Minerva Humanoids Raises $10 Million to Develop Robots for Hazardous Industrial Work

Minerva Humanoids has emerged from stealth with approximately $10 million in pre-seed funding to develop semi-autonomous humanoid robots for hazardous work in the energy and public safety sectors.

The funding round was led by General Catalyst, with Long Journey Ventures and Credo Ventures as co-leads. MVP Ventures, Kaya, RunwayFBU, Compound, Founders Embassy, Hugging Face, Codecademy, YG, Walter Ventures, Tiny Ventures, Chaotica, and Babylon also participated. The San Francisco-based company is launching its first paid industry pilot this month.

Minerva is developing a humanoid robot called Roger, designed to enable trained specialists to remotely perform dangerous tasks while remaining physically outside hazardous environments. The company is initially targeting applications including onshore and offshore oil and gas operations, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), hazardous material response, and other public safety work.

Founded by CEO Sandor Felber and CTO Maurice Rahme, Minerva designed Roger around the judgment and dexterity of specialists already performing these jobs. The semi-autonomous robot is operated through a VR headset and force-feedback haptic gloves, enabling an operator to see through the robot's cameras and receive tactile feedback from its hands.

Sandor Felber, CEO of Minerva Humanoids, stated:

"People are dying every day doing jobs the rest of the world takes for granted. We didn't set out to replace the people doing them. We set out to build a robot that lets their judgment do the job without asking them to risk their lives for our safety, or for our energy."

Minerva estimates that around 7,000 energy workers worldwide die on the job each year, equivalent to approximately one death every 75 minutes.

Minerva noted it went from an initial concept to a fully functional walking humanoid in five months, including the design, manufacture, and assembly of Roger. Software and AI are primarily developed in the United States, while the first Roger prototypes are manufactured and assembled in Germany.

Robin Dechant, partner at General Catalyst, stated:

"Building a humanoid from scratch is often a years-long project, but Sandor and Maurice did it in less than six months. Shipping hardware at this speed takes physical AI out of the lab and into the world where it matters and builds resiliency into critical sectors by removing people from the most dangerous working environments."

Ahead of its launch, Minerva completed a showcase at the NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence in Slovakia and established research partnerships with MBZUAI and the University of Waterloo.