Robotics foundation models & agent stacks
15 systems in the robotics foundation models & agent stacks category of the AI Agent Infrastructure Landscape, grouped by maturity tier.
Tier 1 — battle-tested (6)
- Figure AI Humanoid robot maker (Figure 01 / Figure 02 / Helix VLA model)
Figure AI — humanoid robot maker founded 2022 by Brett Adcock (ex-Archer Aviation). Figure 02 (Aug 2024) + Helix VLA model (Feb 2025) for full-body / hand control. Raised $675M Series B Feb-2024 (Microsoft / OpenAI / Bezos / Intel; $2.6B…
- Google DeepMind Gemini Robotics Robotics foundation model from Google DeepMind
Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics + Gemini Robotics-ER (Embodied Reasoning) released Mar-2025. VLA models built on Gemini 2.0 backbone. Reference platform: Apptronik Apollo. The DeepMind line of robotics-FM, descendant of earlier RT-1 / …
- Hugging Face LeRobot OSS robotics platform on HuggingFace (datasets + models + policies)
Hugging Face's open-source robotics platform — datasets, baselines, training code for imitation learning + diffusion policy + ACT. Launched May 2024; growing rapidly with community contributions (HopeJR, SO-100 arms). LeRobot is the de-f…
- NVIDIA GR00T / Isaac Robotics foundation model + simulation stack (NVIDIA)
NVIDIA Project GR00T (Mar-2024) — general-purpose humanoid foundation model + Isaac simulation stack + Jetson Thor compute. GR00T N1 model released open March 2025. NVIDIA's full-stack play: model + sim + compute + training cloud (Cosmos…
- Physical Intelligence (π) Robotics foundation-model lab (π0 / π0.5)
Founded 2024 by Sergey Levine (UC Berkeley) and Karol Hausman + others (ex-Google Brain Robotics). Building general-purpose robot foundation models (π0 released Oct-2024; π0.5 in 2025) trained on cross-embodiment robot trajectories. Rais…
- Toyota Research Institute LBM Robotics research lab — Large Behavior Models (LBM)
Toyota Research Institute's robotics group — published Large Behavior Models (LBMs) Sep-2023 + diffusion-policy / behavior-cloning at scale. Industrial-research lab with Toyota's manufacturing-data advantage. Not a startup — division of …
Tier 2 — production-ready (4)
- 1X Technologies Humanoid robot maker (Neo / Eve) — OpenAI portfolio
Norway / US humanoid robot company — Eve (wheeled bimanual) + Neo (legged humanoid, consumer-targeted, late 2025 / 2026 launch). Raised $100M Series B (Jan-2024, EQT + OpenAI Startup Fund); $40M Series A (Mar-2023, OpenAI lead). Distingu…
- Agility Robotics Bipedal warehouse robot maker (Digit) — first US humanoid commercial deployment
Oregon-based humanoid maker; Digit is in production at GXO Logistics warehouses since Sep-2024 — claimed first humanoid in commercial service in the US. Spinout of Oregon State University. $400M+ raised (Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund…
- Apptronik Humanoid robot maker (Apollo) — Google DeepMind partner
Apollo humanoid maker, spun out of University of Texas Human Centered Robotics Lab. Raised $350M Series A (Feb-2025; B Capital + Capital Factory); Mercedes-Benz manufacturing partner (Mar 2024). Partnered with Google DeepMind on Gemini R…
- Covariant Robotics foundation-model company (warehouse pick-and-place) — acqui-hired by Amazon Aug 2024
Pieter Abbeel / Peter Chen-founded robotics FM company — built RFM-1 (Robotics Foundation Model, Mar 2024) for warehouse pick-and-place. Acqui-hired by Amazon Aug-2024 (founders + 25% of team to Amazon Robotics); Covariant remains operat…
Tier 3 — emerging (5)
- Collaborative Robotics Collaborative robot maker (Brad Porter / ex-Amazon Robotics)
Founded 2022 by Brad Porter (ex-Amazon Robotics VP + Scale AI CTO). Stealthier than the humanoid pack; raised $100M Series B Apr-2024 (General Catalyst). Targets warehouse + healthcare collaborative robots.
- K-Scale Labs Open-source humanoid + OS — Y Combinator W24
Open-source humanoid robot maker — K-Scale OS (Kos), Stompy and KBot humanoids. YC W24. Pitched as the 'open-source humanoid' alternative to Figure / Tesla — full hardware + software OSS.
- OpenMind OM1 Open robot OS / agentic framework (FABRIC + OM1)
OpenMind — open robot OS (OM1) + FABRIC interconnect, founded by Jan Liphardt (Stanford). Pitched as the 'Android of robots': any humanoid + any LLM + the same OS layer. Raised $20M Series A (Pantera + others, 2025).
- Pickle Robot Warehouse-truck-unloading robot platform (MIT spinout)
MIT spinout focused on truck-unloading robots — autonomously empties truck trailers. Raised $50M Series B (Mar 2024, Tiger Global + others). Narrow focus but production deployments at major logistics customers.
- Sanctuary AI General-purpose humanoid (Phoenix) — cognitive-architecture-led
Vancouver-based humanoid maker; Phoenix robot powered by Carbon cognitive architecture. Founded 2018 by Geordie Rose (ex-D-Wave + Kindred). Less well-funded than Figure / 1X / Apptronik but with a distinctive cognitive-architecture (atom…