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Bedrock Robotics
Automating construction
Happy Monday.
We’re no strangers to the construction world. In fact, we’ve already discussed AI in the construction space. But when it comes to automating the construction itself… Bedrock Robotics is a first in its space.
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Bedrock Robotics retrofits existing heavy construction machinery with autonomy hardware and software that allows the machines to function without human operators. The company’s flagship product, the Bedrock Operator, combines sensors, compute, and machine learning models that, together, automate excavation. The kit can be installed in a single day and removed at any time, letting contractors shift between autonomous and manual operation without replacing their fleet. This system allows Bedrock to focus on its mission of improving safety and decreasing idle time for a construction sector that is facing surging demand amid labor shortages.
Check it out: bedrockrobotics.com
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Bedrock plans to charge customers based on the amount of work completed by its autonomous systems, akin to a usage-based model.
Raised about $80 million across seed and Series A from Eclipse Ventures, 8VC, Two Sigma Ventures, John Krafcik (former Waymo CEO), Valor Equity Partners, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm), Crossbeam Venture Partners, The Raine Group, Tishman Speyer, and more
Begun testing, with planned deployments in 2026
Early-stage to senior opportunities are available across Engineering, Operations, and G&A on its website here. Let the team know you heard about them through Unicorner.
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Boris Sofman and Kevin Peterson met at Carnegie Mellon while studying robotics and autonomous systems. They developed a shared interest in applying advanced autonomy to real-world problems and stayed connected through their careers.
After CMU, Sofman founded Anki, an early robotics company, and scaled complex products to millions of users. At Anki, he worked closely with Tom Eliaz, who helped lead large engineering teams and supported the company’s core platform. Eliaz later continued his engineering leadership at Segment and Twilio. Peterson, meanwhile, spent this period building perception and control systems as the founder of Marble and its acquirer, Caterpillar, while Ajay Gummalla spent more than two decades in advanced hardware and systems engineering at Google and other R&D groups.
The four founders came together inside Waymo’s trucking program, Waymo Via. Together, they worked on autonomous systems for large commercial vehicles and saw firsthand how difficult it is to deploy reliable autonomy in unpredictable environments. When Waymo wound down its trucking efforts, they began looking to take their experience and insight to another industry.
Construction was the answer. They recognized the technology they had developed at Waymo was ideal for repetitive, physics-driven tasks commonly undertaken by heavy construction equipment. Because of a lack of skilled operators, most heavy equipment sits underutilized. And the idea of retrofitting existing machines rather than replacing entire fleets made the opportunity even clearer.
Construction has become one of the defining constraints in global progress. The world is pouring billions of dollars into new data centers, semiconductor fabs, renewable energy sites, industrial expansion, and large scale infrastructure. But every one of these pursuits depends on construction sticking to schedule. Often, a single delay will stall an entire project. By addressing the first step of construction, excavation, Bedrock is maximally addressing where time and money are most avoidably lost.
Economically, construction productivity losses account for hundreds of billions of dollars in foregone GDP growth each year in the U.S. A delayed fab pushes back chip output. A delayed data center pushes back cloud capacity and AI services. A delayed clean energy project slows grid expansion. For a nation investing heavily in physical infrastructure, impediments at the excavation phase compound downstream on the global economy. Given the failure of the construction industry to modernize at the same pace as other industries, global ambition is bottlenecked.
The first problem is that construction still looks like it did fifty years ago. There has been almost no technological leap in heavy equipment workflows. Operators sit in machines and execute repetitive tasks for hours at a time. Output is inconsistent because it depends on who is in the seat that day. Contractors rely on their visual judgment and experience-based decision-making. Whereas other industries have adopted robotics, automation, data feedback loops, and AI-driven optimization, construction has remained tied to muscle and memory.
Labor is the second constraint. There are close to 500,000 open roles in construction, with operators being one of the hardest positions to fill. This makes sense, given that construction remains one of the most dangerous sectors in the country, with the most fatal work injuries across different sectors in 2023. However, if this persists, labor shortages could lead to almost $124 billion in lost output.
Bedrock Robotics is addressing both of these concerns. Its Bedrock Operator brings modernity to antiquated construction equipment and eliminates the need to source operators for that equipment. It actually goes a step further, aiming to provide a consistent operational experience that does not degrade from fatigue. Bedrock’s product allows for overnight and continuous productivity, which, with human operators, is impossible to attain. The suite does not stop there. The overall system adapts to changing site conditions and comprehends project goals, all to optimize productivity and costs.
A simulation view of an excavator unloading a payload into a truck.
Bedrock’s retrofit strategy is another reason the company is poised to scale. Instead of asking contractors to buy new machines, Bedrock upgrades the equipment on site. A one-day installation lets a machine operate autonomously but return to manual work whenever required. In fact, adoption friction is less than the friction it takes to train workers, purchase new tools, and schedule capacity. And while excavation is the ideal starting point because it is repetitive and central to every project schedule, Bedrock has greater sights ahead, looking to develop autonomous products across all parts of construction.
Moreover, Bedrock recognized early that autonomy cannot scale unless it raises the safety floor. While working on private sites reduces regulatory scrutiny, it maintains high levels of diligence to maintain safety. Its system provides full-surround visibility, precise geofencing, and continuous monitoring. With internal controls to avoid any potential accidents, the autonomy reduces the human variable, making Bedrock Operator safer for crews.
Little needs to be said about the Bedrock team, which combines decades of experience. That, combined with an enormous opportunity shaping global consequences, makes Bedrock extremely promising. Companies that expand national productivity have what it takes to become foundational. Bedrock is on track to be one of those companies, with a clear line of sight to becoming a category-defining unicorn in one of the most important sectors of the modern economy.
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