Why We Started Tether Robotics: Bridging the Gap Between Makers and Machines

At Tether Robotics, our story begins with a question: Why is it still so hard for small teams and individual creators to build great robots?

After years working in structured, corporate engineering roles, our co-founder Timothy Dorn kept encountering the same frustrating reality: while enterprise robotics advanced rapidly, tools for independent builders remained limited, fragmented, and often over-engineered for small-scale use. Robotics was becoming powerful, but not necessarily accessible.

We started Tether Robotics to change that.

A Simpler Way to Build Smart Machines

Robotics shouldn’t require a degree in firmware engineering or a $10,000 development kit to get started. We believe tools should work with the user, not against them. That’s why we’re building a hardware platform that combines robust engineering with intuitive design, tailored specifically for:

• Hobbyists and makers experimenting in garages and labs,

• Educators looking to inspire the next generation of engineers, and

• Startups who need to iterate quickly without sacrificing reliability.

Our mission is to make robotics tools that are plug-and-play, beautifully built, and flexible enough to scale with your ideas.

What We're Building

At Tether, our focus is on solving the hidden pain points in robotics design:

• Embedded systems that are reliable yet simple to integrate

• Low-latency communication protocols that work across devices

• Modular peripherals like actuators and controller shells that are built to be used, abused, and reconfigured
  

Each product we design is a response to a real need we’ve experienced ourselves—whether it’s wasting hours trying to troubleshoot serial communication or struggling to prototype a controller that’s both ergonomic and durable.

We’re not here to reinvent the wheel—we’re here to make the right wheels easier to use.

Our Philosophy: Simplicity Without Compromise

Many robotics platforms force you into an ecosystem. They’re rigid, expensive, and come with steep learning curves. We’re building the opposite: modular, open-standard hardware that plays nicely with the tools and systems you already use.

We care deeply about:

• Open standards and interoperability

• User-first design that feels intuitive to assemble and scale

• Lowering the barrier to entry without dumbing down the technology
  

Because we believe that the future of robotics should be inclusive, agile, and beautifully engineered.

Looking Ahead

We’re currently in the final stages of prototyping our first batch of products—ranging from communication modules to smart controller cases—and we can’t wait to share them with you. If you're a builder, educator, or startup team looking for tools that work as hard as you do, we invite you to follow our journey.

Join our mailing list to be the first to hear about product drops, open beta kits, and behind-the-scenes design stories.

Together, let’s build something better.