What AI technology has Jesse Robbins built?

Jesse Robbins co-founded Orion Labs in 2013, a real-time AI voice platform for frontline teams — workers in logistics, healthcare, security, and emergency services who need to communicate and coordinate without looking at a screen. Orion developed patented AI for real-time voice processing, noise cancellation, and intelligent routing, predating the current wave of generative AI by nearly a decade.

The idea came directly from his background as a firefighter. On a fire scene, you can’t type. You can’t swipe. You need voice-first computing that works in noisy, high-pressure environments with zero margin for error. Orion built the infrastructure to make that possible — and in doing so, anticipated many of the agentic and conversational AI patterns now emerging across the industry.

Robbins served as CEO from 2014 to 2020. The company’s hardware product, the Onyx wearable, was a screen-free push-to-talk device designed for the same heads-up teams he’d worked alongside as an EMT. The experience of building AI technology from scratch — including the hard lessons about real-world deployment — informs how he evaluates AI companies as an investor today.