PASADENA, CALIF. – Miso Robotics, a leading manufacturer of robotics and software for the foodservice industry, announced Christopher Kruger as the company’s new chief technology officer.

In his new role with Miso Robotics, Kruger will lead the charge to scale new products for new markets while overseeing the company’s current technology portfolio. Kruger’s experience in high volume consumer and commercial products and agile leadership aligns with Miso Robotics’ goals and vision to build the connected commercial kitchen of the future, the company said. He succeeds Ryan Sinnet who will transition into a full-time lead for Research and Development as the company’s chief research officer.

“We are in the extremely fortunate position to not only bring in a rockstar CTO in Chris, but also strengthen our Board of Advisors to give us a holistic understanding of the vast foodservice market and help us navigate the untapped areas in it where we can integrate our technology,” said Mike Bell, chief executive officer at Miso Robotics. “With the amount of product interest we receive on a daily basis, we needed to make sure we had the right team in place to meet our rapid growth trajectory — and this is that team.”

Kruger joins Miso Robotics from iRobot, where he led the team that developed a large-scale cloud-based robotics simulation platform that improved software quality and speed for Roombas and other home robots. He is credited for coaching the team that delivered the largest autonomous robot product launch, Roomba i3+, with the highest quality to date based on a metrics driven approach, according to Miso Robotics.

Prior to iRobot, Kruger served as senior director of Workflow Engineering at Hewlett Packard Inc., where he was responsible for forming a new engineering team focused on data science and machine learning to develop workflow analytics and intelligence.

In addition to hiring Kruger, Miso Robotics also added William Mitchell, president, Hut American, Flynn Restaurant Group; John Inwright, former president and CEO, Wendy’s Quality Supply Chain Cooperative Inc.; and Jane Gannaway, principal, JPG Consulting LLC, to the company’s Board of Advisors. Miso Robotics said the new advisors bring industry expertise and leadership that will help the company successfully infiltrate new markets such as the beverage space.