San Francisco startup Industrial Next builds self contained robotic stations run by its own foundation models, which link vision, task context and motion. The company says a production line can be retooled in minutes instead of weeks, with no traditional programming.
It presented at Startup Battlefield during TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and announced that BMW Group's Technology Office will evaluate its dexterous manipulation for manufacturing.
Why it matters: most factory automation is fixed to one product. Flexible cells could bring robots to the delicate, frequently changing jobs that still rely on human hands.
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