Stratus Establishes AI and Innovation Division Stratus Labs, Debuts Multiple Experimental Tools at Innovate 2026 Conference

Larkspur, Colorado — On August 18, 2026, Stratus, a digital fabrication platform for contractors in the plumbing and HVAC, duct, and electrical industries, announced the formation of Stratus Labs—its new AI and innovation division—and simultaneously released its first experimental results to customers: agentic pipe spooling capabilities and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server connection. The announcement was made at Innovate 2026, Stratus's annual MEP industry event, held August 18-20 in Seattle, USA.

Stratus Labs formalizes the company's long-standing approach to working closely with customers and building products quickly. As AI and agentic tools enable rapid iteration faster than ever before, Stratus is investing in a dedicated team and processes to keep pace with the development speed that technology allows. The team is led by co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Jonathan Umscheid, who has been with Stratus since its inception.

"AI is changing the speed of software iteration," said Jake Olsen, CEO of Stratus. "We founded Stratus Labs to match that speed, putting real data intelligence and agentic workflows directly into customers' hands. They can test these tools, iterate, and continue to develop with us as always."

As the first set of experimental tools released by Stratus Labs, Agentic Spooling integrates three capabilities that automate pipe spooling and assembly processes across trades:

• Assembly Matcher— Clones existing modeled assemblies, such as matching identical floors in high-rise buildings.
• Assembly Designer— Applies size/weight constraints; break-point editing generates new assemblies.
• Assembly Agent— An AI/ML tool trained on customer models to predict new assemblies.

The first two tools automate steps that previously required manual operation. Assembly Agent goes further by directly predicting new assemblies, rather than merely automating a manual step.

In addition to Stratus Labs, the company also released the Big Data MCP Server. This experimental project allows AI tools to directly access Stratus's big data, enabling customers and partners to build their own workflows on top of it.

Currently, Stratus customers can request access to each of these capabilities in an experimental environment, while Innovate 2026 attendees can preview results live using their own models and data.

"This is the benchmark we've set," said Jonathan Umscheid, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Stratus. "We want the first results Stratus Labs presents to be real value usable today, not promises on a roadmap. Agentic Spooling and the Big Data MCP Server are exactly that."

New experiments from Stratus Labs will continue to be released to customers, with over 10 additional value-added features currently available for customers to opt into by simply registering. To learn more about Stratus Labs, visit labs.stratus.build。

About Stratus

Stratus has always been committed to building quickly with customers. Stratus Labs continues this tradition as the company's formal AI and innovation division, working directly with customers to turn real workflow data into agentic tools. For more information, visit stratus.build。