Independent assessment of robotics technology, commercial readiness, deployment economics and investment risk.
Robotics diligence has to follow the path from sensing and manipulation to system performance, manufacturing, deployment and economics. A successful demonstration is useful evidence, but the investment question is whether the company can repeat that performance in the customer’s operating environment, at a cost the customer can support.
Who this is for
Venture-capital, private-equity, corporate venture and strategic investors; boards reviewing capital commitments; robotics companies preparing for investment or partnerships; and companies evaluating robotics technology for an operating requirement.
My role is independent technical and commercial assessment. Installation, integration and delivery of an automation system remain the responsibility of the parties undertaking that work.
Questions the work can answer
- What has the robot demonstrated, and what is still a management expectation or projection?
- Do manipulation, sensing and autonomy work reliably with variable objects, contact conditions and operating environments?
- How much human intervention, remote operation or environment preparation does the claimed performance require?
- Can the sensing architecture and mechanical system be manufactured, calibrated, maintained and replaced at the assumed cost?
- Does the customer’s economic case survive realistic utilisation, failure, supervision, maintenance and integration assumptions?
- Which milestones must the company reach before a pilot becomes a repeatable deployment?
What is assessed
Demonstration and repeatability
I examine what was tested, under which conditions, for how long and with what intervention. Evidence from a selected task is distinguished from performance across a full workload. Technical claims and development roadmaps are compared with recorded results, unresolved failure modes and the next tests needed to establish confidence.
Sensing, manipulation and Physical AI
Physical AI connects machine intelligence to action in the physical world. The review can examine humanoid robotics, tactile sensing, sensing architectures, dexterous manipulation and autonomy as parts of a working system. The question is how information about contact, force, slip and uncertainty changes control and task completion, rather than whether an individual component has an impressive specification.
Manufacturing and deployment economics
A robot’s advertised purchase price is only one input. I examine component and assembly assumptions, yield, supplier dependencies, reliability and service requirements, alongside integration, training, supervision and customer workflow. Cost per useful task depends on throughput, availability, intervention and useful working life. Those assumptions need to connect to demonstrated performance.
This is the robotics application of my broader deep-tech technology assessment methodology. The scope follows the investment or deployment decision, with further specialist testing identified where the available evidence cannot resolve a material question.
What the client receives
Depending on scope, the work may produce a robotics technology assessment, a demonstrated-versus-projected evidence review, a technical-risk register, a manufacturing or deployment-readiness assessment, an economics sensitivity review, management questions and an investment-committee or board briefing. Findings distinguish measured capability, assumptions and unresolved risks, with recommendations for the next evidence needed. Each engagement has an agreed set of outputs.
Relevant experience
My published experience spans scientific instruments, industrial sensing, advanced materials, commercialisation and infrastructure deployment. My current robotics research examines the relationship between intelligence, tactile feedback, manipulation, manufacturing and deployment economics. The research supports the analytical approach; it is not presented as a record of confidential robotics client mandates.
The wider founder, board and advisory record provides the commercial context for asking what must be proved before technology expectations can support a capital commitment.
I chair Kirisense, a company developing tactile sensing for robotics, as disclosed in my published account of its development programme. That relationship is relevant to the scope of an independent assessment. Potential conflicts and any restrictions on independence need to be established before accepting an engagement.
Related research
- Tactile Sensing for Robotics: Technology, Economics and Market Guide — sensing performance, integration and cost.
- Robotics Is Attracting Billions. Look Where the Money Is Going. — investment concentration and commercial assumptions.
- Humanoid Robotics in 2026: From Demos to Deployment — manufacturing, markets and deployment risk.
- Humanoid robots, Unitree and the race to make robots useful — shipments, capability and productive work.
- As AI Gives Robots Brains, Touch Will Give Them Dexterity — why contact feedback matters.
- Robotics & Physical AI research hub — the wider research collection.
Discuss a project
Send a few lines about the company or technology, the decision being considered, the investment or project stage, the principal question and the timescale. Share what you have; these are useful starting points rather than required form fields. The first conversation establishes scope, access to evidence and any independence considerations.