A List of Companies, Both Large and Small, That Are Stable and Developing Robots or Autonomous Intelligent Agents
Robotics is awesome, and people who think robotics is awesome are awesome, so I have decided to put together a living list of important industry innovators in robotics and artificially intelligent agents. This is intended to be a starting point; there are many other cool companies out there that are just getting started! If you want a company added to this list, or think something needs to be adjusted, please submit a pull request (see the contributing guidelines)!
A NOTE ABOUT ARTIFICIALLY INTELLIGENT AGENTS: A lot of companies are saying that they have "artificial intelligence" at this point, including many on this list. However, this list is restricted to those companies that work on "artificially intelligent agency" or "agent intelligence;" that is, the products they produce and services they sell use artificial intelligence or machine learning to enable autonomous agents that make their own decisions. I make no claim that there is one correct use of the term "AI," but this is not to be confused with the umbrella term "AI" being used by businesses to include generic machine learning, data analysis, and data visualization services that enable human decision makers (to say nothing of the services that involve none of the above). Occasionally this list will include companies focused on technology that supports or directly applies to artificially intelligent agents (for example those working on dialogue, 3D mapping, or computer vision), but I generally try to discourage this.
(2024-04-17) A NOTE ABOUT THE RECENT EXPLOSION IN FOUNDATION MODEL AGENT COMPANIES Due to the recent use of LLMs to create the underlying decision making process of intelligent agents, there has been an explosion in startups trying to use these methods for a variety of different products and services. Here I will only try to focus on companies that have a significantly deeper technological contribution than "Agent based on context and LLM Chain/Tree of thought," and specifically companies that actually have demonstrated real world application of their technology. For the moment, that means few if any of this companies make the cut, but they may in the future.
All locations listed are primary locations for engineering development, so the locations lists will be representative but are not guaranteed to be complete.
- Qualcomm
- Autonomous Driving (Locations: Philadelphia, USA; San Diego, USA)
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Locations: Philadelphia, USA)
- NVIDIA
- Deep Learning/AI (Locations: Santa Clara, USA; Seattle, USA)
- Computer Vision
- Simulated Robotic Control
- Manipulation
- Notable acquisitions: DeepMap
- Tesla
- Autonomous Driving (Locations: Palo Alto, USA; Fremont, USA; McCarren, USA; St. Leonards, AUS; Beijing, CHN; Hong Kong, CHN; Tokyo, JPN)
- Humanoid Robots
- Microsoft
- Microsoft Research (Locations: Palo Alto, USA; Redmond, USA; Seattle, USA; Cambridge, USA; New York, USA; Montreal, CAN; Beijing, CHN)
- Deep Learning/AI Research
- Computer Vision
- Robotics
- Microsoft Cortana (Location: Seattle, USA; Cambridge, USA)
- Intelligent disembodied agents
- Azure (Locations: Seattle, USA)
- Deep Learning/AI Research
- Microsoft Research (Locations: Palo Alto, USA; Redmond, USA; Seattle, USA; Cambridge, USA; New York, USA; Montreal, CAN; Beijing, CHN)
- Meta
- FAIR (Location: Menlo Park, USA; Seattle, USA; Pittsburgh, USA)
- Deep Learning/AI Research
- Reinforcement learning
- Robotics
- FRL (formerly Occulus Research) (Location: Seattle, USA)
- Intelligent virtual agents
- FAIR (Location: Menlo Park, USA; Seattle, USA; Pittsburgh, USA)
- Alphabet (Company Outline)
- Google X (Locations: Mountain View, USA; Undisclosed)
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Autonomous Driving
- General Robotics
- Google AI (Locations: Mountain View, USA; New York, USA; Cambridge, USA; Seattle, USA)
- Deep Learning/AI Research
- Reinforcement learning
- Robotics
- Deepmind (Locations: Mountain View, USA; London, GBR)
- Deep Learning/AI Research
- Google Assistant (Locations: Mountain View, USA; New York, USA)
- Intelligent disembodied agents
- Google GCP (Locations: Mountain View, USA)
- Deep Learning/AI Research
- Google X (Locations: Mountain View, USA; Undisclosed)
- Honda
- Honda Research Institute (Location: Tokyo, JP; Palo Alto, USA; Colombus, USA)
- General Robotics
- Autonomous Driving
- Intelligent virtual assistants
- Honda Research Institute (Location: Tokyo, JP; Palo Alto, USA; Colombus, USA)
- Toyota (Locations: Tokyo, JPN; Los Altos, USA; Ann Arbor, USA; Cambridge, USA)
- Toyota Research Institute
- General Robotics
- Autonomous Driving
- Toyota Research Institute
- Amazon
- Amazon Robotics (Formerly Kiva Systems) (Locations: Westborough, USA; Seattle, USA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Manipulation
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Amazon Scout (Locations: Seattle, USA)
- Autonomous driving and delivery
- AWS AI (Locations: Seattle, USA)
- Deep Learning/AI
- Alexa (Locations: Seattle, USA; New York, USA)
- Intelligent disembodied agents
- Lab 126
- Smart Devies
- Go (store)
- Computer Vision
- Machine learning
- Sensor fusion
- Prime Air
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Videos
- Autonomous driving and delivery
- Amazon Robotics (Formerly Kiva Systems) (Locations: Westborough, USA; Seattle, USA)
- Softbank
- Softbank Robotics (Tokyo, JPN; Paris, FRA)
- General Robotics
- HRI and Assistive Robotics
- Softbank Robotics (Tokyo, JPN; Paris, FRA)
- Dyson (Location: Malmesbury, GBR; Singapore)
- Household cleaning robotics
- SLAM/Localisation
- Computer Vision (image processing, object detection/recognition)
- iRobot (Location: Boston, USA)
- Household cleaning robotics
- Outdoor robotics
- Telepresence
- SLAM/Localisation
- Computer Vision (image processing, object detection/recognition)
- Educational robotics
- Ecovacs (Location: Suzhou, CHN)
- Household cleaning robotics
- ABB Robotics (Location: Zurich, CHE)
- Manipulation
- Industrial Robotics
- FANUC (Location: Oshino, JPN)
- Manipulation
- Industrial robotics
- DJI (Locations: Shenzhen, CHN; Los Angeles, USA)
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Smart cameras
- Computer vision
- Apple (Locations: Seattle, USA; Cupertino, USA)
- AI Research
- Computer vision
- Autonomous Driving (Special Problems Group)
- Medtronic
- Healthcare robotic devices (Locations: Frindley, USA; Dublin, IRL)
- Robotic surgery (Locations: Caeserea, ISR)
- Intuitive Surgical
- Healthcare robotic devices (Locations: Sunnyvale, USA)
- Robotic surgery (Locations: Sunnyvale, USA)
- Human robot interaction research (Locations: Sunnyvale, USA; Atlanta, USA)
- Aptiv (Locations: Boston, USA; Pittsburgh, USA; Krakow, POL; Kokomo, USA; Seoul, KOR)
- Autonomous driving
- Sensor systems for autonomous vehicles
- Universal Robots (Locations: Odense, DNK; Boston, USA; Tokyo, JPN)
- Manipulation
- Robot mechanics and design
- Industrial robotics
- Kuka (Locations: Augsburg, DEU; Budapest, HUN; Austin, USA; Detroit, USA)
- Manipulation
- Robot mechanics and design
- Industrial robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Mobility and planning
- Swisslog (Locations: Aarau, CHE; Dortmund, DEU; Denver, USA; San Francisco, USA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Healthcare automation
- Parent company: Kuka
- Cruise (San Francisco, USA)
- Autonomous driving
- Notable acquisistions: Voyage
- Zoox (Location: Foster City, USA)
- Autonomous driving
- Samsung Research
- Intelligent disembodied agents
- Computer vision
- Robotics
- Magna International (Aurora, ON, CAN; MI, USA; Muenchen, DEU; Kechnec, SVK; others)
- Autonomous driving
- Delivery Robots
- Notable acquisitions: Optimus Ride
- Mercedes-Benz (Stuttgart, DUE; Detroit, MI, USA; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA; Shanghai, CHN)
- Autonomous driving
- Autonomous trucking
- Bosch Research (Stuttgart, DUE; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA)
- Manipulation
- Autonomous driving
- Human robot interaction
This list contains what I am calling "stable start-ups," which is any company that isn't public, has a valuation at <$500M, has only or two primary locations, and/or does not have a revenue stream that could result in short term profitability. "Stable" doesn't mean they cannot fail, but this list will not be used to keep track of every single effort as that would be exhausting. If you want something like that, may I suggest CrunchBase and Robotics Business Review.
- Boston Dynamics
- Robot mechanics and design
- Robot control
- Autonomy
- Parent company: Hyundai
- Realtime Robotics
- Autonomy
- Robotic control
- User Interfaces
- Harvest Automation
- Outdoor mobile robotics
- Agricultural robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Barrett Technology
- Robot mechanics and design
- Robot control
- Manipulation
- Veo Robotics
- Industrial robotics
- Human robot interaction
- Manipulation
- Computer vision
- Vecna Robotics
- Manipulation
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- 6 River Systems
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Righthand Robotics
- Manipulation
- Robot mechanics and design
- Sea Machines
- Autonomous marine vehicles
- Locus Robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Ava Robotics
- Telepresence
- GelSight
- Manipulation
- Haptics
- Nuro
- Autonomous driving
- Autonomous delivery
- Autonomous trucking
- Notable acquisitions: Ike robotics
- Fetch Robotics
- Retail robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Manipulation
- AutoX
- Autonomous driving
- Alt Location: Shenzhen, CHN
- Double Robotics
- Telepresence
- Covariant AI
- General Robotics
- Manipulation
- Computer Vision
- Reinforcement Learning
- Blue River Technology
- Agriculture Robotics
- Outdoor robotics
- Parent company: John Deere
- Skydio
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Liquid Robotics
- Marine robotics
- Robot controls
- Robot research
- Parent company: Boeing
- Intrinsic
- Artificial intelligence research
- Intelligent robot assistants
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Parent company: Alphabet
- Notable acquisitions: Vicarious
- Orbital Insight
- Computer Vision
- Alt locations: Washington D.C., USA; Boston, USA
- Space Know
- Computer Vision
- Aurora Technologies
- Autonomous driving
- Alt Locations: Pittsburgh, USA; Bozeman, USA
- Farmwise
- Farming robot
- Picks weeds/reduces pesticide use
- (Lemnos funded)
- Built Robotics
- Earth moving robots
- Use OEM machines from Caterpillar/Komatsu
- Figure
- Humanoid robotics
- Ambi Robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Manipulation
- Bear Robotics
- Service robotics
- Chef robotics
- Food preparation robotics
- Civ Robotics
- Construction robotics
- Collaborative Robotics
- Human robot interation
- Dexterity Robotics
- Manipulation
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Nimble
- Manipulation
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Matic
- Household cleaning robotics
- Relay Robotics
- Healthcare robotics
- Pyka
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Robust AI
- Manipulation
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- UnitX
- Manipulation
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Inspection robotics
- Volley Automation
- Autonomous Parking
- Safe AI
- Robot mining
- Outdoor robotics
- Construction robotics
- Cobalt AI
- Robot Security and monitoring
- Telepresence
- Joby Aviation
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Human flight assistance
- Kodiak
- Autonomous trucking
- Pony.ai
- Autonomous driving
- Autonomous trucking
- Intuition Robotics
- Healthcare robotics
- Human robot interaction
- Matternet
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Drone delivery
- Wing
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Drone delivery
- Left Hand Robotics
- Outdoor robotics
- Agriculture Robotics
- AMP Robotics
- Intelligent autonomous recycling
- Industrial robotics
- Sphero/Misty Robotics
- Robot toys
- Robot companions
- Valyant AI
- Intelligent disembodied agents
- Berkshire Grey
- Manipulation
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Scythe Robotics
- Outdoor robotics
- Formerly: Savioke
- Outrider
- Autonomous vehicles
- Autonomous yard operations
- Bossa Nova Robotics
- Retail robotics
- Manipulation
- Astrobotic
- Autonomous spaceflight landers
- Autonomous planetary rovers
- Seegrid
- Retail robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Computer vision
- 3D Mapping
- Tybot
- Ties rebar cages
- Aethon, Inc.
- Assistive robotics
- Hotel robotics
- Parent company: ST Engineering
- Gecko Robotics
- Inspection robotics
- Climbing robots
- Neya Robotics
- Unmanned ground vehicles
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Near Earth Autonomy
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Mine Vision Systems
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Computer vision
- Four Growers, Inc.
- Agriculture Robotics
- Outdoor robotics
- Manipulation
- Onward Robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Formerly IAM robotics
- Stack AV
- Autonomous driving
- Trucking
- Diligent Robotics
- Healthcare robotics
- Personal robot assistants
- Tailos
- Household robotics
- Human robot interaction
- Robot vacuums
- Formerly: Maidbot
- Pensa Systems
- Retail robotics
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Apptronik
- Humanoid robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Inevitable Tech
- Agriculture robotics
- Formerly: Iron Ox
- Aescape
- Massage robotics
- Clarifai
- Video/Image recognition
- Enterprise visual decision making
- Alt locations: San Francisco, USA; Washington D.C., USA
- Carmera
- Computer vision
- 3D Mapping
- Toggle
- Rebar tying robot with robotic arm
- Honeybee Robotics
- Space robotics
- Manipulation
- Unmanned ground vehicles
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Parent Company: Blue Origin
- Autonomous Solutions (Location: Petersboro, UT, USA)
- Mining robotics
- Industrial robotics
- Autonomous driving
- InVia Robotics (Thousand Oaks, CA, USA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Slip Robotics (Atlanta, GA, USA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Path Robotics (Columbus, OH, USA)
- Welding robotics
- Greenzie (Atlanta, GA, USA)
- Outdoor robotics
- Agility Robotics (Tangent, OR, USA)
- Humanoid Robotics
- Neocis (Miami, FL, USA)
- Surgical Robotics
- GrayMatter Robotics (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
- Manufacturing Robotics
- Formic Technologies (Chicago, IL, USA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Overland AI (Seattle, WA, USA)
- Autonomous driving
- Outdoor robotics
- Anduril (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- May Mobility (Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
- Autonomous Vehicles
- Virtual Incision (Lincoln, NE, USA)
- Robotic surgery
- 1X Technologies (Moss, NOR; Sunnyvale, CA, USA)
- Humanoid Robotics
- Sanctuary AI (Vancouver, BC, CAN)
- Humanoid Robotics
- Clearpath Robotics (Toronto, CAN)
- Research robotics
- Outdoor robotics
- Robotic control
- User Interfaces
- Parent company: Rockwell Automation
- Kinova (Location: Montreal, CAN)
- Manipulation
- Robot mechanics and design
- MIR (Locations: Odense, DNK; New York, USA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Rapyuta Robotics (Locations: Tokyo, JPN; Zurich, CHE; Bangalore, IND)
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Cloud robotics
- FiveAI (Location: Cambridge, GBR)
- Autonomous Driving
- Iris AI (Locations: Oslo, NOR; Berlin, DEU; Odessa, UKR; Sofia, BGR)
- AI-based autonomy for robotic science experimentation
- Naio Technologies (Location: Escalquens, FRA)
- Agricultural robotics
- Franka Emika (Location: Munich, DEU)
- Manipulation
- Robot mechanics and design
- Dorabot (Location: Shenzhen, CHN)
- Manipulation
- Materials handling robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Alt Locations: Atlanta, USA; Brisbane, AUS
- Wayve (Location: Cambridge, GBR)
- Autonomous driving
- Saga Robotics (Oslo, NOR)
- Agricultural Robotics
- Alt Location: Lincoln, GBR
- ANYbotics (Zurich, CHE)
- Quadruped robots
- Inspection robotics
- Baubot (Wein, AUT)
- Construction robotics
- Blue Ocean Robotics (Odense, DNK)
- Telepresence robotics
- Cleaning robots
- Healthcare robotics
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Notable acquisitions: GoBe Robots, Suitable Technologies, UVD robots, PTR robots
- Starship Technologies (Tallinn, EST)
- Autonomous driving and delivery
- Alt location: San Francisco, CA, USA
- Keybotic (Barcelona, ESP)
- Quadruped robots
- Inspection robotics
- Exotec (Lille, FRA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Alt locations: Atlanta, GA, USA; Munich, Germany
- Exotec (Paris, FRA)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Alt locations: Atlanta, GA, USA; Munich, Germany
- Nomagic (Warsaw, POL)
- Warehouse and fulfillment robotics and automation
- Manipulation
- TuSimple (Shenzhen, CHN)
- Autonomous driving and delivery
- Alt location: San Diego, CA, USA
- Mapillary (Malmo, SWE)
- Map data for autonomous vehicles
- Tonner (Cannes, FRA)
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Security robotics
- Formerly: Delta Drone group
- Volocopter (Bruchsal, DEU)
- Unmanned aerial vehicles
- Human flight assistance
- OpenAI (Location: San Francisco, CA, USA)
- Research robotics
- Deep Learning/General AI
- Deep Reinforcement Learning
- Machine Learning Theory
- Computer Vision
- Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Location: Seattle, WA, USA)
- Natural language processing/semantics/question answering
- Machine learning theory
- Knowledge representation
- Computer vision
- Open Robotics (Location: San Francisco, CA, USA; Singapore)
- Robotics software development
- Robotics Simulation
- Formerly: Open Source Robotics Foundation; Willow Garage
- Army Research Laboratory (ARL) (Locatoin: Adelphi, MD, USA)
- Autonomous Driving
- Computer vision
- Human Robot Interaction
- Adaptation/robustness to unknown or adversarial terrain
- Naval Resaerch Laboratory (NRL) (Location: Washinton D.C., USA)
- Autonomous Underwater unmanned vehicles
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Marine robotics
- Autonomous Testing of Robotics
- Human Robot Interaction
- Artificial Intelligence
- Manipulation
- Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) (Location: Dayton, OH, USA)
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Computer Vision
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Ames Laboratory (Location: Pasadena, CA, USA; Sunnyvale, CA, USA)
- Space robotics
- Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles
- Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
- Self-assembling structures
- Computer Vision
- Human Robot Interaction
Designed in accordance with Sindre's awesome superlist. Thanks Sindre! TOC from @ekalinin 's Easy TOC for Github README. Thanks Eugene!
And thank you to all of the contributers on and off Github (mostly off at this point). Couldn't do it without you.