Person
Chao Cao
Co-founder and CEO of Sancho Robotics, building a robotic workforce for advanced manufacturing. Previously a research scientist at Boston Dynamics AI Institute (RAI) working on whole-body dexterous mobile manipulation. Holds a Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, where he led the autonomy team for CMU's DARPA Subterranean Challenge entry, winning the 'Most Sectors Explored Award'.
His research on autonomous exploration (TARE planner) won both the Best Paper Award and Best Systems Paper Award at RSS 2021 — the first time a single paper received both.
American · 2 current roles · 1 founding
Physical AI footprint (2)
The physical AI companies Chao is connected to that DEPLOY verifies. The full record is one click away.
- Former Research Scientist, whole-body dexterous mobile manipulation
One of the most iconic names in robotics, founded 1992 (MIT spinout) and acquired by Hyundai Motor Group in June 2021 at a ~$1.1 billion valuation.
Acquisition (Hyundai 80% stake) · $880M16 verified deployments · Spot at United States →1 incident5 models - Founder
Palo Alto-based robotics startup building a physical API for flexible manufacturing, founded in October 2025 by two CMU roboticists.
Seed · $7M1 model
Current roles (2)
- Sancho Robotics Co-founder & CEOSecondary-verified
- Sancho Robotics Co-founder & CEOSecondary-verified
Foundings (1)
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Co-founders (1)
- Jack Yang co-founded Sancho Robotics
Former / Previously (1)
- Boston Dynamics Research Scientist, whole-body dexterous mobile manipulation? to 2025-10-01Secondary-verified
Sources (1)
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