# Chao Cao: founder, Sancho Robotics

Canonical ID: `b96e0c43-db7d-4145-9271-cdc3e7848e9b`

Co-founder and CEO of [Sancho Robotics](/companies/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.

- **Nationality:** American
- **Verification posture:** reported

## Current roles (2)

- [Sancho Robotics](https://registry.deploy.report/companies/sancho-robotics.md) Co-founder & CEO (secondary-verified)
- [Sancho Robotics](https://registry.deploy.report/companies/sancho-robotics.md) Co-founder & CEO (secondary-verified)

## Foundings (1)

- [Sancho Robotics](https://registry.deploy.report/companies/sancho-robotics.md)

See all founders: [/founders](https://registry.deploy.report/founders.md)

## Co-founders (1)

- [Jack Yang](https://registry.deploy.report/people/jack-yang.md) co-founded [Sancho Robotics](https://registry.deploy.report/companies/sancho-robotics.md)

## Former / Previously (1)

- [Boston Dynamics](https://registry.deploy.report/companies/boston-dynamics.md) Research Scientist, whole-body dexterous mobile manipulation (? to 2025-10-01) (secondary-verified)

## Sources (1)

1. https://caochao.me/


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