# Ali Agha

> Ali Agha, formally Ali-akbar Agha-mohammadi, is the co-founder and CEO of Irvine-based FieldAI. His route to commercial robotics ran through soccer and rescue robots, a Texas A&M doctorate, MIT, Qualcomm, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he led Team CoSTAR's work in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. FieldAI develops autonomy software intended to help different kinds of robots navigate changing industrial environments without prior maps or GPS.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO, FieldAI
- **Organizations:** FieldAI, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Qualcomm Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, Team CoSTAR
- **Education:** B.Sc., Electrical Engineering, University of Tabriz, M.Sc., Electrical Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Ph.D., Computer Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University
- **Known for:** Led Team CoSTAR to first place in the 2020 DARPA Subterranean Challenge Urban Circuit., Was principal investigator on NASA JPL programs involving subterranean exploration, DARPA RACER and prototype Mars helicopter-rover coordination., Co-founded FieldAI, which announced $405 million raised in 2025.

## Career timeline

- **2005** — Completed an undergraduate electrical engineering thesis on small-size RoboCup soccer robots at the University of Tabriz.
- **2008** — Completed a master's thesis on sensor fusion and mapping at K. N. Toosi University of Technology.
- **2009-2013** — Earned a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering at Texas A&M University, researching robot planning under uncertainty.
- **2013-2015** — Conducted postdoctoral research at MIT, including multi-robot coordination.
- **2015-2016** — Worked as a research staff engineer at Qualcomm Research on robotic autonomy.
- **2016-2023** — Worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, becoming a group leader and principal investigator for field robotics programs.
- **2020** — Led Team CoSTAR to first place in the Urban Circuit of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge.
- **2023** — Co-founded FieldAI and became its CEO.
- **2025** — FieldAI announced $405 million raised across two rounds for its robotics autonomy platform.
- **2026** — FieldAI announced partnerships with Boston Dynamics, Certis and Caterpillar.

## Achievements

- Led Team CoSTAR to first place in the 2020 DARPA Subterranean Challenge Urban Circuit.
- Was principal investigator on NASA JPL programs involving subterranean exploration, DARPA RACER and prototype Mars helicopter-rover coordination.
- Co-founded FieldAI, which announced $405 million raised in 2025.
- Helped build FieldAI partnerships announced in 2026 with Boston Dynamics, Certis and Caterpillar.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Caterpillar announced a collaboration with FieldAI on physical AI, autonomy and robotics for jobsites and factories.
- **2026-07** — Agha discussed cave robotics, edge computing and FieldAI's approach on the Automated podcast.
- **2026-04** — FieldAI described Big-D Construction's expansion of robot use across its projects.
- **2026-03** — FieldAI and Boston Dynamics announced a partnership around Spot robots in changing construction environments.
- **2026-02** — FieldAI and Certis announced a partnership for autonomous security operations in Asia Pacific.

## Links

- Website: https://aliagha.site/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-agha-7aa5212a/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/ali-agha
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-29