Tend.ai trains your robot to operate dozens of 3D printers and laser cutters at a time

If you've got more than a handful of 3D printers or other devices running at a time, it's a full-time job keeping them going -- removing and packaging products, tweaking settings, pushing "OK" after minor errors, that sort of thing. Why not have a robot do it for you? Tend.ai is a new company that helps you train collaborative robots to perform machine tending, something generally reserved for bots serving heavy industry. "This whole thing started because a friend of mine down the street literally has 20 3D printers, and his wife was having to run out every three minutes to keep them running," said Mark Silliman, co-founder and CEO of Tend.ai, in an interview. Silliman's company Smartwaiver was acquired in December, and his co-founders have also had a few recent exits. Security head James Gentes sold his analytics company The Social Business last year, as well, and backend engineer Robert Kieffer was part of Zenbe, which Facebook bought in 2010.