Facts

• Segment: Humanoid
• Country: United States
• Founded: 2017
• Website: https://boardwalkrobotics.com/

Profile sections

• Summary
• Market context
• Products
• Facts
• Commercial
• Context / Market Position
• Events
• Team
• Relationships
• Context tags
• Customers and deployments
• Articles
• Sources

Summary

Boardwalk Robotics develops dynamic humanoid robots and robotic engineering services from Pensacola, Florida. Its work includes the Alex humanoid and prior collaboration on IHMC Nadia platform, with a focus on legged robots for workplace and defence-adjacent mobility tasks.

Market context

Boardwalk is notable because it tries to commercialize IHMC humanoid hardware and controls lineage through a pragmatic legless platform rather than a full bipedal robot first. Alex prioritizes manipulation, safety and task fit, which makes it a useful contrast to general-purpose humanoid builders pursuing full-body mobility from day one. Boardwalk Robotics, Inc. Commercial partner with Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), Pensacola, Florida. Founded 2017. Specializes in legged robotic systems; eighth humanoid in IHMC collaboration lineage. Acquired by Foundation Robotics; Alex robot renamed Phantom.

• Capability: proprietary control software optimized for high-speed manipulation sensor integration and safe human-robot interaction custom in-house designed actuators (rapid joint movements up to 9 rad/s) real-time contr…

Products

• Alex

Facts

• Website: https://boardwalkrobotics.com/
• HQ: Pensacola, Florida, United States
• Founded: 2017
• Segment: Humanoid

Commercial

1 commercial event; 1 contract award; 1 named customer; $256K disclosed obligated value; latest event 2024-02-20

• 2024-02-20 - Contract award - National Robotarium contracts Boardwalk Robotics for Alex Manipulation Platform - National Robotarium (UK) - $256K obligated - source: publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk

Manipulation-first humanoid builder from the IHMC robotics lineage

Boardwalk Robotics develops humanoid systems for industrial work, with Alex positioned as a commercial upper-torso robot for manipulation-heavy tasks. Its approach separates humanoid usefulness from full bipedal mobility by starting with stable-base deployments in sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, food processing and maintenance.

• Target environment: Manufacturing sites, logistics operations, food-processing environments, maintenance workflows and aviation-related industrial settings.
• Deployment model: Commercial pilot programs with select customers, with a longer-term goal of transitioning toward a service model.
• Customer context: Industrial operators evaluating humanoid manipulation where legs are not required for the first useful deployment.
• Workflow context: Tool use, surface finishing, cleaning, packing, sorting, cargo handling, maintenance support and other manipulation-heavy workflows.
• Commercial maturity: Pilot-stage commercial robot with research availability and select customer pilots reported by IEEE Spectrum.
• Market position: U.S. humanoid builder focused on near-term manipulation utility rather than full-body locomotion-first deployment.
• Adoption constraints: Adoption depends on manipulation reliability, customer pilot outcomes, service economics, safety validation, and clear positioning of Alex as a commercial industrial system separate from related re…
• Adjacent context: Adjacent context includes industrial humanoids and mobile manipulation via shared requirements in manipulation, safety envelopes, teleoperation and task-specific deployment.
• Source confidence: medium

Events

• 2025-11-19 - Capability - IHMC presents next-generation Alex humanoid research platform for out-of-lab testing - IHMC said Alex is a multi-year, multimillion-dollar humanoid project funded through the Office of Naval Re…
• 2024-08-22 - Product Launch - Boardwalk Robotics launches Alex manipulation-focused humanoid platform - Boardwalk introduced Alex as a commercial upper-torso humanoid built for manufacturing, logistics, food processing,…
• 2024-02-20 - Contract Award - National Robotarium contracts Boardwalk Robotics for Alex Manipulation Platform - The National Robotarium concluded a contract with Boardwalk Robotics for an Alex Manipulation Platform for…

Team

• Michael Morin - Chief Executive Officer - Leads Boardwalk commercial push around Alex and customer education for industrial humanoid deployment.
• Brandon Shrewsbury - Chief Technology Officer - Central technical leader behind Alex manipulation-first design and Boardwalk approach to commercial humanoid hardware.
• Robert Griffin - Technical Advisor - Provides technical continuity between IHMC humanoid research program and Boardwalk commercial Alex platform.
• Jerry Pratt - Co-Founder

Relationships

• customer - National Robotarium contracted Boardwalk Robotics for an Alex Manipulation Platform for research (public award notice, Feb 2024).

Context tags

• Humanoid Robot Builder - Peer Group
• Manipulation-First Humanoid - Peer Group
• Industrial Humanoid Systems - Peer Group
• Logistics Automation - Customer Environment
• Custom Robot Actuators - Stack Layer
• Mobile manipulation - Workflow
• Industrial Maintenance - Workflow
• Food Processing Automation - Customer Environment
• Pilot Stage Robotics - Commercial Stage

Customers and deployments

• Alex Platform Contract Status - Alex Manipulation Platform contract - 2024-02-20 - National Robotarium - mobile manipulation research platform - The National Robotarium contracted Boardwalk Robotics for the Alex Manipul…

Articles

• 2024-08-22 - Boardwalk Robotics is turning upper-body humanoid manipulation into an industrial pilot layer - Alex brings IHMC humanoid lineage into Boardwalk's upper-body commercial robot, with early work focused on ind…