Nadav Orbach

Chief Executive Officer RealSense

Last Reviewed: September 24, 2026

Executive Summary

Nadav Orbach is the chief executive of RealSense, which makes depth-sensing cameras and 3D vision technology that let robots and other machines perceive the space around them. RealSense began inside Intel in 2014. When Intel moved to shed it, Orbach, an Intel engineer and manager of 19 years, pushed to spin it out rather than close it, and in July 2025 RealSense became an independent company in Cupertino, California, with $50 million in Series A funding. Fourteen months later, on 22 September 2026, machine vision company Cognex announced a definitive agreement to acquire RealSense for about $500 million in cash. Cognex expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of RealSense since its spin-out from Intel as an independent company in July 2025.
• Raised a $50 million Series A alongside the spin-out, with Intel Capital and the MediaTek Innovation Fund among the investors.
• Agreed to the sale of RealSense to Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX) for approximately $500 million in cash, announced 22 September 2026.
• Spent 19 years at Intel, moving from silicon engineering into leading computer vision and camera technology teams, and led a division of nearly 1,000 people.
• Describes himself as the architect of the first integrated camera for PCs.

Professional Journey

Orbach studied electrical engineering and physics at the Technion in Haifa. In his own account he then spent 19 years at Intel, starting in silicon engineering and moving into computer vision and camera technology, where he led teams. He describes himself as the architect of the first integrated camera for PCs and says he helped set up Intel’s RealSense 3D camera effort. Over that time he moved between Israel and California. By his last years at Intel he was running a division of nearly 1,000 employees, according to Ctech.

RealSense had been started inside Intel in 2014 to build depth cameras, and by the time of its spin-out its markets included robotics and biometric access control. As Intel restructured under Pat Gelsinger, the unit was a candidate for closure. Orbach has said he went to Gelsinger and asked to spin it out instead of shutting it down. The spin-out was completed in July 2025 alongside a $50 million Series A, with Intel Capital and the MediaTek Innovation Fund among the investors. Orbach became chief executive of the new company, headquartered in Cupertino, with a team of about 180 people reported at the time of its sale.

As an independent company, RealSense positioned itself as the “visual cortex” of physical AI: the perception layer that autonomous mobile robots, robot arms, quadrupeds and humanoid robots need before they can act. Its public customer and partner list includes Unitree Robotics and ANYbotics, and it says roughly 70% of the world’s autonomous robots use its cameras. Orbach has said that operating independently let the company rethink areas such as marketing and sales.

On 22 September 2026 Cognex, the Massachusetts industrial machine vision company, announced a definitive agreement to buy RealSense for about $500 million in cash, plus retention awards for RealSense employees. Orbach said the deal would give RealSense a global industrial customer base and go-to-market reach that would have taken it years to build alone. Cognex said it expects to close the transaction in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions, and that RealSense will first spin out its facial authentication product line as a separate company.

Education

He studied electrical engineering and physics at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) in Haifa, according to a 2025 interview. The degree and year were not found in any source.