Feather raises $7.6M to build modular humanoid robots for developers

The startup’s customizable $30,000 humanoids are already working in kitchens and labs as it targets tasks now done by people.

Feather Robotics is building a modular humanoid platform meant for developers, positioning itself as an “Android of robotics” rather than a closed, vertically integrated robot. Founded by Hoa Mai and former Tesla Model 3 engineer Parsa Bakhtiari after Mai sold his previous humanoid startup to 1X, the company has raised a $7.6 million pre-seed round from Gradient Ventures. Feather’s system lets customers swap hardware configurations like arm lengths and run models from third‑party robotics AI providers, and it is already in commercial use in Japanese restaurant kitchens and science labs. The company says it has surpassed $1 million in revenue while still operating capital‑efficiently and preparing a larger product launch after a year of field testing. With a $30,000 price point—about half the cost of Unitree’s H2 Edu—and restrictions on Chinese robots entering the U.S., Gradient argues Feather is uniquely positioned as the only domestic modular humanoid platform and could compete directly with human labor costs for many physical tasks.