The verified answer
As of Aug 2026, DEPLOY verifies Chestnut Robotics: 1 model, 2 deployments across 2 regions. 5 sources back the record.
Overview
Chestnut Robotics (formerly TetherIA) builds tendon-driven dexterous robot hands designed for real-world factory deployment. The company's flagship Aero Hand is an 18-DOF production-grade hand with sub-millimeter precision, 0.1 N tactile sensitivity, and 20 kg payload, engineered for 3M+ duty cycles. Chestnut also develops the Aero UMI data-collection exoskeleton and GAIN3D geometry-aware inpainting engine to generate zero-embodiment-gap training data for robotic foundation models. Founded in 2025 in Santa Clara, CA by ex-Tesla Optimus and Waymo engineers.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 2 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Key facts
CEO
CTO
Founded
HQ
Former name
Fundingsee investors →
Financial stage
Team background
Data & sources
Press releases
1
Web sources
4
5 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →Partnerships
Every company Chestnut Robotics has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Angel Robotics1× joint1 total
Most recent
Chestnut Robotics on the deployment map
View the global map2 verified deployments across 2 regions, newest verified Jun 2024. Explore where Chestnut Robotics's robots are operating, by place and type.
View the full Chestnut Robotics deployment record →
Relationships
Current leadership (2)
- Joe (Xu) Dong Co-founder & CTOreported, not verified
- Evan Tao Co-founder and CEOreported, not verified
Founders (2)
- Joe (Xu) Dongcofounder
- Evan Taono longer at company
Safety record
No incidents on record for Chestnut Robotics.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Operator customers (1)
- Chestnut Robotics2 deployments
Recent coverage
Chestnut Robotics in third-party press
A 400g Tendon-Driven Robot Hand — Inside Chestnut Robotics (The Humanoid Hub tour)
Innovator Coffee EP-36: Beyond the Model — The Real Challenge of Robotics (interview with Joe Dong)
Robotics companies like MagicLab turn to synthetic data in the embodied intelligence race
Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Unitree Robotics10 models
- DJI7 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
- Gobio Robot6 models
- Orbbec6 models
Financial state
- Reporting basis
- aggregator_estimate
- Lifecycle stage
- early
- Counterparty risk class
- unknown
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships
1 total · 1 just announced
Every company Chestnut Robotics has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
Most-frequent partners
- 1Angel Robotics1× joint1 total
Funding rounds (1)
- Angel2025-10-22
Investors: Matrix Partners China (lead)
Timeline
Every recorded move in Chestnut Robotics’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
Funding roundAngel funding round
2025-10-22Angel
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdJul 10, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
Aero Hand at United States (multiple hotel chains)
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
Aero Hand at Germany, Europe
Sources (5)
- Chestnut Robotics: We build the data-driven dexterous hand · https://chestnut.bot/
- https://chestnut.bot/master-plan.html
- Chestnut Robotics: LinkedIn · https://www.linkedin.com/company/chestnutbot
- https://x.com/ChestnutRobotic
- Robotics companies like MagicLab turn to synthetic data in the embodied intelligence race · https://kr-asia.com/robotics-companies-like-magiclab-turn-to-synthetic-data-in-the-embodied-intelligence-race
Common questions
What is Chestnut Robotics?
What does Chestnut Robotics make?
Is Chestnut Robotics publicly traded?
Who competes with Chestnut Robotics?
Who is the CEO of Chestnut Robotics?
How can I invest in Chestnut Robotics?
Where is Chestnut Robotics headquartered?
Who owns Chestnut Robotics?
Where does Chestnut Robotics operate robots?
How many robots has Chestnut Robotics deployed?
Is Chestnut Robotics a top robotics company?
Is Chestnut Robotics safe?
Methodology: Verified · 5 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Sources by quality tier
- 4
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Chestnut Robotics.Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Unitree Robotics10 models
- DJI7 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
- Gobio Robot6 models
- Orbbec6 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Chestnut Robotics from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
A 400g Tendon-Driven Robot Hand — Inside Chestnut Robotics (The Humanoid Hub tour)
The Humanoid Hub tours Chestnut Robotics in Shanghai and interviews co-founder and CTO Joe Dong about their tendon-driven dexterous hand approach.
Innovator Coffee EP-36: Beyond the Model — The Real Challenge of Robotics (interview with Joe Dong)
Podcast interview with Chestnut Robotics co-founder and CTO Joe Dong on dexterous manipulation, robotics data bottlenecks, and the path from AI engineer to startup founder.
Robotics companies like MagicLab turn to synthetic data in the embodied intelligence race
KrASIA coverage of the embodied intelligence summit where Chestnut Robotics founder Evan Tao presented the company hybrid tendon-driven dexterous hand architecture.
Open-Source Dexterous Manipulation with MANUS Gloves — Aero Hand Open
MANUS Meta use case featuring Chestnut Robotics Aero Hand Open, a lightweight open-source robotic hand with 16 joints and 7 motors, demonstrated in bimanual teleoperation tasks.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/chestnut-robotics.md
- RSS feed: /companies/chestnut-robotics/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/b3270e9b-f5f6-4446-849e-c7e8af00edf6
- Revision history: /companies/chestnut-robotics/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Unitree Robotics10 models
- DJI7 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
- Gobio Robot6 models
- Orbbec6 models
Video
We toured Chestnut Robotics in Shanghai and sat down with co-founder & CTO Joe Dong. The Santa Clara, CA based startup has built a tendon-driven hand with all
Reality vs attention
Chestnut Robotics draws attention at the 16th percentile but verifies reality at the 35th percentile among other robots. Hype Gap -18.8, 102nd widest among other robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 2 verified deployments. Deployment footprint remains limited relative to category peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Aug 27, 2026