robot-autonomy
(3)
Vikram Pavate
Vikram Pavate is the CEO and co-founder of Tacta Systems, a Palo Alto robotics company building 'Dextrous Intelligence' - a fusion of AI, software and tactile hardware meant to give robots human-like touch, spatial awareness and manipulation skills. A hard-tech operator with roughly three decades in advanced materials and hardware, he trained as a ceramic and materials engineer, earned an MBA from Wharton, and holds dozens of patents. Before Tacta he co-founded and ran the sensing and location startup Locix, and led business development at LuxVue Technology, the micro-LED display pioneer acquired by Apple in 2014. In June 2025 Tacta emerged from stealth with $75 million in funding to bring physical dexterity to machines.
Scout AI
Scout AI is a Silicon Valley defense-tech company building Fury, a Vision-Language-Action foundation model that turns unmanned robots - ground, air, sea, and space - into autonomous agents that perceive the world, understand natural-language commands, and act in GPS- and comms-denied environments. Founded in 2024 by Colby Adcock and Collin Otis, the company raised a $100M Series A in April 2026 (which it billed as the largest defense-tech Series A in U.S. history) after emerging from stealth in 2025 with a $15M seed and early Department of Defense contracts.
Tacta Systems, Inc.
Tacta Systems is a Palo Alto robotics startup building 'Dextrous Intelligence' - a smart nervous system that combines proprietary software, hardware and AI to give robots human-level tactile skills and spatial awareness. Founded by serial hard-tech entrepreneur Andreas Bibl (whose previous company LuxVue was acquired by Apple), Tacta aims to let robots sense, adapt and manipulate the physical world with human-like precision and speed, automating factory work and grueling physical labor. The company emerged in 2025 with $75 million in seed and Series A funding.