What Noble Machines does

Noble Machines (legally Under Control Robotics Inc.) is a Sunnyvale, California-based robotics startup that builds general-purpose humanoid robots — branded "Moby" — for hazardous and physically demanding industrial work in manufacturing, construction, mining, energy, logistics, and semiconductor production. Founded in May 2024 by engineers from Apple, SpaceX, NASA, and Caltech, the company shipped its first platform to a Fortune Global 500 industrial customer in October 2025, positioning itself as the developer of the first industrial humanoid robot deployed in the United States. The company emerged from stealth in March 2026 under the Noble Machines brand and operates with 11-50 employees out of a single Sunnyvale headquarters.

The core product pairs the Moby hardware (72 kg body, 23 kg / 50 lb payload, ~200 W average power draw, 5-6 hour battery life, 0.8 m/s walking speed, modular end-effectors) with an AI-driven whole-body control system running on a single NVIDIA Jetson Orin edge AI computer. The software architecture is a three-layer learning stack: a whole-body control foundation managing balance, contact, payload variation, and center-of-mass changes; a task-level intelligence layer that uses vision-language-action models and foundation models (including NVIDIA GR00T) for perception, grounding, and intent-level action; and a runtime correction loop (the Noble Data Platform) that aligns video, proprioception, actions, force signals, and task metadata so every intervention and failure becomes a targeted training example. A sim-to-real pipeline built on NVIDIA Isaac (Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, GR00T, X-Mobility) and the Newton physics engine, incorporating Schaeffler's physically realistic actuator models, reports approximately 95% deployment success and up to 68% reduction in tracking errors.

Noble Machines monetizes through two direct enterprise channels: "The Platform" — sale or licensing of the Moby robot and software toolkits to enterprise teams developing their own use cases — and "The Service" — limited Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) pilots fully operated by Noble Machines from deployment through daily execution. Distribution is direct enterprise sales to Fortune Global 500 industrial buyers via a consultative, contact-based motion with a "VIP Assessment" option, supported by thought-leadership content (blog, LinkedIn, YouTube) and live demonstrations at major industry events such as NVIDIA GTC 2026. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The company is venture-backed at the seed stage (Up Ventures, South Park Commons, Centre Street Partners) and holds strategic partnerships with NVIDIA, ADLINK Technology, Schaeffler, and Solomon. Revenue has not been publicly disclosed.

Name

Noble Machines

Legal name

Under Control Robotics Inc.

Website

https://noblemachines.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Noble Machines builds AI-driven general-purpose humanoid robots (Moby) for hazardous and physically demanding industrial tasks in manufacturing, construction, mining, energy, logistics, and semiconductor production, selling to Fortune Global 500 customers via direct enterprise sales and a RaaS pilot model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Humanoid Robotics

NAICS

Other General Purpose Machinery Manufacturing (3339), Construction Machinery Manufacturing (333120), All Other General Purpose Machinery Manufacturing (33399)

SIC

Special Industry Machinery, Nec (3559), Construction, Mining & Materials Handling Machinery & Equip (3530)

akta.pro primary industry

Humanoid & General-Purpose Robots (HDAAAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins) (HDAAAIAK), Construction & Mining Robotics (HDAAAIAE), Industrial & Warehouse Robotics (HDAAAIAA), Robot Hardware, Actuators & Components (sensors, grippers, motors) (HDAAAIAL)

Keywords

• Humanoid robots
• Industrial automation
• Robotics-as-a-service
• Construction robotics
• Manufacturing automation

Headquarters

HQ city

Sunnyvale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Robot hardware sales (The Platform): Direct sale of the Moby robotic platform and software toolkits to enterprise customers who want to develop and test their own use cases with the company's hardware and software.
2. Robotics-as-a-Service (The Service): Limited RaaS pilots fully operated by the Noble Machines team, from deployment to daily execution. This allows customers to deploy robots without upfront capital investment, with Noble Machines handling all operations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Noble Machines designs and builds the Moby general-purpose humanoid robot for hazardous and physically demanding industrial work such as construction, mining, manufacturing, energy, semiconductor, and logistics. The company sells the robot platform along with software toolkits (The Platform) and operates fully managed Robotics-as-a-Service pilots (The Service), running AI-driven whole-body autonomy on a single onboard NVIDIA Jetson Orin computer.

Product overview

Noble Machines offers a unified general-purpose humanoid robot platform called Moby, designed for hazardous and physically demanding industrial tasks across construction, manufacturing, logistics, energy, mining, and semiconductor sectors. The platform combines AI-driven whole-body control with end-to-end autonomy, allowing operators to train robots using natural language instructions, demonstrations, and gestures. The product portfolio includes: (1) Moby - the core humanoid robot with 23kg payload capacity and 5-hour battery life; (2) The Platform - software toolkits and hardware access for development teams; (3) The Service (RaaS) - fully operated robot-as-a-service pilots; and (4) The Noble Data Platform - a data infrastructure that enables continuous learning through runtime correction and intervention tracking. The system learns new skills in hours rather than months and improves through use via a three-layer learning stack architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Moby Humanoid Robot A general-purpose humanoid robot platform with AI-driven whole-body control, 23kg (50lb) payload capacity, ~5-hour battery life, 0.8 m/s walking speed, and the ability to navigate stairs, scaffolding, and uneven terrain for industrial crews.
• The Platform (Software Toolkits & Hardware Access) Software toolkits and hardware access sold to enterprise development and testing teams so they can build and test their own use cases on the Moby robot system.
• The Service (Robotics-as-a-Service) A fully operated Robotics-as-a-Service pilot in which Noble Machines handles deployment through daily execution on customer sites.
• Noble Data Platform A data infrastructure that aligns multimodal robot signals (video, proprioception, actions, force, task metadata, outcomes) to convert interventions and failures into targeted training data for continuous improvement.

Quantifiable outcome

• Near zero-shot sim-to-real transferability with 95% deployment success rate using NVIDIA Isaac platform
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• ADLINK TechnologycoreTechnology or Integration · 10 March 2026ADLINK and Noble Machines entered a strategic alliance and joint development agreement to integrate ADLINK's Edge AI computing platforms (DLAP series powered by NVIDIA Jetson Thor) with Noble Machines' AI-driven general-purpose robots for heavy industries. The partnership targets manufacturing, mining, construction, and energy sectors, deploying rugged high-performance robotic systems capable of operating heavy payloads in harsh environments.
• SchaefflercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 March 2026Noble Machines and Schaeffler collaborate on actuator design and integration for Noble Machines' platform. Schaeffler's actuators, powered by Texas Instruments chipsets, provide precision for complex general-purpose robot motion. The collaboration also brings high-fidelity digital twins of the actuator platform into NVIDIA's Newton physics engine, enhancing Noble Machines' sim-to-real deployment pipeline. Schaeffler describes the collaboration as strengthening their ability to drive innovation in humanoid robotics while enhancing safety by taking on physically demanding operations.
• SolomonsupportingTechnology or Integration · 18 March 2025Noble Machines collaborates with Solomon for factory integration. Solomon's Chairman and CEO Johnny Chen stated the collaboration is about learning what works on the factory floor and finding realistic ways to apply AI-driven robots alongside existing systems that deliver value for customers.
• NVIDIAcoreTechnology or Integration · 18 March 2025Noble Machines' robots are built on the NVIDIA Isaac platform (Isaac Lab, Isaac Sim, GR00T foundation models, X-Mobility, and the Three Computer Solution). NVIDIA Jetson Orin powers the entire onboard AI stack. The company also utilizes NVIDIA's Cosmos world foundation models and, with Schaeffler, the Newton physics engine built on NVIDIA Warp and Open USD.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• UBTech Robotics: Broader humanoid and service robotics company with industrial humanoids (Walker S) deployed at automotive OEMs including BYD. UBTech's commercial traction in Chinese factories and established manufacturing footprint make it a relevant broad incumbent for global industrial humanoid competition.
• Boston Dynamics: Established humanoid (Atlas) and quadruped robotics developer, now backed by Hyundai. While not exclusively focused on industrial humanoids, Boston Dynamics' decades of locomotion and whole-body control R&D make it a credible broad incumbent competing for advanced industrial deployments.
• Tesla Optimus: Broad incumbent developing humanoid robots at scale as part of Tesla's broader AI/robotics portfolio. With Tesla's manufacturing scale and AI compute, Optimus represents a well-capitalized threat across the same industrial humanoid market Noble targets.

Emerging players

• Fourier Intelligence: Emerging player developing the GR-1 and GR-2 humanoid robots with a strong rehabilitation and industrial tilt. Fourier's actuator and platform expertise positions it as a credible emerging humanoid competitor with overlapping industrial customers.

Direct peers

• Agility Robotics: Direct competitor building Digit, a bipedal humanoid for warehouse logistics and industrial material handling. Agility has commercial deployments with Amazon and GXO — competing for logistics and warehouse customers that overlap with Noble's heavy-industry focus.
• 1X Technologies: Direct peer developing general-purpose humanoid robots (Neo) for home and commercial use. Backed by OpenAI and focused on embodied AI, 1X competes for the same AI-driven humanoid talent and enterprise customer mindshare as Noble Machines.
• Unitree Robotics: Direct peer producing low-cost humanoid (G1, H1) and quadruped robots with whole-body control. Unitree's aggressive price points and rapid iteration cadence (with NVIDIA ecosystem ties) make it a relevant competitor — particularly for less hazard-focused industrial use cases.
• Figure AI: Direct competitor building general-purpose humanoid robots for industrial and commercial applications. Backed by Microsoft, OpenAI, and NVIDIA, Figure targets the same Fortune 500 industrial customers and has similar autonomous whole-body control ambitions.
• Apptronik: Direct competitor developing the Apollo humanoid robot for industrial and commercial use. Apptronik has commercial deployments with Mercedes-Benz and a deep partnership with Google DeepMind — competing head-to-head with Noble for enterprise industrial customers.
• Sanctuary AI: Direct competitor developing Phoenix, a general-purpose humanoid robot with a focus on industrial applications and carbon-based AI for dexterous manipulation. Sanctuary targets similar industrial use cases with comparable whole-body control ambitions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@noble-machines
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/noble-machines

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Noble Machines