Tue, 23 Jun 2026 | BUSINESS SALE
An AI-powered robotics firm based in Bristol is to be acquired by a US company in a deal that is expected to help drive the development of its multi-robot automation platform. US firm Bear Robotics has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kinisi Robotics, with the transaction expected to close over the coming days.
Once the deal closes, Kinisi’s KR1 humanoid robot, as well as its Bristol-based engineering team and its Physical AI capabilities, will be integrated into Bear Robotics. The acquisition is said to represent the completion of Bear's end-to-end Physical AI robotics platform.
Post-acquisition, Kinisi’s Bristol office will become a strategic engineering hub for Bear, while founder and CEO Brennand Pierce will join Bear’s leadership team as Chief Robotics Officer.
Founded in 2017, California-based Bear Robotics has built the world's most widely deployed fleet of service robots, with over 16,000 shipped into commercial service worldwide.
Brennand Pierce said: "Signing this agreement is the right next step for Kinisi and for the KR1. We built Kinisi on Bear's navigation stack from day one because we believed it was the strongest foundation in the industry.”
"What Bear has that no one else does is a real Physical AI platform already operating at commercial scale - deployed robots, enterprise customers, manufacturing, and cloud orchestration. Manipulation is the missing layer, and that's what Kinisi brings. Together we're not building one humanoid in isolation; we're completing an integrated, multi-robot automation platform. I'm excited about what we're going to build."
John Ha, founder and CEO of Bear Robotics, said that the company had spent years building its platform to deploy robots in the real world, including deploying thousands of robots, its cloud orchestration stack, building a real enterprise customer base and a manufacturing supply chain. The acquisition of Kinisi, he says, “completes that platform.”
He continued: "Its manipulation AI is the layer that lets our robots move from navigating and delivering to actually handling the work in front of them. Most companies are trying to get from a pilot to a product; we're expanding from a deployed commercial fleet into full Physical AI automation.”
"I want to thank the Kinisi team for what they've built in the KR1, our customers and partners for their continued trust, and our employees and investors for backing this next chapter. This is the start of a much bigger chapter for Bear."
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