# Jan Zizka

> Jan Zizka is the Slovak CEO and co-founder of Brightpick, based in Austin, Texas. A computer-vision researcher with a PhD from Comenius University and research experience at MIT, he previously co-founded Photoneo. Following Photoneo’s acquisition by Zebra Technologies in 2025, he continued building Brightpick’s warehouse robotics business, combining machine vision, AI, mobility and robotic manipulation.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at Brightpick
- **Organizations:** Brightpick, Photoneo, Micro-Epsilon, Datapac
- **Nationality:** Slovak
- **Education:** Master’s degree in Computer Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, PhD in Computer Vision, Comenius University in Bratislava, Research visit during PhD; computer vision, computational cameras and optics at MIT Media Lab under Ramesh Raskar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded Photoneo and Brightpick., Filed more than 20 patents spanning 3D sensing and mobile robotics, according to his 2023 conference biography., Co-led a company whose technology had reached more than 7,000 installations by August 2023.

## Career timeline

- **2001** — Built a maze-solving robot with Michal Maly for the Istrobot competition while in high school.
- **2006-2008** — Software analyst/developer at Datapac.
- **2009-2013** — Research engineer at Micro-Epsilon.
- **2011** — Conducted research at MIT Media Lab during his doctorate.
- **2013** — Co-founded Photoneo to develop 3D machine-vision technology.
- **2021** — Brightpick launched as a separate business unit within the group.
- **2023** — Brightpick unveiled Autopicker in February.
- **2025** — Zebra acquired Photoneo on February 28; completion announced March 3. Brightpick remained independent.
- **2026** — Brightpick launched Gridpicker on March 17.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Photoneo and Brightpick.
- Filed more than 20 patents spanning 3D sensing and mobile robotics, according to his 2023 conference biography.
- Co-led a company whose technology had reached more than 7,000 installations by August 2023.
- Photoneo was acquired by Zebra in 2025 for approximately $62 million in cash, net of acquired cash, according to Zebra’s annual report.
- Led Brightpick through the Autopicker and Gridpicker product launches.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Appeared on Automated with Brian Heater on October 21 to discuss his founding story, warehouse robotics and human assistance.
- **2026-09** — Discussed increasing capacity within existing warehouses on The New Warehouse podcast, published September 16.
- **2026-07** — Discussed commercial returns, robotics as a service and Gridpicker in an Investment Reports interview published July 7.
- **2026-06** — Brightpick announced a partnership with US automation integrator Trew on June 25.
- **2026-03** — Brightpick introduced Gridpicker on March 17.

## Links

- Website: https://brightpick.ai/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jzizka
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/janz1zka

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/jan-zizka
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23