human-robot-interaction
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Grace Brown Is Teaching Robots to Read the Room
The Andromeda founder started with a student-built robot that could ask about her day. Now she is scaling a company around a harder engineering problem: creating machines people actually want in the room.
Robust.AI
Robust.AI builds collaborative mobile robots for warehouses and factories. Its flagship Carter robot pairs an AI-driven 'cognitive engine' with a force-sensitive handlebar so workers can grab it, push it, redirect it, and let it run autonomously the rest of the time. Founded in 2019 by a who's-who of robotics and AI - Rodney Brooks (iRobot, Rethink), Gary Marcus, Anthony Jules, Henrik Christensen, and Mohamed Amer - the company has raised about $42.5M and is rolling Carter into DHL Supply Chain sites across the Americas.
Thomas Tang
Te (Thomas) Tang is Co-Founder and CEO of Anyware Robotics, a Fremont, California-based startup building AI-powered mobile robots for warehouse logistics. A UC Berkeley robotics PhD and founding member of FANUC's Silicon Valley research center, Tang combines deep academic research with industrial commercialization experience. His flagship robot, Pixmo, autonomously unloads shipping containers at 1,000 boxes per hour, won MHI's Best New Innovation award at ProMat 2025, and helps customers reduce receiving labor costs by up to 60%. In March 2025 Anyware Robotics closed a $12M seed round led by GFT Ventures, accelerating commercial deployments with leading third-party logistics providers.