MassRobotics Expands Physical AI Fellowship with AWS and NVIDIA, Opening Applications for the 2026 Cohort

Audio By Carbonatix

The next phase of the program continues to support companies in accelerating and scaling innovations at the intersection of AI and robotics.

BOSTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / December 1, 2025 / MassRobotics, together with Amazon Web Services, Inc. ( AWS ) and NVIDIA Inception, opened applications for the second cohort of the Physical AI Fellowship, an 8-week virtual program designed to help robotics and physical AI startups from around the world scale faster and smarter.

The Physical AI Fellowship empowers founders and technology leaders building AI-powered robotic systems that understand, reason, learn and interact with the physical world - the domain known as physical AI. Selected companies receive: hands-on technical guidance from AWS Generative AI Innovation Center scientists, access to AWS's AI stack and NVIDIA's robotics software stack and 1:1 mentoring opportunities from NVIDIA experts, and the opportunity to leverage MassRobotics' extensive global network of robotics partners, investors, and customers. Fellows are eligible for up to $200,000 in AWS credits and dedicated support channels.

During the inaugural 2025 program, each of the eight participating organizations engaged in bespoke engineering projects with AWS and NVIDIA experts, tackling challenges such as foundation model development, simulation optimization, and edge deployment. The tailored technical support from Fellowship partners enables businesses to accelerate innovation, optimize compute performance, and bring next-generation physical AI applications to market faster.

Experience the Future of Physical AI at AWS re:Invent

Join a select group of companies from the 2025 inaugural cohort at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas as part of our Physical AI Showcase, an exclusive demo for media attending re:Invent. Reporters will have a chance to connect with startups shaping the future of robotics and their solutions in action.

• Media Days: Monday, December 1, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm PST, and Tuesday, December 2, from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm PST.

The first cohort of the Fellowship includes the following companies:

• Bedrock Robotics - Autonomous construction systems for heavy equipment.

• Blue Water Autonomy - Long-duration autonomous vessels for ocean operations.

• Diligent Robotics - Socially intelligent hospital service robots.

• Generalist AI - Foundation models for adaptive, general-purpose robotics.

• RobCo - Modular industrial automation for small and mid-sized companies.

• Tutor Intelligence - AI-driven robotic labor for manufacturing and logistics.

• Wandercraft - Robotic exoskeletons restoring mobility for patients worldwide.

• Zordi - AI-powered greenhouse robotics for sustainable farming.

What Partners Are Saying

"The Physical AI Fellowship has shown that we are ready to move beyond proof-of-concept to deliver tangible advancements in how machines perceive and interact with the physical world," said Sri Elaprolu, Director of the AWS Generative AI Innovation Center. "These innovators are creating solutions that translate complex AI research into practical robotics applications-from manufacturing floors to healthcare settings to last-mile delivery. By extending our partnership with MassRobotics and NVIDIA Inception, we'll continue to accelerate the development cycle for physical AI technologies that can solve real business challenges and create entirely new categories of intelligent machines capable of adapting to unpredictable environments."

"We're proud to continue our collaboration with AWS and NVIDIA to support startups pushing the boundaries of what's possible with physical AI," said Tom Ryden, Executive Director at MassRobotics. "This fellowship combines world-class technology resources with our deep robotics ecosystem to help founders scale faster and make a meaningful impact."

"NVIDIA's open robotics platform supports developers throughout the entire lifecycle-from data generation and training to simulation and safe deployment," said Deepu Talla, Vice President of Robotics and Edge AI at NVIDIA. "In collaboration with MassRobotics and AWS through the Physical AI Fellowship, we're empowering startups to leverage state-of-the-art technology and accelerate advancements in AI and robotics."

A Startup Success Story

"Building physical AI requires deep expertise across disciplines," said Tom Eliaz, Co-Founder at Bedrock Robotics. "Through the Physical AI Fellowship, we partnered with specialists from AWS and NVIDIA who brought decades of ML and data science experience to our toughest challenges-helping us advance the core capabilities that will power autonomous construction equipment. Coupled with compute, technical support, and a cohort of like-minded companies, we advanced work central to Bedrock's future."

Learn more about the Physical AI Fellowship

Organizations worldwide working in robotics, embodied AI, or intelligent physical systems are invited to apply for the Spring 2026 Physical AI Fellowship.

Learn more and apply now at www.massrobotics.org/physicalaifellowship

Applications will be open globally. MassRobotics, AWS, and NVIDIA welcome founders and technology leaders from every region and industry to join this growing physical AI ecosystem. Connect with us for more details.

About MassRobotics:

MassRobotics is the world's largest independent robotics hub dedicated to accelerating robotics innovation, commercialization, and adoption.

Our mission is to help create and scale the next generation of successful robotics and Physical AI technology companies by providing entrepreneurs and startups with the workspace, resources, programming, and connections they need to develop, prototype, test, and commercialize their products and solutions. While MassRobotics originated and is headquartered in Boston, we are reaching and supporting robotics acceleration and adoption globally and are working with startups, academia, industry, and governments both domestically and internationally. Learn more about MassRobotics here.

Media Contact:

Sayo Tirrell

[email protected]

SOURCE: MassRobotics