Elevator Pitch
As robot foundation models improve, the bottleneck is moving to hardware, and most robots and key parts like rare-earth magnets still come from abroad. YC wants a US robot supply chain.
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Full Description
Robot foundation models are starting to transfer skills between robots, which shifts the bottleneck to hardware. The US installed 38,400 industrial robots in 2025, up 12%, but most are imported from Japan and Europe, and even robots assembled here can depend on Chinese magnets: China made 94% of the world's sintered rare-earth magnets in 2024.
Why now: the FCC has stopped authorizing new connected mobile robot models unless they're made in the US or exempted. More than 65% of component cost must be domestic, rising to 75% in 2029, so assembling imported parts won't qualify.
The ask: robots and their supply chain built here, from magnets, motors, gears, encoders and sensors to grippers, chips and battery packs, plus the equipment used to produce them.
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