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Foundation Robotics Labs

Private

San Francisco based startup founded in 2024, building the Phantom MK-1 military humanoid robot. Acquired Boardwalk Robotics in December 2024. First company to deploy armed humanoid robots to an active combat zone, sending two units to Ukraine in February 2025.

Founded 2024$198M raised
humanoiddefenseindustrialcycloidal-actuators

Humanoid Robots

1 Humanoid Robot
Phantom MK1Prototype
Phantom MK1
An industrial scale humanoid robot built for unstructured environments, featuring cycloidal actuators and an LLM driven task to motion stack.
H:175 cm
W:80 kg
D:19
S:6.12 km/h
L:20 kg
B:N/A

Introduction

Foundation Robotics Labs is a San Francisco-based startup developing general-purpose humanoid robots for defense and hazardous-environment applications. Founded in 2024 by Sankaet Pathak, Arjun Sethi (Tribe Capital), and Mike LeBlanc (former US Marine), the company built the Phantom MK1. Foundation made history in February 2026 by deploying the first armed humanoid robots to an active combat zone in Ukraine.

Technology

Platform maturity, autonomy stack, and flagship-system specifications in one view.

Platform

Technology Snapshot

A concise view of platform maturity and deployment footprint.

Hardware GenerationGen 1
Flagship PlatformPhantom MK1
Autonomy

AI Stack

Capabilities and model layers highlighted by the company.

  • LLM task-to-motion
  • Computer Vision
Performance

Phantom MK1 Specs

Published operating specifications for the lead system.

Payload Capacity20 kg
Speed6.12 km/h
Degrees of Freedom19

Investors

Tribe Capital
All Events

No news articles mentioning Foundation Robotics Labs yet.

Valuation History

Follow Foundation Robotics Labs's valuation growth through its funding rounds.

Management Team

Sankaet Pathak
Sankaet PathakFounder & CEO
Arjun Sethi
Arjun SethiCo-Founder (Tribe Capital)
Mike LeBlanc
Mike LeBlancCo-Founder (ex-Cobalt Robotics)

Company Story

Foundation Robotics Labs is a San Francisco-based startup developing general-purpose humanoid robots for defense and hazardous-environment applications. Founded in 2024 by Sankaet Pathak, Arjun Sethi (Tribe Capital), and Mike LeBlanc (former US Marine), the company built the Phantom MK1. Foundation made history in February 2026 by deploying the first armed humanoid robots to an active combat zone in Ukraine.

  1. April 2024

    Foundation Robotics Labs is founded for defense humanoids

    Foundation Robotics Labs was founded in April 2024 by Sankaet Pathak, Arjun Sethi, and Mike LeBlanc, a former US Marine who previously co-founded Cobalt AI. Pathak had previously founded Synapse, a fintech platform.

    DefenseHazardous environments
  2. August 2024

    Pre-seed financing backs Phantom MK1 development

    The company raised $11 million in pre-seed in August 2024 led by Tribe Capital, bringing total funding to ~$21 million. The Phantom MK1 stands 5'9", weighs 176 pounds, supports 44-pound payloads, and walks at 1.7 m/s.

    Tribe CapitalPhantom MK1
  3. December 2024 - February 2026

    Boardwalk acquisition is followed by the Ukraine deployment

    In December 2024, Foundation acquired Boardwalk Robotics, a IHMC spinoff. In February 2026, Foundation sent two Phantom robots to Ukraine, marking the first deployment of armed humanoid robots to any active combat zone.

    Boardwalk RoboticsUkraine
  4. 2025 - 2027

    Foundation lays out an aggressive production roadmap

    The company targets 40 robots in 2025, scaling to 10,000 in 2026 and 50,000 by 2027.

    Production roadmapScale