brother, father and I started Path Robotics, we knew we wanted to build the company in Ohio.”
By the numbers
- 300+ employees at Path Robotics
- 50+ open positions in Columbus, spanning AI, robotics, engineering and operations
- About 25 employees when Vice President of People Alexandra Scheinem joined in 2020
- 3 family members co-founded the company: Lonsberry, his brother and his father
Why Path builds in Columbus
Lonsberry pointed to two talent pools that meet in Columbus: graduates of research institutions such as Ohio State University, and workers with decades of hands-on manufacturing experience. He described that combination as especially valuable for a company building physical AI to solve industrial problems. Path Robotics has also recruited from across the country while growing locally.
“We see no reason why the next great AI companies need to be built in Silicon Valley,” Lonsberry stated.
Ohio as the capital of physical AI
Lonsberry described physical AI as bringing intelligence into the real world, so machines can perceive, reason and adapt to their surroundings. That work requires factory floors, equipment and the physical processes being automated.
“You can’t develop physical AI entirely behind a computer screen – you need access to real manufacturing environments, equipment and the physical processes you’re trying to automate,” he commented.
He framed Ohio’s position in firm terms. “We believe that Ohio has already solidified its status as the capital of physical AI,” Lonsberry said, citing the state’s manufacturing base, research institutions, growing technology ecosystem and industrial problems that AI is helping to solve.
He also pointed to companies such as 1872 investing in AI-native manufacturing facilities in the state. The Cincinnati startup opened an autonomous steel fabrication factory in the Camp Washington neighborhood in July, backed by a $15 million seed round, and uses Path Robotics’ robotic welding systems.
Closing the gap between simulation and the shop floor
Noah Ford joined Path Robotics as a senior machine learning engineer in March 2026. He noted that his earlier roles focused on researching robotic systems more than deploying them, and that Path Robotics drew him with its focus on intelligent robots that work in real manufacturing environments.
Ford builds models of physics that Path Robotics’ machine learning system uses to optimize its behavior. The more accurate those models are, he explained, the better the system can carry what it learns in simulation into real-world performance. That cuts down on expensive, time-consuming physical testing and helps the company scale. The challenge is often called the “sim-to-real” problem, and Ford works on it directly with Path’s fleet of welding robots.
“There are so many ways that intended changes can get lost in translation when applied in the real world,” Ford said. “It’s rewarding to work with a great team to identify those challenges and solve them.”
Building the team from 25 to more than 300
Scheiman joined Path Robotics in 2020, when the company had about 25 employees. She had spent six years leading recruiting at Spotify before working at Facebook, and had recently moved from Manhattan to Columbus to raise her family.
Scheiman described the link between the work and its impact on an entire industry as direct, and felt by all employees.
“You can walk onto our floor, see the robots, talk to the people building them, and understand how that work translates into something a customer needs,” she said.
Her job includes bringing together AI researchers, software engineers, roboticists, welders and manufacturing experts. These groups come from very different backgrounds, and Path needs all of them to succeed. The company is helping manufacturers address a shortage of skilled welding capacity, and Scheiman noted that who Path hires directly shapes what it can deliver.
What Columbus offers
Both employees cited cost of living and the ease of daily life. Ford highlighted Columbus’ restaurants, walkable neighborhoods, running trails and parks. He added that he hasn’t lived on the West Coast and can’t compare the two directly, but he sees Columbus as a mix of affordability, quality of life and career opportunity.
“It’s a great place to build both a career and a life,” Ford commented..
For Scheiman, the move made room for family. Her parents, her sister’s family and her grandmother eventually followed her to Columbus. She cited a short commute, strong public schools and easy access to restaurants, sports, concerts and theater.
“I actually go to more cultural events here than I did in New York because they’re so easy to get to,” she said.
Her pitch to tech workers weighing the West Coast is straightforward.
“You don’t have to move to Silicon Valley to work on cutting-edge technology,” Scheiman said.
