FORT Robotics is accelerating its push to become the infrastructure backbone for safe autonomous systems by merging with special-purpose acquisition company Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp. The Philadelphia-based startup, founded in 2018, has positioned itself at the intersection of robotics safety and AI deployment, addressing what many see as a critical gap in how autonomous machines operate around people.
The company's core offering, called the Trust Layer, functions as a manufacturer-agnostic safety framework that enables robots from different makers to coexist and operate safely in shared human environments. According to The Robot Report, the platform is backed by 25 patents and has achieved Safety Integrity Level 3 certification under the IEC 61508 standard, one of the highest safety compliance benchmarks available.
Building Safety Into AI Infrastructure
Rather than treating safety as a constraint on innovation, FORT positions it as foundational infrastructure. The platform operates across three distinct layers: hardware and firmware components, cloud intelligence and telemetry systems, and ecosystem integrations through APIs and other interfaces. This modular approach allows enterprises to adopt safety controls without replacing existing robotic systems entirely.
"Safety is often an afterthought and viewed as an inhibitor to innovation," said Amod Damle, head of product at FORT Robotics. He emphasized that the company's controllers meet the highest compliance standards while remaining transparent to workers, ensuring adoption rates remain high on actual worksites.
Recent product launches demonstrate the company's expansion trajectory. Earlier this year, FORT released Wireless E-Stop Pro, a wearable safety device, alongside version 2.61 of its core platform, which added API access and more granular control options. The company also acquired Mapless AI in May, incorporating remote human-in-the-loop control capabilities into its safety stack. In June, FORT announced a strategic partnership with NVIDIA as part of the broader Halos for Robotics ecosystem.
Customers and Market Demand
FORT's customer roster includes major players across autonomous systems: Agility, Google DeepMind, Zoox, DoorDash, and others spanning humanoid robotics, warehousing, transportation, manufacturing, and defense sectors. The company operates across 600 customers with no single account representing more than 9 percent of annual revenue, indicating broad market adoption rather than concentration risk.
Financial metrics underscore rapid scaling. FORT achieved 62 percent year-over-year revenue growth in 2025, with 91 percent growth among customers spending six figures annually. The company maintained 70 percent gross margins in 2024 and 66 percent in 2025, while operating expenses grew at just 19 percent, demonstrating capital efficiency as the business expands.
The SPAC merger signals investor confidence in the safety-for-AI thesis. Tiger Global partner Griffin Schroeder noted that as physical AI becomes embedded in industrial infrastructure, trusted safety mechanisms become essential. "FORT has built a critical, machine-agnostic trust layer that enables enterprise autonomy to scale safely," Schroeder stated.
The broader significance extends beyond FORT itself. As autonomous systems proliferate across warehouses, construction sites, and manufacturing floors, regulatory bodies and insurers increasingly demand standardized safety frameworks. FORT's CTO Nathan Bivans now serves on the U.S. Technical Advisory Group for ISO TC 200, positioning the company to influence emerging safety standards. Going public accelerates the company's ability to set industry benchmarks for how robots and AI systems can coexist safely with human workers.
