SHORTList
AI/ML
Climate/Energy
Hardware/Robotics

Minerva Humanoids

Semi-autonomous humanoids for hazardous operations

CORE INFO

$10M
Total Funding
Pre-Seed
Round
2025
Founded
~9 publicly identifiable employees; exact headcount not found
Team Size
San Francisco, CA
Headquarters

Minerva Humanoids builds Roger, a remotely operated humanoid robot for dangerous industrial and public-safety work. Its intended buyers include energy operators, airports, industrial companies, and public-safety organizations that need specialists to handle hazardous tasks from safer locations.

  • Funding: Approximately $10 million in pre-seed financing was announced on October 6, 2026, led by General Catalyst, with Long Journey Ventures and Credo Ventures as co-leads.globenewswire.com
  • Pilot activity: Minerva announced its first paid pilots for fall 2026 and reported on-site testing while exploring deployments at two of the world's ten busiest airports.globenewswire.com
  • Prototype milestone: The company says it built a functional walking humanoid in approximately five months after starting development.globenewswire.com

WHY WE WOULD WORK AT MINERVA HUMANOIDS

Protect Human Lives

Help build Roger, a semi-autonomous humanoid designed to keep specialists away from toxic leaks, fires, explosives, and other dangerous sites. Minerva's mission is to save lives in the planet's most hazardous jobs.

Shape a New Category

Join an early-stage company founded at the end of 2025, where a small team is defining humanoid robotics for oil and gas, energy infrastructure, airports, and public safety.

Advance Shared Autonomy

Work on Minerva Intelligence, combining VR teleoperation with AI-assisted balance, fall recovery, navigation, perception, and manipulation. The goal is to keep expert humans in control while robots handle the physical risk.

Ship Real Hardware

Turn research into field-ready machines—not just demos. The team built a walking humanoid prototype in roughly five months and is manufacturing early Roger prototypes in Germany for paid pilot deployments.

Grow With Strong Backing

Build alongside a company backed by approximately $10 million in pre-seed funding led by General Catalyst, with first paid pilots launching and operational deployments targeted for 2027.

Learn Across Disciplines

Collaborate with experienced leaders from MIT CSAIL, Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Stretch, plus research partners at MBZUAI and the University of Waterloo. The small US–Germany team spans robotics, AI, hardware, controls, and hazardous-operations expertise.

MARKET AND TRACTION

GROWTH TACTICS

✦ KEY METRIC
  • Launching first paid pilots in fall 2026, initially targeting oil and gas and other hazardous industrial operations.

  • Exploring deployments at two of the world's ten busiest airports and targeting operational deployments for 2027.

  • Building research and deployment capabilities through partnerships with MBZUAI, the University of Waterloo, and the NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence.

    • NOTABLE CUSTOMERS

    ✦ KEY METRIC
  • No named paying customers have been publicly disclosed.

  • Minerva has reported completed on-site testing related to potential deployments at two major international airports, but the airports have not been identified.

  • MBZUAI and the University of Waterloo are research partners, not publicly confirmed paying customers.

    • KEY METRICS

    ✦ KEY METRIC
  • Approximately $10 million in publicly announced pre-seed funding, led by General Catalyst, with Long Journey Ventures and Credo Ventures as co-leads.

  • The company says it built a functional walking humanoid prototype in approximately five months, progressing from clean-sheet design in March 2026 to a walking prototype in August 2026.

  • No revenue, ARR, active customer count, commercial robot deployments, or completed paid-pilot count has been publicly disclosed.

    • COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

  • Roger combines VR-based remote teleoperation by trained specialists with AI-assisted balance, fall recovery, navigation, perception, and manipulation.

  • Minerva is focused specifically on hazardous energy, industrial, and public-safety work rather than general-purpose humanoid demonstrations.

  • The company develops software and AI primarily in the United States while manufacturing early prototypes in Germany, with an objective of avoiding reliance on single-source Chinese components.

    • MARKET POSITION

  • Minerva is an early-stage, venture-backed industrial robotics company serving oil and gas, energy infrastructure, emergency response, explosive ordnance disposal, hazardous-material response, and airport safety applications.

  • Its current commercial evidence consists of a functional prototype, demonstrations, research partnerships, on-site testing, and planned paid pilots; scaled production, recurring revenue, and independently validated operating performance have not been publicly established.

    • PRODUCT AND TECH

    Roger Humanoid Robot

    Roger is a purpose-built semi-autonomous humanoid robot for hazardous industrial and public-safety work, including energy infrastructure, EOD, and emergency response.

    VR Teleoperation

    A VR-headset interface lets trained specialists remotely control Roger from safer locations, using the robot's cameras and movement controls to perform fine physical tasks.

    Minerva Intelligence

    Minerva's AI control layer assists with balance, fall recovery, navigation, perception, and manipulation while keeping human operators in control of critical actions.

    Multimodal Perception

    The platform combines computer vision, cameras, touch feedback, and multimodal perception to support operations in challenging environments such as smoke, darkness, and sensor-failure conditions.

    COMPANY CULTURE

    Values

  • Protect human life in dangerous work

  • Keep skilled experts in control

  • Build safer, reliable, and predictable operations

  • Prioritize real-world impact

    • Operating Principles

  • Combine human judgment with AI-assisted autonomy

  • Design for hazardous industrial and public-safety environments

  • Favor practical deployment over laboratory demonstrations

  • Iterate quickly while maintaining operational reliability

    • Work Style

  • Small, fast-moving, hardware-focused team

  • Build and ship products for real-world field use

  • Collaborate across robotics, AI, hardware, and operations

  • Work across teams in the United States and Germany

    • Team Environment

  • Cross-disciplinary collaboration with academic and industry partners

  • Mission-driven work focused on saving lives

  • Close connection between engineering and hazardous-operations specialists

  • Hands-on involvement in early-stage product development

    • Learning & Growth

  • Work on cutting-edge humanoid robotics and shared autonomy

  • Develop expertise across balance, navigation, perception, and manipulation

  • Learn through rapid prototype iteration and field testing

  • Collaborate with research partners including MBZUAI and the University of Waterloo