Meet Feather, the startup building the 'Android of robotics' for developers
News Source
β’Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:52:38 +0000
π° What Happened
A startup called Feather Robotics is building a robot platform it hopes will become the 'Android of robotics'. Developers can change the hardware for different jobs, such as fitting longer arms.
Feather has already sold machines and passed $1 million in revenue. It says its robots work as cooks in restaurants in Japan and clean science labs. The company says it fixed most problems found during a year of testing.
Each robot costs $30,000. That is about half the price of a similar model from the Chinese company Unitree. That is less than the yearly cost of hiring and training a worker.
π The Backstory
Feather was founded last year. Hoa Mai sold his earlier humanoid company to 1X, then teamed up with Parsa Bakhtiari, a former Tesla Model 3 engineer. The pair started the company in 2025.
Investor Gradient Ventures led a $7.6 million pre-seed round. It says Feather is the only US startup building a robot platform that buyers can change themselves.
Big names such as Tesla and Figure are trying to build a general-purpose robot with a single brain. Feather says that moment has not arrived, so it sells tools developers can use today.
π― Why It Matters
Cheaper, open robot platforms could let far more companies build robots for real jobs. That may speed up automation in kitchens, labs and warehouses. It could also bring the price of small robots down.
A startup called Feather Robotics is building a robot platform it hopes will become the 'Android of robotics'. Developers can change the hardware for different jobs, such as fitting longer arms.
Feather has already sold machines and passed $1 million in revenue. It says its robots work as cooks in restaurants in Japan and clean science labs. The company says it fixed most problems found during a year of testing.
Each robot costs $30,000. That is about half the price of a similar model from the Chinese company Unitree. That is less than the yearly cost of hiring and training a worker.
Feather was founded last year. Hoa Mai sold his earlier humanoid company to 1X, then teamed up with Parsa Bakhtiari, a former Tesla Model 3 engineer. The pair started the company in 2025.
Investor Gradient Ventures led a $7.6 million pre-seed round. It says Feather is the only US startup building a robot platform that buyers can change themselves.
Big names such as Tesla and Figure are trying to build a general-purpose robot with a single brain. Feather says that moment has not arrived, so it sells tools developers can use today.
Cheaper, open robot platforms could let far more companies build robots for real jobs. That may speed up automation in kitchens, labs and warehouses. It could also bring the price of small robots down.