Cyberbotics Ltd.

What Cyberbotics Ltd. does

Cyberbotics Ltd. is a privately-held Swiss company founded in 1998 as a spin-off from EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) that develops and maintains Webots, an open source and multi-platform desktop application for robotics simulation. The product provides a complete development environment to model, program, and simulate robots, built on a Qt-based GUI, an ODE physics engine fork, and the Wren OpenGL 3.3 rendering engine. Webots supports robot programming in C, C++, Python, Java, MATLAB, and ROS/ROS 2, and integrates with third-party tools including Blender, URDF, OpenStreetMap, and SUMO.

The company monetizes through a hybrid open source model: the Webots software is free under an open source license and distributed via GitHub Releases, Snapcraft, and direct downloads, with commercial revenue generated through two annual subscription tiers (Premier Service Standard at CHF 500/year and Deluxe at CHF 2,500/year) and on-demand consulting, custom development, and training services. The customer base spans industry (automotive, aerospace, healthcare, mining, consumer electronics), academic research, and education, with adoption cited by enterprises including Renault, Toyota, Tesla, NASA, DJI, ABB, KUKA, and Samsung, alongside academic institutions including MIT, Stanford, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon.

The company's strategic positioning emphasizes European research collaborations (RoboCup, Human Brain Project, OpenDR, OPTIMA, SeRoNet, ROSin, RobMoSys, and SimGait), ecosystem integrations (most prominently Vulcanexus on ROS 2), and supplementary online platforms (webots.cloud for simulation sharing and robotbenchmark.net for educational benchmarks). The company has operated continuously since 1998 with no disclosed funding rounds, M&A activity, institutional investors, or patents, suggesting a founder-driven, organically financed business model.

Name

Cyberbotics Ltd.

Legal name

Cyberbotics Ltd.

Website

https://cyberbotics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cyberbotics Ltd., a Swiss EPFL spin-off founded in 1998, develops Webots, an open source multi-platform robotics simulator. The company serves industry, academia, and education through Premier Service subscriptions and custom robotics consulting engagements.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Robotics Simulation Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins) (HDAAAIAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Robotics Learning Platforms (EDAFANAB)

Keywords

• Robotics simulation software
• Open source simulator
• Robot programming platform
• Physics-based simulation
• Educational robotics tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Lausanne

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Subscriptions (Premier Service): Annual subscription tiers for professional support: Standard tier (CHF 500/year) includes user support via email or Discord; Deluxe tier (CHF 2,500/year) includes 12 hours of services including priority support and professional assistance.
2. Professional Services and Consulting: Custom robotics simulations, video conference training and support, and European research partnership services offered on-demand. Development services for custom projects, consulting engagements, and training programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Cyberbotics develops and maintains Webots, an open source, multi-platform desktop application for modeling, programming, and simulating robots. It combines a Qt GUI, an ODE physics engine fork, and an OpenGL 3.3 rendering engine (Wren), and supports robot controllers written in C, C++, Python, Java, MATLAB, and ROS. The product is used professionally in industry, education, and research, with revenue generated through Premier Service subscriptions and custom development/consulting engagements.

Product overview

Cyberbotics Ltd. offers Webots as its core open source robot simulator product - a multi-platform desktop application for robotics simulation launched in 1998. The product portfolio consists of the core Webots simulation platform, supplemented by cloud-based sharing platform (webots.cloud), online benchmarking service (robotbenchmark.net), and professional support tiers (Premier Service Standard and Deluxe). The company provides custom development and consulting services alongside its software offerings. Webots supports programming in C, C++, Python, Java, MATLAB, and ROS/ROS 2, with integrations to external tools including Blender, URDF, OpenStreetMap, and SUMO.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Webots: Open source robot simulator - multi-platform desktop application for modeling, programming and simulating robots.
• webots.cloud
• robotbenchmark.net

Products and services

• Webots Open source, multi-platform desktop application (Windows, macOS, Linux) for modeling, programming, and simulating robots. Includes Qt GUI, ODE physics engine, OpenGL 3.3 rendering, and an API supporting C, C++, Python, Java, MATLAB, and ROS. Used professionally in industry, education, and research.
• webots.cloud Cloud-based platform for sharing Webots models and simulations online and for creating and running robotics competitions directly in a web browser.
• robotbenchmark.net Free online application built on Webots that offers robot programming challenges across various difficulty levels, with user performance recorded and displayed online.
• Webots Premier Service Standard Annual subscription service priced at CHF 500/year providing professional user support via email or Discord for Webots users.
• Webots Premier Service Deluxe Premium annual subscription priced at CHF 2,500/year providing email/Discord support plus 12 hours of professional services including priority support and assistance to maximize Webots usage.
• Development Services and Consulting On-demand custom robotics simulation development, video conference training and support, and European research partnership services for industrial and academic clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Supports simulation of wide variety of robot types including wheeled, legged, modular, flying, underwater, and tracked robots
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• RoboCupflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021The Virtual Humanoid Soccer Competition of RoboCup 2021 uses Webots. A special competition setup was developed for the humanoid league.
• VulcanexuscoreTechnology or IntegrationVulcanexus is an open source software stack for easy and personalized development of robotic applications with selected ROS 2 components and tools, including Webots as a simulation backend.
• OpenDRcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean research project developing a toolkit for core robotic functionalities based on deep learning. Cyberbotics provides simulation expertise and demonstrates deep learning toolkit capabilities on the web.
• OPTIMAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU funded HPC project developing optimized versions of applications and open-source libraries for execution on FPGA-based HPC systems.
• SeRoNetcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProject aims to simplify conception, development, and use of service robots in logistics, healthcare, and industry sectors.
• SimGaitcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNSF-funded project modeling pathological gait from motor impairments using neuromechanical and machine learning approaches.
• ROSincoreTechnology or IntegrationFTP project developing cross-platform ROS simulation for mobile manipulators, now fully implemented in Webots.
• RobMoSyscoreTechnology or IntegrationFramework enabling creation of robotics applications based on model-driven techniques. Cyberbotics provides a wrapper between RobMoSys framework and Webots.
• Human Brain ProjectflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLarge European research project in neuroscience. Cyberbotics provides simulation expertise to the neurorobotics platform of the project.
• INTRA Group (EDF, CEA, Areva)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDeveloped INTRA indoor robot simulator for training pilots of remote controlled robots used in nuclear accident scenarios.
• KHGminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDeveloped indoor robot simulator for training pilots of remote controlled robot for nuclear accident response.
• Perrone RoboticscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDevelops advanced software for autonomous vehicles using Webots. Simulations fully integrated in development, testing, and validation processes.
• DistalmotionminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSimulated Dexter surgical robot consisting of two arms integrating laparoscopy and robotics.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• CoppeliaSim (Coppelia Robotics): CoppeliaSim (formerly V-REP) is a direct competitor offering a robot simulator with similar multi-language APIs (Lua, Python, C++, ROS), physics engines, and a comparable target market of researchers, educators, and industrial robotics developers. Both products are positioned as cross-platform desktop simulators for robot prototyping and validation.
• Gazebo (Open Robotics): Gazebo is the canonical open source robot simulator tightly integrated with ROS/ROS 2, serving the same research, education, and industrial robotics developer community as Webots. Both are open source, support ROS, and compete head-to-head for adoption in academic curricula and commercial robotics R&D.

Broad incumbents

• NVIDIA Isaac Sim: NVIDIA Isaac Sim is a GPU-accelerated, photorealistic robotics simulation platform built on Omniverse, targeting industrial automation, manipulation, and humanoid robot training. It competes with Webots at the higher-fidelity and AI-training end of the market, backed by NVIDIA's significantly greater R&D and ecosystem resources.
• ANSYS (Twin Builder & Robotics): ANSYS offers multiphysics simulation (Twin Builder, Maxwell, Fluent) increasingly packaged for digital twins and robotics workflows in automotive and aerospace. It competes with Webots in industrial digital-twin use cases at the higher-fidelity, enterprise-licensed end of the market.
• Unity Robotics Hub: Unity provides robotics simulation packages (Unity Robotics Hub, Unity Simulation) leveraging its real-time 3D engine for robot perception, RL training, and digital twin use cases. It competes with Webots in simulation environments, particularly for researchers seeking photoreal rendering and Unity ecosystem familiarity.
• Altair Engineering: Altair provides engineering simulation software (MotionSolve, Inspire, HyperWorks) used in robotics and mechatronics design. It overlaps with Webots in multi-body dynamics and mechanism simulation for industrial robotics and vehicle applications.
• MathWorks (MATLAB & Simulink): MathWorks provides MATLAB and Simulink, widely used for robotics modeling, control algorithm development, and co-simulation with physics engines. Webots explicitly integrates with MATLAB and competes for the same control-systems and robotics R&D budgets in academia and industry.
• Microsoft AirSim: Microsoft AirSim is an open source simulator for drones, cars, and other robots built on Unreal Engine, with strong photorealism and Azure cloud integration. It overlaps with Webots in autonomous vehicle and drone simulation, backed by Microsoft's cloud and AI infrastructure advantages.
• Siemens Simcenter: Siemens Simcenter provides robotics and mechatronics simulation within its broader PLM and digital-twin portfolio, targeting large automotive and industrial manufacturers. It competes with Webots for enterprise simulation spend at companies like Siemens' own robotics customers and across automotive OEMs.

Emerging players

• MuJoCo (Google DeepMind): MuJoCo is a high-performance physics engine (now open sourced by Google DeepMind) widely used for robotics RL and control research. It overlaps with Webots in physics-based robot simulation, particularly for manipulation and locomotion research, and is increasingly adopted as an alternative to ODE-based simulators.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/webots
• GitHubgithub.com/cyberbotics/webots
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/cyberboticswebots
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cyberbotics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cyberbotics Ltd.