Insider Brief
- SkillWaze and Amplibotics AI have partnered with the National Esports Collegiate Conference and Dynamic Athlete Placement to train collegiate esports competitors as remote robot operators for industrial applications.
- Participants will use gaming controllers and teleoperation systems to pilot real-world robots while building skills and credentials across industries including manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and defense.
- The partnership is designed to address workforce shortages in robotics and automation by creating a pipeline of verified talent for robot operation, maintenance and other Physical AI-related roles.
SkillWaze and Amplibotics AI have formed a partnership aimed at turning competitive collegiate gamers into trained remote robot operators as companies look for new ways to build a workforce around physical AI and industrial automation.
According to SkillWaze, the program, developed with the National Esports Collegiate Conference and Dynamic Athlete Placement, will recruit and train college esports participants to pilot industrial robots using standard gaming controllers and flight systems.
“SkillWaze will be training NECC esport athletes across the country to be robot pilots for many different industries including advanced manufacturing, aviation, supply chain, retail, healthcare, transportation, restaurants, hospitality, aerospace, defense and more,” said Dan Benveniste, CEO of SkillWaze. “With SkillWaze, Gen Z and Gen Alpha have a direct line to career readiness in the age of AI, just as Boomers and GenX depart the workforce. In addition to robotic pilot training, SkillWaze will be working on robot maintenance and repair skills training as well. As the world embraces robotic automation, there will be a large-scale need to maintain and repair these robots.”
The companies said the effort is designed to address workforce shortages tied to manufacturing, robotics and automation as industries prepare for demographic shifts and increased demand for robotic systems. Amplibotics provides teleoperation infrastructure while SkillWaze contributes an AI-based verification system designed to evaluate and validate skills including problem solving and spatial awareness.
“The only truly scalable solution for Physical AI is the integration of physical robots and physical humans,” Amplibotics CEO James Wigglesworth said. “We are targeting the collegiate gamer as our ideal pilot because they possess the innate manual dexterity and spatial awareness that traditional programming cannot replicate. By partnering with SkillWaze and the NECC, we are providing manufacturers like Richtech Robotics and Bright Machines with the verified human intelligence their customers need to scale operations immediately.”
According to SkillWaze, participants will train on real-world robotic systems while building credentials for fields including manufacturing, aviation, healthcare, logistics and defense. The companies said the broader goal is to create a verified workforce pipeline for robotics deployment, including future roles tied to robot operation, maintenance and support.
“The NECC has always been devoted to providing our student-athletes with the best possible experience and working to support them for success both in and out of the gaming arena,” Jacob VanRyn, commissioner of the NECC, noted. “By partnering with SkillWaze and Amplibotics, we are giving our players a direct bridge between their competitive passion and high-stakes, future-proof careers.”
Image credit: SkillWaze
