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Minerva Humanoids has announced about $10 million in pre-seed funding to develop Roger, a remotely operated humanoid robot aimed at hazardous industrial and public-safety work. The company’s proposal is to let trained specialists handle dangerous tasks from a safer location—not to send an autonomous robot to dispose of bombs on its own.
What Minerva announced
The Next Web reported on October 6, 2026 that Minerva raised about $10 million in a pre-seed round. The publication identified General Catalyst as lead investor, with Long Journey Ventures and Credo Ventures as co-leads, and named additional backers. These are reported announcement details; the funding is for development, not evidence of a large-scale production rollout.
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Minerva calls its robot Roger and describes it as a humanoid for industrial and public-safety environments. Its official website highlights energy-sector work such as remote operations, condition monitoring and emergency response.
How Roger is intended to work
Roger is described as semi-autonomous. A trained specialist watches through the robot’s cameras and controls its actions remotely, while onboard software assists with balance, navigation and recovery if it falls. That division matters: the operator remains responsible for directing the task, while software helps the machine move and stay upright.
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Minerva’s website displays an 80 ms command-delay illustration, but explicitly says it is not a measured connection to the robot. Its contact-feedback graphic is modeled from grasp and wheel motion rather than measured force or pressure. Neither visual should be read as a demonstrated performance specification.
What jobs Roger is designed to tackle
Minerva’s target applications include tasks where sending a person close to a hazard could be dangerous:
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- Explosive ordnance disposal: approaching and manipulating suspected explosives under the direction of an EOD specialist.
- Hazardous-material response: entering or inspecting areas where dangerous substances may be present.
- Offshore oil and gas work: supporting remote operations and condition monitoring in industrial facilities.
- High-voltage energy sites: assisting with work and emergency response around electrical hazards.
These are intended uses, not proof that Roger is already routinely deployed in each setting. The Next Web reported that Minerva had completed on-site testing for public-safety work and expected to begin its first paid pilots in autumn 2026. That is a reported company timeline and status, not independent evidence of operating results or commercial deployment.
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The announced round signals that Minerva is financing product development and early field work. It does not, by itself, establish that Roger is certified for hazardous operations, has reduced injuries, or can reliably perform bomb disposal or rig work in live conditions. The reviewed reporting does not provide independent test results, safety outcomes or evidence of routine customer use.
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The Next Web also relayed a Minerva estimate that about 7,000 energy workers die annually. The company reportedly derived it by applying a global fatal-work-accident rate to an estimate of the energy-worker population. The underlying datasets and enough methodological detail to verify the calculation are not provided in the reviewed sources, so the figure should be understood as the company’s estimate, not an independently established official statistic.
Minerva frames the goal as keeping people out of dangerous situations rather than replacing them. CEO Sandor Felber told The Next Web, “We didn’t set out to replace the people doing them.” The distinction is consistent with the described operating model: a specialist still directs the robot remotely.
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Why a humanoid form may matter
Industrial and emergency environments are built for people: they contain stairs, doors, tools and equipment designed around human reach and movement. A humanoid form could, in principle, let a remote operator work with that existing environment. But a human-like shape is not itself proof of dexterity, reliability or safety; those capabilities need to be demonstrated in the specific tasks and conditions where the robot is used.
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The Next Web reports Minerva’s criticism that some established tracked EOD systems use a single manipulator arm. That is company positioning, not an independent survey of the EOD-robot market. A meaningful comparison would require evidence about manipulation capability, operator distance, safety, reliability and performance in real deployments.
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Minerva’s other robotics work
Minerva’s press page lists a January 28, 2026 announcement of a strategic research partnership with MBZUAI focused on energy-sector humanoid robotics. The announcement indicates a research relationship; it does not establish Roger’s commercial readiness or field performance.
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