AUTOMATE STARTUP CHALLENGE
Co-sponsored by:
ABOUT THE CHALLENGE
Witness the next wave of innovation unfold right before your eyes. The Automate Startup Challenge brings early-stage companies in robotics and automation to the stage as they pitch their innovations to a panel of expert judges for a chance to win $10,000 and the title of 2026 Startup Challenge Champion.
Monday, June 22 | 3-5 P.M.
Automate Show Theater
Attending this event is free and open to anyone with an Automate show or conference badge.
THIS YEAR’S 10 FINALISTS
Axomind, Inc.
Axomind is revolutionizing manufacturing with an AI-driven robotic orchestration platform that bridges the gap between CAD design and physical production.
Starting with metal fabrication and final assembly, Axomind platform orchestrates robotic fleet. It ingests design data and leverages 3D perception and AI models to automatically plan, verify, and orchestrate robot actions.
This approach eliminates the need for expensive, rigid integration, enabling factories facing labor shortages to automate production without investing in million-dollar turnkey systems.
Ceilix
The CeiliX SkyBot is the world’s first mobile, omnidirectional ceiling-mounted cobot, utilizing a modular rail network to move automation overhead. Operating independently of floor traffic and machine layouts, this system optimizes production in space-constrained or high-cleanliness environments. By performing assembly and transport tasks from above, the SkyBot ensures continuous material flow while keeping pathways clear and minimizing collisions.
Built on the modular "CeiliXElements" rail system, multiple robots can operate simultaneously across different halls and levels to adapt to fluctuating workloads. The platform utilizes Bosch Rexroth’s ctrlX Automation, allowing for easy integration and workflow modifications without complex programming or structural changes. This lower entry barrier makes it ideal for small and medium-sized enterprises requiring flexibility. Whether applied in CNC manufacturing or logistics, the SkyBot reduces transport distances and improves worker safety by transforming the factory ceiling into a productive movement layer for modern industry.
Copper Robotics
Copper Robotics enables safe and scalable Physical AI for real-world autonomy by building a new class of operating system for robotics. The founder brings over a decade of experience building software infrastructure for autonomous vehicles and drones, where the fundamental limitations of existing robotics operating systems became clear in production. Copper’s deterministic architecture is designed to reduce development cost while supporting reliable, safety-critical deployments at scale. By addressing the core execution and debugging challenges of modern autonomy stacks, Copper aims to become the standard operating system for the next generation of robots.
Daxo Robotics
Daxo Robotics is developing a general-purpose, highly dexterous robotic hand through a fundamentally hardware-first approach, with hardware designed specifically for AI control.
Daxo embraces complex systems rather than complicated ones—integrating over 100 actuators per hand and leveraging physical AI control systems to unlock manipulation capabilities beyond current robotic hands, enabling a wider range of real-world tasks.
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EV Bots Inc.
EV Bots builds autonomous service nodes that automate charging, tire pressure management, and safety inspections for electric vehicle fleets. Our modular robotic platform integrates power electronics, machine vision, and real-time fleet orchestration to eliminate downtime and reduce operating costs for commercial EV operators. We’re deploying scalable, infrastructure-grade systems that accelerate fleet electrification and enable the next generation of ground and aerial electric mobility.
Hardhat Robotics, Inc.
As a fully integrated solution provider, Hardhat Robotics delivers an end?to?end stack—hardware, software, deployment, and support—built on our founder’s proven playbook of robotic deployments across construction sites. Our next-generation robotic tools transform electrician safety and productivity:
Remote Hazard Mitigation – Electricians can energize circuits and perform other high-risk tasks from a safe distance, dramatically reducing injury risk while boosting throughput—critical for data-center commissioning.
Data-Driven Feedback Loop – By positioning our machines between workers and the workfront, we capture unique operational data. This data becomes the foundation of a continuous-improvement cycle that will guide us toward autonomy, amplifying productivity for our customers and reshaping construction forever.
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KoiReader Technologies, Inc.
KoiReader Technologies is a pioneer and global leader in Vision and Generative Al-powered Logistics, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing intelligence solutions, and recognized in the industry for its KoiVision® Digital Operations Platform and AI Operating Model.
Industry leaders such as NVIDIA, PepsiCo, Dell, HPE, Siemens, Intel, and PepsiCo have endorsed KoiVision® Platform for its offerings that include Warehouse, Yard, Manufacturing, Retail, and Port Intelligence.
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Luffy AI Limited
Luffy AI’s "Adaptive Intelligence" utilizes compact, neuroplastic controllers that are 400x more efficient than traditional deep learning. This breakthrough allows real-time AI to run natively on existing PLCs and drives without cloud connectivity, offering microsecond inference times. By replacing manual PID tuning with self-optimizing, plug-and-play intelligence, Luffy addresses critical industry pain points like labor shortages, energy costs, and commissioning bottlenecks.
Through global partnerships, the company aims to make this adaptive technology a standard feature in industrial hardware worldwide. This vision transforms every machine into an intelligently adaptive asset that optimizes its own performance from the moment it is powered on, streamlining automation for a more efficient future.
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Mbodi AI
Mbodi is an AI platform for industrial robots that enables them to learn and operate like humans. With Mbodi, anyone can teach robots new tasks in minutes using natural language. What traditionally takes weeks of programming and integration can now be done through simple instructions and quick demonstrations.
Our platform translates human intent into reliable robot actions in production environments, enabling manufacturers and logistics operators to adapt quickly to new products and workflows without specialized expertise.
Mbodi is already working with partners including ABB and Fortune 500 CPG companies to bring physical AI into real production environments.
Mowito Robotics Inc
Mowito develops advanced Physical AI that learns from human demonstrations and drives robot arms using vision and tactile feedback, enabling automation of complex, high-precision assembly tasks in factories. We currently work with manufacturers such as Denso, VVDN (Foxconn), and Indo-MIM, and are running pilots with Maruti Suzuki.
MEET THE JUDGES
Zain Gulamali
Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Startups and VCs, Microsoft
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Sumay Parikh
Robotics & Physical AI Startups, NVIDIA
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Oliver Mitchel
Partner, Ff Venture Capital
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Sammie Hasen
Senior Associate, Newlab
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