Industrial robots are a reassurance amid labor shortage: RobCo CEO

Yahoo Finance Video and Josh Lipton

Sat, February 14, 2026 at 8:00 AM GMT+9

Humanoid robots are all the hype in 2026 as developers hope to develop models that can handle everyday tasks.

RobCo co-founder and CEO Roman Hölzl comes on the program to discuss the use cases for more industrial models of AI-powered models, the advantages of manufacturing robots, and the impacts that robots will have on the labor market.

To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend.

Video Transcript

00:08 Speaker A

The robots getting all the attention in media lately are the humanoids that look and move sort of like us. The ones that CEOs like Elon Musk boast will do all our menial tasks so we will have no longer have to lift a finger. But the robots most companies are building are the less flashy, task-oriented machines that help humans work quicker and more safely. Here’s what Gecko Robotics CEO told us recently about whether all ROI can be found in the industry.

00:46 Speaker B

What’s so cool and so interesting, um when we see these humanoids, we we see ourselves in them, right? We’re we’re like, you know, we’re we’re creating these um these these generalized robots that we we want to be able to take on some of the tasks that we don’t like to do. uh folding laundry or uh or making food or cleaning cleaning dishes. But we don’t talk about uh is um is there actually a ROI to that? And the most ROI you can create is actually in the sectors that I was mentioning, like the energy sector, uh the the Department of War,

01:17 Speaker B

um, you know, these uh these manufacturing sectors. These dirty jobs that actually drive GDP.

01:23 Speaker A

Joining me now for more on this is Roman Hozel, the CEO of Robco, an emerging leader in the robotic space that just raised $100 million in its series C to scale physical AI in manufacturing. Roman, it is great to see you. So, maybe start big picture, Roman. Um walk viewers through Robco, the mission, the purpose, Roman. What what’s the what’s the problem you’re trying to solve for?

01:54 Roman Hoelzl

Robco’s mission is to ultimate the ordinary so humans can do the extraordinary. What we do at Robco is we build autonomous industrial robots that can be deployed in days, not years. Now, core technology for that is physical AI. Robots that learn from, you know, data, understand the environment and can adapt without complex reprogramming. And so with this autonomy stack, we’re live across hundreds of customers in the US and Europe, and plan to scale even further with these $100 million of additional CDC capital.

02:30 Speaker A

Roman, how do your robots sort of uh compare and contrast contrast to traditional robots? How are they different? How are they unique?

02:42 Roman Hoelzl

Three things. We design robots for real factories, not perfect, you know, lab environments. Um the second is our autonomy stack that allows fast deployment without re-engineering and complex, you know, quarter-long engineering processes. And we ship at scale today. Uh so this isn’t a future promise. It is live across uh 10 plus countries. And so um that’s the main the main point.

03:12 Speaker A

And and your customers, Roman, that you’re referencing there. Who are those those customers, Roman? What’s the average demo? I mean, is it is it a small shop, a larger company?

03:26 Roman Hoelzl

So, we serve enterprise customers across the globe and all of these manufacturing industrial customers struggle with labor shortages, rising costs, and automation that is too rigid. Some of these examples include BMW, for example, T systems, and Robco gives a flexible solution flexible robots that handle repetitive unergonomic work and can be redeployed as production changes without shutting down the line or hiring robotics experts. And so, manufacturing enterprises and midcaps across the US and Europe is our target segment.

04:02 Speaker A

And so those those customers Roman, the advantage to them, the benefit in broad strokes, um it’s cost savings, it’s productivity gains, it’s both?

04:14 Roman Hoelzl

Yeah, it’s both. It’s it’s always the value know journey that we go on with these customers. And the main door opener is none of these companies can hire the talent that is necessary to produce the parts and products they produce since years and decades. And so that opens the door and then we come in with a very clear value journey. We typically increase productivity into the night shifts, into the weekends, and we drive down cost versus human labor, especially through the Robco Robot as a service model, which is a monthly fee versus a large, you know, multi 100,000

04:58 Roman Hoelzl

up front cappex investment.

05:00 Speaker A

You know, Roman we’ve been talking about robots obviously for a long time. Why do you think this moment is so well suited for robots for the technology? I mean, is it because there’ve been this these advancements in the technology? Is it Roman, you know, is is it the great reassuring trend we talk a lot about? Is it the the labor shortage you mentioned there?

05:25 Roman Hoelzl

Yeah. I mean the macro storm and it is a storm indeed, has never been stronger. So labor short that you mentioned, you know, many of the countries in the Western world including the US at the forefront want to reshore, reonshore manufacturing processes to the US into the, you know, states that have been strong in manufacturing decades ago, but not in the last couple of years. And so, labor is number one. Number two is the massive reshoring trend, and then number three is the average cost increase which is 6% plus year-over-year

06:05 Roman Hoelzl

for talent in the manufacturing industry. And so that doesn’t work because we all expect more products at more attractive price points. and automation such as the one we have, the solution we have at Robco can be the answer to these massive, you know, macro trends that are now kicking in.

06:27 Speaker A

You know, Roman, lots of questions as you well know about how robotics ultimately sort of impacts the labor market. I’m just curious how you think about it, Roman. Do do your robots, do you think about it like they’re they’re replacing workers, Roman, or or no, it’s it’s it’s it’s taking jobs that aren’t in demand.

06:48 Roman Hoelzl

No, it’s uh, you know, Robco’s robot specifically replacing tasks, not replacing people. And so, we take on dangerous repetitive tasks with our humans to focus on supervision, on quality, on creative tasks, on higher value roles. And so in practice, our customers see, you know, robot use robot usage increase because we keep factories running. We do not shrink teams. Um so there’s a there’s a re-shift in terms of how labor is deployed at these manufacturers, and that’s what we want to drive into the next years here at Robco.

07:23 Speaker A

You mentioned your your business model, Roman, which is which is super interesting. So, as I understand it, it’s more like um, it’s like robotics as a service, Roman, right? You’re not selling the robot. Why is what’s sort the advantage of that financially and strategically?

07:42 Roman Hoelzl

Yeah, that’s right. So we have what we call the Robco Robert as a service model, which uh is a couple of thousand US dollars a month instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars in upfront cappex investment. And that’s very important because first of all, the cost challenge around adopting robotics is therefore solved. We have an RI on day one with the initial robot deployment against the human work. So that’s number one. Number two is our solution is software defined. And so we’ve been buying software for the last years and decades in a software as a service model,

08:21 Roman Hoelzl

right? So we do the same thing in the Robco Robert as a service model. Number three, we connect to existing systems, existing equipment, and we capture and work with the data that is available to truly drive value because of self-learning systems. And so if you think about data capture, data storage, data reasoning, that is happening on a recurring uh you know, model. And so the Robco is a service model makes tremendous sense financially, economically, but also in terms of the product offering that we have at Robco.

08:52 Speaker A

Roman, final question. I I’m curious to as you think about Robco, you’re spinning ahead a few years. What what would be the big, the big risk for your company, Roman? You know, do do you think it’s is it execution? Is it um is it capital intensity? Is it is it competition?

09:08 Roman Hoelzl

Uh yes, all of the above, but I think especially the risk of executing well because if you think about it, this is a setting in the manufacturing environment where you cannot afford downtime. You cannot afford a lack of precision. You cannot afford a lack of services. And that includes, you know, 2:00 a.m. issues in the night shift. And so we have to be tremendously careful to provide a solution that works for the manufacturing sector. Repetitive industrial tasks and execute really well across the US and Europe. And I think that’s one of the biggest challenges.

09:44 Roman Hoelzl

And the $100 million in additional capital helps us um do exactly that and be close to our customers and not risk, you know, running into these issues.

09:55 Speaker A

Roman, so great to have you on the show today. Thank you, sir.

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