What Ekumen does

Ekumen is a robotics software consulting firm founded in 2012 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by former IBM Research engineers Julian Cerruti, Guillermo Manzato, and Patricio Reyna Almandos. The company provides staff augmentation, custom robotics software development, and extended reality (XR) solutions to robotics companies ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 1000 enterprises, with a stated base of 50+ clients and 90+ projects delivered across 13 years. It maintains a Munich, Germany headquarters for European operations alongside its Argentine base and is incorporated as Ekumen, Inc. in Delaware, United States.

The firm's technology practice is anchored in the Robot Operating System (ROS/ROS 2) ecosystem and spans the full robotics software stack — drivers, middleware, localization, navigation, manipulation, simulation, and operations. Ekumen develops and maintains a portfolio of open-source projects including Beluga (a C++17 Monte Carlo Localization library and Beluga AMCL ROS 2 package), Andino (a sub-USD 300 educational differential drive robot), andino-rs (a Rust implementation), AR4 ROS 2 integrations across Gazebo, Isaac Sim, and MuJoCo, LeKiwi omni-base simulation, and the LAMBKIN benchmarking tool. These projects double as technical marketing and as proof of capability in simulation (Gazebo, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Webots, O3DE), photorealistic synthetic data generation, neural reconstruction (NVIDIA NuRec), and AI-integrated perception pipelines (DINOv3, Faster R-CNN, Google Gemini LLM via the dora middleware).

Ekumen's business model is professional services, monetized through quote-based staff augmentation engagements and end-to-end robotics consulting contracts. Customer acquisition combines direct consultative sales (introductory meeting, technical meeting, customized proposal, contract execution), strategic partnerships with InOrbit and Open Robotics, open-source community engagement, and conference presence at ROSCon and FOSDEM. In 2026, the company merged with Grid Dynamics (Nasdaq: GDYN), a publicly traded AI transformation partner for the Fortune 1000, materially expanding its enterprise distribution channel while retaining its founding leadership and operational autonomy.

Name

Ekumen

Legal name

Ekumen, Inc.

Website

https://ekumenlabs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ekumen is a robotics software consulting firm specializing in ROS/ROS 2 development, simulation, and XR solutions for robotics companies from startups to Fortune 1000 enterprises globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Robotics Software Consulting

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Engineering Services (54133)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

AI/ML Solution Integration & MLOps Enablement (BPAEAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

End-to-End MLOps & ML Platform Suites (HDAAABAA)

Keywords

• Robotics software consulting
• Staff augmentation robotics
• ROS development services
• Robotics simulation
• Open-source robotics

Headquarters

HQ city

Buenos Aires

HQ country

Argentina

HQ region

Latin America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Staff Augmentation Services: Ekumen builds teams with diverse expertise tailored to complement customers' engineering capacity. Each team is assigned to align with the unique culture and technical challenges of clients. This is a primary revenue stream where engineers are embedded within client teams for short- or long-term projects.
2. Consulting Robotics Services: End-to-end robotics software development consulting from drivers to integration with higher-level systems. Services include developing robot stack components, enhancing development operations, and creating custom tools. Suitable for both startups and large corporations across all stages of robotics software development.
3. Research and Development Services: R&D seminars, technical consulting, and research initiatives including publications in robotics conferences and journals. Part of Ekumen's thought leadership and engagement model.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Ekumen is a robotics software consulting company that provides staff augmentation and end-to-end robotics software development services to enterprises and startups. The company embeds senior robotics engineers into client teams to develop robot software stacks, simulation environments, operations tooling, and XR solutions across the ROS/ROS 2 ecosystem. They complement their consulting services with a portfolio of open-source projects (Beluga, Andino, AR4, LAMBKIN, LeKiwi) for localization, simulation, and benchmarking.

Product overview

Ekumen is a robotics software consulting company offering consulting services and a portfolio of open-source robotics software. The core products include: (1) Beluga/Beluga AMCL - a modern C++17 Monte Carlo Localization library and ROS 2 package as replacement for AMCL; (2) Andino and andino-rs - an educational differential drive robot platform available in ROS 2 and Rust implementations; (3) AR4 ROS 2 Integration with support for Gazebo, Isaac Sim, and MuJoCo simulators; (4) LeKiwi MuJoCo Simulation for omni-wheel mobile manipulators; (5) LAMBKIN benchmarking tool for localization algorithm evaluation. The company also conducts R&D in photorealistic simulation, neural reconstruction (NuRec), synthetic data generation, and AI integration for robotics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Staff Augmentation Services Embedded engineering teams with diverse robotics expertise tailored to complement clients' engineering capacity and culture. Available for short- or long-term engagements to address specific technical challenges.
• Consulting Robotics Services End-to-end robotics software development consulting covering drivers to integration with higher-level systems. Includes robot stack component development, development operations enhancement, and custom tool creation for startups and large corporations.
• Research and Development Services R&D seminars, technical consulting, and research initiatives including publications in robotics conferences and journals as part of Ekumen's thought leadership model.
• Beluga & Beluga AMCL Header-only C++17 library implementing reusable components for particle filter algorithms used in robotics localization. Includes Beluga AMCL, a feature-by-feature reimplementation of Nav2 AMCL for 2D lidar-based mobile robot localization. Open-source, free to use.
• Andino Educational Robot Open-source differential drive educational robot platform designed for ROS 2 education. Compatible with Gazebo simulation, SLAM Toolbox, Nav2, and Open-RMF, used for SLAM, autonomous navigation, and testing Beluga localization.
• andino-rs (Rust Implementation) Rust-based implementation for the Andino educational robot integrating with dora middleware for AI-based robotic applications. Enables high-performance robotics applications using Rust's memory safety features.
• AR4 ROS 2 Integration Complete ROS 2, Gazebo, and MoveIt integration for the Annin Robotics AR4 six-degree-of-freedom industrial robot arm. Includes Docker environment, xacro-based URDF modeling, ros2_control integration, and MoveIt motion planning configuration.
• AR4 Isaac Sim & MuJoCo Simulation Extension of the AR4 robotic arm simulation into NVIDIA Isaac Sim and MuJoCo physics engines for high-fidelity manipulator simulation, connected to ROS 2 via topic_based_ros2_control and MoveIt.
• LeKiwi MuJoCo Simulation MuJoCo physics simulation model for LeKiwi low-cost, 3D-printable mobile manipulator. Implements 3-wheel omni-directional base kinematics using anisotropic friction for holonomic motion modeling.
• LAMBKIN Benchmarking Tool Open-source benchmarking tool for localization algorithms. Enables controlled benchmarking experiments, collects results, and generates performance analysis reports for comparing localization algorithm accuracy and resource usage.

Quantifiable outcome

• NPS of 80.95% indicates exceptional customer satisfaction
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Grid DynamicsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerEkumen has joined forces with Grid Dynamics (Nasdaq: GDYN), a premier AI transformation partner for the Fortune 1000. The merger enables Ekumen to serve larger enterprise clients while maintaining their team, leadership, and commitment to client work. Now backed by a much bigger platform.
• InOrbitcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInOrbit.AI is a strategic partner of Ekumen, specializing in robot fleet management and operations. The partnership includes co-development on open-source initiatives like OpenRobOps (ORO) fleet management platform.
• Open RoboticscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpen Robotics is a strategic partner, creator of the Robot Operating System (ROS) and Gazebo simulator. Ekumen has worked with Open Robotics for years on open-source robotics projects and ROS integration.
• KärchercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKärcher is an industrial partner validating the OpenRobOps (ORO) open-source fleet management platform. Kärcher joins Open Robotics, Intrinsic, and Ekumen in validating the ORO platform.
• IntrinsiccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntrinsic is an industrial partner validating the OpenRobOps (ORO) open-source fleet management platform alongside Open Robotics, Kärcher, and Ekumen.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• InOrbit (InOrbit.AI): Robotics software and orchestration company specializing in fleet operations and management. Direct strategic partner of Ekumen on the OpenRobOps (ORO) initiative, with overlapping customer base in robot operations and ROS-based fleet software delivery.
• Rapyuta Robotics: ROS-based cloud robotics platform and services company. Highly comparable as it sells robotics software solutions and platform expertise to logistics, agriculture, and warehouse operators—often engaging customer engineering teams on ROS stack work.
• Edge Case Research: Autonomous systems and robotics engineering services firm focused on safety, perception, and software assurance. Highly comparable as a boutique consultancy selling specialized robotics engineering expertise into enterprise customers—essentially Ekumen's direct analogue in services structure.
• Cogniteam: Robotics AI middleware platform (Neuron) and integration services. Comparable as a ROS-friendly software company offering both commercial tooling and engineering services to robotics developers.
• ROBOTIQ: Robotics integration solutions provider serving manufacturers and warehouse operators with collaborative robot tools and engineering services. Comparable as a robotics-focused services and product company with similar customer profile to Ekumen's logistics and industrial customers.

Emerging players

• Apex.AI: ROS 2-based safety-certified autonomous software stack for mobile robots and autonomous vehicles. Comparable as a specialist in modern ROS 2 development, with overlapping customer base in autonomous systems integrators and OEM engineering teams.
• Formant (by Nokia): Robotics data ops and fleet management platform. Comparable as it targets robot operators with software solutions and operations services that intersect with Ekumen's robotics operations and ORO partnership work.
• Freedom Robotics: Robot fleet management and operations platform. Adjacent peer serving the same robotics operations buyer profile and integrating with ROS-based robot software stacks like Ekumen helps build and maintain.
• Polymath Robotics: ROS-based autonomy software for industrial robots. Comparable as a niche ROS specialist building safety-critical autonomy software for mobile robots—an emerging player in a niche that overlaps Ekumen's robotics software stack business.

Broad incumbents

• Grid Dynamics: Nasdaq-listed (GDYN) digital and AI engineering services firm that acquired Ekumen. Although now Ekumen's parent rather than a competitor, it is the closest comparable in delivery model (enterprise engineering services, global delivery) and serves as the strategic platform for Ekumen's expansion into Fortune 1000 robotics work.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ekumenlabs
• Facebookfacebook.com/ekumenlabs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ekumenlabs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

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 Ekumen