Nine startups are part of Cohort 2 in the Physical AI Fellowship program. Source: MassRobotics
Physical AI developers need help to satisfy growing industrial demand for intelligent machines in real-world environments. MassRobotics today announced the second cohort of the Physical AI Fellowship, a virtual program to help robotics startups build, refine, and scale physical AI systems.
The organization offers the fellowship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Startups and NVIDIA Inception. By providing startups with deep technical guidance, cloud and compute resources, and access to a global robotics ecosystem, the fellowship is intended to enable teams to move from promising prototypes to enterprise-grade deployments.
“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,” said Tom Ryden, executive director at MassRobotics. “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.”
MassRobotics’ stated mission is to help create and scale the next generation of successful robotics and physical AI companies. It provides entrepreneurs and startups with the workspace, resources, programming and connections they need to develop, prototype, test and commercialize their products.
The Boston-based organization works with startups, academia, industry and governments both domestically and internationally to support robotics acceleration and adoption. See the fellowship cohort at the Robotics Summit & Expo; MassRobotics members can use the code “MASSROBO26” for 25% off registration.
Nine startups in 2026 Physical AI Fellowship cohort
After the success of the inaugural fall 2025 cohort, the 2026 cohort brings together nine promising startups advancing physical AI across agriculture, construction and renewable energy, industrial automation, retail and logistics, robotics data infrastructure, teleoperation, and wearable and humanoid robotics applications.
This year’s cohort includes:
Burro — a Philadelphia-based company developing autonomous mobile robots to help workers in industries such as agriculture
Config — a Seoul-based startup building data infrastructure and foundation models to enable robots to learn and perform real-world tasks with two arms
Deltia.ai — a Berlin-based company that turns shop-floor cameras into an intelligence layer for global manufacturers, tracking human and machine processes to improve productivity by 20% to 40%
Haply Robotics — a Montreal-based business capturing human motion and force to turn touch and manipulation into data for robotics, automation, and intelligent systems
Luminous Robotics — a former MassRobotics resident whose robots free workers from repetitive heavy lifting of solar panels for faster, safer, and more cost-effective installations at scale
Robot AI — a Seattle-based startup offering an engine enabling teams to search, process, and analyze multimodal logs at scale to create a “data flywheel” to continuously improve fleet reliability
Telexistence — a Tokyo-based company whose robots already operate in Japan’s convenience chains and that is deploying vision-language-action (VLA)-powered humanoids into retail stores
Terra Robotics — the Greek developer of the Terra Weeder, a smart tractor implement designed to reduce farmers’ dependence on manual labor and chemical herbicides with laser-weeding technology
WIRobotics — a Yongin-si, South Korea-based startup developing a general-purpose humanoid with dexterous hands and advanced actuation systems for industrial, service, and research environments
“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,” said Jason Bennett, vice president and global head of startups at AWS.
“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,” he added. “This model has proven to accelerate how quickly startups can validate, refine, and scale physical AI across real-world applications.”
MassRobotics, NVIDIA, and AWS provide support
MassRobotics listed the benefits for the fellows, including mentorship, training, physical space, and access to the latest developer tools:
Embedded science and engineering support from the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center to build and refine physical AI solutions
Cloud, compute and hardware access, including $200,000 in AWS credits and dedicated support channels
Access to NVIDIA AI infrastructure, including the NVIDIA Isaac open frameworks and models, NVIDIA Cosmos open world foundation models, free self-paced courses and discounted instructor-led workshops from NVIDIA Training, and preferred pricing for software and hardware via the Inception startup program
Specialized training and webinars with AWS and NVIDIA robotics teams
Facilities and tools at MassRobotics for prototyping, testing, and integration into the broader innovation ecosystem
Opportunities for go-to-market support, including high-visibility showcases at major AWS, NVIDIA, and MassRobotics events; joint promotion; and access to customers, investors, and collaborators across the MassRobotics community
“Startups are an incredibly powerful catalyst for innovation. By taking early bets on emerging technologies, they transform bold ideas into scalable businesses,” said Howard Wright, vice president of startup ecosystem at NVIDIA. “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,” he said.
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