MassRobotics has announced the second cohort of its Physical AI Fellowship, a virtual program powered by Amazon Web Services Startups and NVIDIA Inception, designed to help high-potential robotics startups build, refine, and scale physical AI solutions.
Following the inaugural Fall 2025 cohort, the 2026 program includes nine startups developing physical AI technologies across sectors such as agriculture, construction and renewable energy, industrial automation, retail and logistics, robotics data infrastructure, teleoperation, and wearable and humanoid robotics. The fellowship provides deep technical guidance, cloud and compute resources, and access to a global robotics ecosystem, enabling teams to transition from prototype-stage innovations to enterprise-grade deployments.
Participants receive support from AWS Generative AI Innovation Center scientists and engineers, cloud credits, and access to NVIDIA Inception resources including mentorship, technical training, and developer tools. MassRobotics also offers access to its facilities for prototyping, testing, and integration, along with opportunities for go-to-market exposure through major industry events.
The cohort will be showcased at the Robotics Summit & Expo in May 2026 in Boston, where startups will connect with industry leaders, investors, and potential partners.
The 2026 cohort includes:
- Burro: Builds autonomous robots that assist workers by automating repetitive tasks across agriculture, nurseries, and industrial environments to improve productivity and address labor shortages.
- Config: Develops data infrastructure and foundation models that enable robots to perform real-world tasks with both arms and adapt quickly to new applications.
- Deltia: Provides AI-powered intelligence layers for manufacturing by analyzing shop-floor camera data to improve efficiency and support industrial automation.
- Haply Robotics: Creates human-machine interfaces that capture touch, motion, and force data to help robots better understand and interact with physical environments.
- Luminous Robotics: Deploys robotic systems to automate solar panel installation, improving speed, safety, and scalability of renewable energy projects.
- Roboto AI: Offers an analytics engine for physical AI, enabling teams to process and analyze multimodal robotics data to improve performance and reliability.
- Telexistence: Builds autonomous robotic solutions for commercial environments, including humanoid robots deployed in retail operations to automate complex tasks.
- Terra Robotics: Develops laser-based weeding systems for agriculture, reducing reliance on manual labor and chemical herbicides.
- WIRobotics: Designs humanoid robots with advanced dexterity and actuation systems for real-world industrial, service, and research applications.
The program reflects the growing momentum behind physical AI, as startups continue to drive innovation in intelligent systems deployed across real-world environments.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re excited to launch our second Physical AI Fellowship cohort and continue working alongside industry leaders like AWS and NVIDIA to help startups scale real-world physical AI solutions. We look forward to showcasing the cohort at the Robotics Summit & Expo in May and connecting them with the broader community during Boston Tech Week.”
Tom Ryden, Executive Director Of MassRobotics
“Physical AI represents one of the most transformative opportunities in robotics, and startups are leading the way in bringing these intelligent systems from lab to market. This fellowship is designed to remove technical and resource barriers that slow innovation by embedding our scientists and engineers directly with cohort companies, providing substantial cloud credits and AI services, and connecting them to enterprise customers who are eager to deploy these solutions. This model has proven to accelerate how quickly startups can validate, refine, and scale physical AI across real-world applications.”
Jason Bennett, VP And Global Head Of Startups At AWS
“Startups are an incredibly powerful catalyst for innovation. By taking early bets on emerging technologies, they transform bold ideas into scalable businesses. As physical AI brings intelligence to machines, factories, and infrastructure, these innovators will drive greater efficiency and productivity across the global economy. In collaboration with AWS, we’re showing that our technologies are better together, helping startups accelerate innovation and bring transformative AI solutions to market.”
Howard Wright, Vice President Of Startup Ecosystem At NVIDIA
