Cortex AI: robot AI company

Overview

San Francisco robotics data startup (Y Combinator Fall 2025) collecting real-world robot and human data for embodied AI and offering Cortex Harness, which runs frontier and VLA models on real robots with remote human takeover.

Verified record

Verified deployments: None on file
Active incidents: None on file

Key facts

Background

A Y Combinator Fall 2025 company in San Francisco; founder and CEO Lucas Ngoo was co-founder and CTO of Carousell.

Cortex Harness (company-stated, Oct 2026)

Launched Oct 6 2026: runs LLMs and vision-language-action models on real robots, with remote humans taking over via prompts or VR when stuck.

Data loop (company-stated)

Each intervention is logged as recovery data for post-training: deploy, recover, collect, train, redeploy.

Demo (company-stated, Oct 2026)

Demos used GPT-6 Astra, including an operator in Singapore helping a robot in San Francisco insert a battery.

Status (Oct 2026)

Beta via a waitlist with $100 in credits. No customers, fleet size or funding disclosed.

Data & sources

Web sources

3

3 sources backing this record.View all →

Safety record

No incidents on record for Cortex AI.

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 →

Mentioned on (1)

Registry pages whose text names Cortex AI.

Companies (1)

Emesent

Recent activity

Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.

Record createdOct 8, 2026
Added to the verified registry

Full change history →

Sources (3)

https://cortexrobot.ai/research/introducing-cortex-harness/ · 2026-10-06
https://cortexrobot.ai/harness/ · 2026-10-06
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/cortex-ai · 2026-10-06

Common questions

What is Cortex AI?

San Francisco robotics data startup (Y Combinator Fall 2025) collecting real-world robot and human data for embodied AI and offering Cortex Harness, which runs frontier and VLA models on real robots with remote human takeover.

What does Cortex AI make?

Cortex AI has no robot models recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Cortex AI builds robot foundation models or autonomy software.

Is Cortex AI publicly traded?

No. Cortex AI is privately held and not publicly traded, per the DEPLOY registry.

How can I invest in Cortex AI?

Cortex AI is a private company; its shares are not available on public markets, so retail investors cannot buy the stock today.

Who owns Cortex AI?

Cortex AI is privately held; ownership sits with its founders and private investors.

Is Cortex AI a top robotics company?

On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, Cortex AI ranks in roughly the top 99% of companies tracked by the registry.

Is Cortex AI safe?

Cortex AI has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.

Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-10

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-10-10

Sources by quality tier

3: unclassified; Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

No press coverage on file for Cortex AI yet. Coverage appears here automatically as articles are ingested from our press sources.

Machine-readable surfaces

Markdown mirror: /companies/cortex-ai.md
RSS feed: /companies/cortex-ai/feed.xml
JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
REST API: /v1/companies/8d43d4a7-4fdd-4894-8576-c4efb20c3bf5
Revision history: /companies/cortex-ai/history
Data documentation: /data
Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP

Reality vs attention

Not enough verified signal yet to place Cortex AI against peers. Reality and attention percentiles publish once the underlying record clears its data floor.

6-month trend

Peer rankingTop 99% of category

vs funding peers-37.5 ptsbelow funding-adj. expected

Analysis

Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.

Dimension breakdown

Verified signal

Insufficient data

Insufficient data

Insufficient data

Insufficient data

Insufficient data

Attention (reach, not merit)

Market Presence →

0.0LOW

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

Claim Integrity Fleet Reality Operator Repeat All indices

Last computed: Oct 10, 2026

Methodology Intelligence layer