The verified answer
As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies University of Denver: 2 models, 1 deployment across 1 region, $150.0M raised. 6 sources back the record.
Overview
Private R1 research university conducting robotics research across the Daniel Felix Ritchie School of Engineering & Computer Science. Anchored by the DU Unmanned Systems Research Institute (DU2SRI, est. 2012) and individual faculty labs spanning UAVs, social/companion robotics, humanoid legged robots, and wearable prosthetics.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 1 deployment on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Key facts
Chancellor
School
Students
Research Labs
Ryan Robot Deployment
Kiwibot Campus Delivery
Labs
Key robots
Deployments
Labs
Key robots
Deployments
Mithra walking robot research
Robotics research
Data & sources
Web sources
6
6 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (2)
View all models →Current platform
Mithra Walking Robot
A bipedal walking robot built from scratch at the University of Denver's Robotics, Locomotion, and Control Lab under Professor Siavash Rezazadeh. Mithra uses human gait data from treadmill experiments to achieve more energy-efficient and elegant humanoid locomotion.
Current platform
Ryan Companion Robot
A socially assistive companion robot developed at the University of Denver by Professor Mohammad Mahoor's lab, designed to help elderly individuals with Alzheimer's and dementia through cognitive games, conversation, and emotional engagement. Ryan has been piloted at Kavod Senior Living in Denver and was showcased at DU's AI Try-A-Thon.
Partnerships
Every company University of Denver has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Kavod Senior Living1× joint
Most recent
University of Denver on the deployment map
View the global map1 verified deployment across 1 region, newest verified Apr 2022. Explore where University of Denver's robots are operating, by place and type.
View the full University of Denver deployment record →
Relationships
Current leadership (4)
- Mohammad Mahoor Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer ScienceSEC-verified
- Siavash Rezazadeh Professor of Mechanical EngineeringSEC-verified
- Kimon Valavanis John Evans Professor & Director of Researchsecondary-verified
- Matt Rutherford researcher
Former / Previously (1)
- Christopher Reardon Assistant Professor of Computer Sciencesecondary-verified
Safety record
No incidents on record for University of Denver.
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 →
University of Denver on the data-center map
Every verified data center University of Denver operates that has a mapped coordinate (1 total). Filled circles are Tier-2 facilities and Tier-1 campuses under this operator; click any pin to open its record.
University of Denver data centers (1)
- Research Computing HPC ClusterDenver · operating
AI data centers University of Denver operates or is a party to, from the DEPLOY data center registry.
Operator customers (1)
- University of Denver1 deployment
Recent coverage
University of Denver in third-party press
Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Ecovacs Robotics19 models
- SharkNinja14 models
- Unitree Robotics10 models
- iRobot9 models
- Mammotion7 models
Financial state
- Total funding
- $150.0M
- 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 operating
Every company University of Denver has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
Most-frequent partners
- 1Kavod Senior Living1× joint
All 1 partnerships
open in the atlas →- University of Denver x Kavod Senior LivingwithKavod Senior Livingdeployment—operating
Funding rounds (3)
University of Denver’s 3 disclosed rounds, $150M in total, oldest to newest.
- Funding
$50M(reported)
- Funding
$50M(reported)
- Funding
$50M(reported)
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdAug 20, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedApr 4, 2022
Ryan Companion Robot at Denver, Colorado, USA
Sources (6)
- https://www.du.edu/news/du-research-advances-robotics · 2022-04-04
- https://ritchieschool.du.edu/news/meet-professor-and-team-behind-mithra-walking-robot · 2023-12-15
- https://www.du.edu/news/university-denver-hosts-ai-try-thon · 2024-04-04
- https://ritchieschool.du.edu/content/roboticsmechatronics
- https://www.arise-lab.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Denver
Common questions
What is University of Denver?
What does University of Denver make?
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How much funding has University of Denver raised?
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Is University of Denver a top robotics company?
When was University of Denver founded?
Is University of Denver safe?
Methodology: Verified · 6 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-09-29
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-09-29
Sources by quality tier
- 5
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- knowledge-base
- Knowledge base
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for University of Denver.Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Ecovacs Robotics19 models
- SharkNinja14 models
- Unitree Robotics10 models
- iRobot9 models
- Mammotion7 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning University of Denver from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Canvas Credit Union relocates University branch in Denver
Canvas Credit Union relocated its University branch near the University of Denver, offering expanded space and community amenities in a restored historic building. The post Canvas…
University of Denver Hosts AI Try-A-Thon
DU showcases Robot Ryan, a companion bot for Alzheimer's and dementia patients, alongside industry AI tools from Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, and Zoom at its first AI…
Programming Tomorrow's Automatons
Meet the Professor and Team Behind Mithra, the Walking Robot
Professor Siavash Rezazadeh leads development of Mithra, a bipedal walking robot built from scratch at the Ritchie School, studying human gait via treadmill experiments to improve…
DU Research Advances Robotics
Professor Mohammad Mahoor's robotics lab develops social companion robot Ryan for Alzheimer's and dementia patients, building on earlier work with Nao and Zeno robots for children…
DU Research Advances Robotics
Companion Robot Helping Patients with Alzheimer's
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/university-of-denver.md
- RSS feed: /companies/university-of-denver/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/3a745887-a994-4af8-ae7d-850aee9272fd
- Revision history: /companies/university-of-denver/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Ecovacs Robotics19 models
- SharkNinja14 models
- Unitree Robotics10 models
- iRobot9 models
- Mammotion7 models
Video
Learn more here: http://bit.ly/DUNews-CompanionRobot17
Nao the robot explains the research done at the University of Denver on socially assistive robotics. Visit us at: http://roboassist.wix.com/roboassist or our F
Over a period of three quarters (September 2018 thru May 2019), we’ve had the opportunity to work with five graduating University of Denver students as they bro
These robots cover multiple areas of research for Dr. Mahoor and his students: • Autism Robot Assist • Companionbot for Dialog on Depression • Search and Re
Denver University robotics event called crescendo. The stadium was live at the Ritchie Center in Colorado. This was an enjoyable event with a lot of fun energy
Students and professors at Colorado State University are developing robots of the future that can adapt to their surroundings. More local videos here: https:
Denver University host this robotics tournament crescendo! If you love robots, you’ll love this video. Thanks for watching and have a great day! 
University of Denver professor Dali Sun used his engineering background to envision a machine that would expedite cancer cell detection.
By Noble Dawit & Jacob Morroni '28
The future of medical technology is being manufactured right in Colorado, and university students are getting a possible look into their own futures.
Heat Index
Category contender77/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
University of Denver draws attention at the 43rd percentile but verifies reality at the 1st percentile among service robots. Hype Gap +42.5, 13th widest among service robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Clean safety record across 1 verified deployment. 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: Oct 5, 2026