Revolute Robotics

Revolute Robotics develops autonomous ground and aerial robots for asset inspection and facility monitoring, principally in energy and other heavy-industrial settings. Its flagship system, the Hybrid Mobility Robot (HMR), is a drone housed inside a rolling spherical exoskeleton: it drives along the ground to conserve battery and switches to flight when it encounters obstacles a rover cannot cross. The company states the rolling mode extends operating time by more than 5x (a later account cites more than 10x versus flying alone), and that the protective exoskeleton allows operation in confined and complex spaces without mission-ending collisions.

The platform is positioned as a multi-tool for robotic inspection, with interchangeable payloads spanning visual and thermal cameras, gas and radiation detection, LiDAR mapping, and ultrasonic testing for non-destructive evaluation. It supports GPS-denied navigation using LED lighting, stabilization sensors and a transmission system intended to enable beyond-visual-line-of-sight inspection, autonomous mission planning with minimal supervision, and multi-robot/swarm coordination across large sites. Named application areas include oil and gas, power, chemicals, construction and mining inspection; security patrols, perimeter monitoring and threat response; and defense tasks such as base patrol, ISR, vehicle inspection, and search and rescue. In mining, the company says the robot can assess whether shafts and excavation sites are safe for workers to enter.

The company describes itself as a dual-use business, developing its first commercial product for inspection of hard-to-reach industrial spaces while building a foundation to operate as a defense contractor, with a stated longer-term goal of broadening into inspection, construction, security, public safety and defense applications.

Founding story

The concept originated with co-founder Sahand Sabet, who built hybrid aerial/terrestrial robots for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and then devoted his PhD to identifying the ideal hybrid system for exploring extreme environments; proof-of-concept funding allowed a team to build early prototypes and file a first patent. Co-founder Collin Taylor came from the commercial drone industry, where his father ran Extreme Aerial Productions, an early US drone services company working in real estate, construction, industrial inspection and cinematography; customers repeatedly asked whether drone-based inspection could be brought indoors, where GPS and open space are unavailable. Taylor met Sabet while finishing his degree at the University of Arizona, and the two founded Revolute Robotics to commercialize the hybrid rolling-flying platform.

Business model

Revolute Robotics develops and supplies its Hybrid Mobility Robot hardware with customizable sensor payloads to industrial, security and defense end users. As of October 2025 it was providing robots to select customers participating in pilot studies, preparing pilot deployments with several large enterprise customers including one of the world's largest oil and gas producers, and maintaining a waitlist that includes inspection service providers, with a flagship product launch targeted before the end of 2026.

Traction

As of October 2025 the company had five employees with plans to grow to eight, was supplying robots to select pilot customers, and was preparing pilot deployments with several large enterprise customers including one of the world's largest oil and gas producers. The HMR has been tested at critical facilities including power plants and confined industrial spaces. Non-dilutive awards include $50,000 from NSF I-Corps, $120,000 through Techstars + Stanley Black & Decker, $25,000 from NSIN Vector, $50,000 from MassChallenge, and $100,000 from the MassRobotics Accelerator. Company goals for 2026 are continued pilot deployments and launch of the flagship product before year-end.

Latest developments

On 9-10 October 2025 the company announced a $1.9 million funding round led by ANIMO Ventures and Ascend with participation from angel investors, to be used for product development, early revenue generation, team growth and scaling operations. It was also selected in 2025 for the MassRobotics Accelerator, receiving $100,000 in non-dilutive funding and advisor access.