Dave Sonders was inspired to form his startup after a longtime friend in the car dealership business shared a common problem.
That problem is that automotive technicians are required to complete detailed warranty claim documents for every job—a tedious task most would rather avoid. Even when a repair is done correctly, missing a detail can lead to a claim denial to the dealership’s detriment. Writing claims also takes time away from actual repairs, and roughly 12% of claims are denied, resulting in an average loss of about $200,000 per dealership each year.
Sonders had just left VIIZR, a company building software for plumbers and electricians funded by Ford and Salesforce, and was ready for a new entrepreneurial opportunity. After learning about the problem, he spoke with technicians, shop owners, and service managers to understand the workflow and pain points.
Though not a software engineer, Sonders leveraged modern tools and his persistence to build a fully functioning product. This became the core of RO-bot, an AI co-pilot enabling automotive technicians to streamline warranty claims by speaking into their devices. RO-Bot converts this audio into fully formatted claim documents with no typing required.
“If you have the patience and tenacity to work through challenges, you can understand a lot about the tech stack and software development processes,” Sonders said. “While I don’t write the code, I have a fully developed software process and practices like a real engineer.”
RO-bot’s functionality
RO-bot’s software captures technicians’ voice audio, transcribes it, and automatically structures it into a properly formatted claim document. It then extracts key details such as complaint, cause, and correction. If anything is unclear or missing, RO-bot prompts the technician with quick, clarifying questions.
“Basically it is a push-to-talk, like it’s a little voice recorder in your phone, and that voice recorder takes your words and it parses out all of the different things that are going to have to go in that report,” Sonders said.
RO-bot’s AI is also trained to write accurate warranty repair stories, using examples from beta users and service managers to distinguish between strong and weak documentation. The system ensures reports cover all necessary details without adding irrelevant information and includes guardrails to avoid guessing on proprietary or manufacturer-specific content, directing users to official bulletins when needed.
During a recent round of customer discovery, Sonders found that dealerships were increasingly interested in digital video inspections (DVI). These inspections allow technicians to record a walk-around of a customer’s car—highlighting tire depth, fluid levels, or specific repairs—and send findings directly to the customer.
While existing services offer this kind of video material, they do not guide technicians in creating clear, professional content.
RO-Bot’s new video feature addresses this gap. Using AI, the software generates a short list and script based on the car and work performed, effectively giving the technician a teleprompter while recording. This makes it easy to produce high-quality videos without stress or guesswork.
Combined with RO-bot’s core functionality, the video feature further streamlines workflow, saves time, reduces claim denials, and improves customer communication.
RO-bot looking forward
Fresh off being awarded an NC IDEA MICRO grant for the fall 2025 cycle, RO-Bot is now entering a growth phase with real-world adoption. The company already runs a few pilots and betas, and Sonders recently secured a verbal commitment from a Minneapolis dealership for a paid pilot, marking the startup’s first revenue-generating step.
Over the next year, the focus is on scaling carefully, by hiring a small team for engineering, sales, and marketing, and proving that RO-bot reliably improves service workflows without outside capital. The immediate goals are securing at least one paying customer by year’s end and building a foundation for broader rollout.
QUICK BITS
Startup: RO-bot
Founder: Dave Sonders
Founded: 2025
Team size: 1
Location: Chapel Hill
Website: ro-bot.io
Funding: Bootstrapped
Looking further into the future, Sonders envisions RO-bot in hundreds or even thousands of shops nationwide. The platform’s two standout features—voice-to-document and guided video creation—offer a strong entry point, while future growth could expand RO-Bot’s capabilities across more aspects of dealership operations.
Technician approval
Most important to Sonders at this sage is that technicians are embracing the software. Sonders highlighted “Bobby,” a master technician in Clinton, NC, who has become one of RO-bot’s top users. Bobby no longer spends time formatting or writing claims; he simply speaks into his phone, letting the software handle documentation and allowing him to focus entirely on repairs.
“Software typically is the thing they have to use to check a box so they can do the thing they want to do, which is working on cars,” Sonders said. “The fact that people are using this because it helps them do their job better and faster is one of those markers that tells me I’m on the right path.”
