# Boris Sofman

> Boris Sofman is a robotics engineer, repeat founder, and the co-founder and CEO of Bedrock Robotics. After turning artificial intelligence into playful consumer robots at Anki and leading autonomous trucking engineering at Waymo, he is now applying machine learning to excavators and other heavy equipment, with the goal of helping construction crews expand capacity, improve safety, and finish essential projects more predictably.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Bedrock Robotics
- **Organizations:** Bedrock Robotics, Waymo, Anki, Carnegie Mellon University
- **From:** Moscow, Soviet Union
- **Education:** Bachelor's degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, PhD in Robotics; thesis: Online Learning Techniques for Improving Robot Navigation in Unfamiliar Domains, Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute
- **Known for:** Co-founded Anki and helped ship more than 3.5 million consumer robotics devices before the company closed in 2019., Led the public demonstration of Anki Drive at Apple's 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote., Led engineering for Waymo's autonomous trucking program after joining with a 13-person group from Anki.

## Career timeline

- **2005** — Earned bachelor's degrees in electrical and computer engineering and computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.
- **2006** — Named the inaugural Sandia National Laboratories/Carnegie Mellon University Excellence in Computing Fellow after research on robot navigation won a best student paper prize at Robotics: Science and Systems.
- **2010** — Completed a PhD at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute and co-founded Anki with Mark Palatucci and Hanns Tappeiner.
- **2013** — Introduced Anki Drive during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote.
- **2016** — Anki launched Cozmo, a small consumer robot designed around expressive character and interaction.
- **2019** — After Anki closed, joined Waymo with 12 former Anki colleagues to lead engineering for its autonomous trucking effort.
- **2024** — Left Waymo after nearly five years and co-founded Bedrock Robotics with Kevin Peterson, Tom Eliaz, and Ajay Gummalla.
- **2025** — Bedrock emerged from stealth with $80 million in seed and Series A funding and introduced its retrofit autonomy system for heavy equipment.
- **2025** — Bedrock completed a large supervised autonomy deployment with Sundt Construction, moving more than 70,000 cubic yards on a 130-acre manufacturing site.
- **2026** — Bedrock raised a $270 million Series B at a reported $1.75 billion valuation, bringing total funding above $350 million.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Anki and helped ship more than 3.5 million consumer robotics devices before the company closed in 2019.
- Led the public demonstration of Anki Drive at Apple's 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote.
- Led engineering for Waymo's autonomous trucking program after joining with a 13-person group from Anki.
- Co-founded Bedrock Robotics and raised more than $350 million through its 2026 Series B.
- Completed a supervised autonomous mass-excavation deployment that moved more than 70,000 cubic yards on a 130-acre site.
- Received the inaugural Sandia National Laboratories/Carnegie Mellon University Excellence in Computing Fellowship.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Appeared on the Inspired with Alexa von Tobel podcast to discuss autonomous trucking, construction labor constraints, and the future of physical AI.
- **2026-02** — Bedrock Robotics raised $270 million in Series B funding at a reported $1.75 billion valuation and said it planned initial operator-less excavator deployments later in 2026.
- **2025-11** — Bedrock completed a large supervised autonomy deployment for mass excavation with Sundt Construction on a 130-acre manufacturing site.
- **2025-07** — Bedrock emerged from stealth with $80 million in seed and Series A funding and announced field work with four construction partners.

## Links

- Website: https://bedrockrobotics.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bsofman
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/bsofman

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/boris-sofman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-18