The new era of robotics
January 29, 2026
Norway has spent decades developing competence at the intersection of hardware, software and complex physical systems. What's changing now is how a growing group of startups are combining that foundation with AI, autonomy and modern robotics architectures to build real products for real environments. Here's an overview:
| Type | Company | Founder(s) | Status / Founded | Latest funding (public) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humanoid / General Robotics | 1X | Bernt Børnich | Scaleup • Founded 2014 (as Halodi) | Series B (2023) – OpenAI Startup Fund |
| Industrial Robotics Infrastructure | Physical Robotics | Phuong Nguyen | Startup • Stealth | Not publicly disclosed |
| Autonomous Industrial Logistics | Hive Autonomy | Christoffer Jørgenvåg | Startup / Early scale | Seed (mix of grants & private) |
| Agricultural Robotics | Saga Robotics (Thorvald) | NMBU spinoff – multiple founders | Scaleup • Founded 2016 | EIC Accelerator + growth rounds |
| Maritime Autonomy | Maritime Robotics | Vegard Evjen Hovstein | Scaleup • Founded 2005 | Private growth capital |
| Subsea Robotics | Eelume | NTNU / Kongsberg spinoff | Scaleup • Founded 2015 | Strategic investment (Kongsberg) |
| Underwater ROVs | Blueye Robotics | Erik Dyrkoren | Scaleup • Founded 2015 | Series A (2022) |
| Aquaculture ROVs | JM Robotics | Kristiansund-based founders | SME / Scaleup | Bootstrapped / undisclosed |
| Aquaculture Cleaning Robots | EasyX | Sindre R. Hansen | Early startup | Pre-seed / grants |
| Natural language robot programming | Marselia Robotics | Lone Werness Bekkeheien | Startup | Bootstrapped / undisclosed |
| Heavy-Lift Drones | Griff Aviation | Sykkylven-based founding team | Scaleup • Founded 2015 | Series A (2021) |
| Fixed-Wing UAVs | Robot Aviation | Tronrud Engineering ownership | Scaleup | Industrial ownership |
| Defence / Swarm Drones | SIX Robotics | Christian Fredrik Eggesbø | Startup | Not publicly disclosed |
| Drone Services | Nordic Unmanned | Stavanger / Sandnes founders | Bankrupt • Founded 2014 | VC + industrial capital (historical case) |
| Robotics Sensors | Sonair | Oslo-based founding team | Startup | Seed (2023) |
| Autonomy Software / Sensors | SentiSystems | NTNU spinoff team | Startup | Pre-seed / seed |
| Autonomous Mobility Components | wheel.me | Norwegian founding team | Scaleup | Growth capital (private & EU) |
| Robot Intelligence / Control | InMind | Norwegian AI founders | Startup | Early-stage / undisclosed |
| Heavy Transport Drones | Avion Robotic | Norwegian founders | Startup | Early-stage |
| Industrial Inspection Robotics | ScoutDI | Norwegian team | Startup | Undisclosed |
| Industrial Inspection Robotics | Argus Remote Systems | Norwegian founders | SME | Privately held |
| Autonomous Mobile Robotics (AMRs) | Cortes Robotics | Norwegian founding team | Startup / Early scale | Not publicly disclosed |
| Warehouse Automation | AutoStore | Industrial founders (Nedre Vats) | Public company | IPO 2021 |
| Cobot Software | Rocketfarm | Egil Mundal | Scaleup | Private growth capital |
| Construction Robotics | Steer | Specialist automation team | Startup | Early-stage / undisclosed |
| Offshore Automation | Nekkar / Intellilift | Nekkar ASA | Public industrial group | Public markets |
| Industrial Automation | Tronrud Engineering | Tronrud family | Established industrial builder | Privately held |
| Robot Integration | RobotNorge | Klepp-based automation team | Established SME | Privately held |
| Cobot Integration | Kameleon Robotics | Southern Norway-based team | SME | Privately held |
| Cognitive Robotics / AI Control | Rembrain | Norwegian founding team | Startup | Early-stage / undisclosed |
| AI Vision & Picking | Pickr.ai | Roald Valen | Startup | Early-stage |
| Neuro-robotics / Bionics | Cerebionics | Agnessa Pedersen | Startup | Pre-seed |
| Bionics / Assistive Robotics | Vilje Bionics | Norwegian founding team | Early startup | Grants / pre-seed |
| Subsea Cleaning Robotics | Remora Robotics | Norwegian founders | Scaleup | Growth capital / strategic |
| Service & Delivery Robotics | Roboxi | Magnus O. Finnesand & Ken Erik Steine | Startup | Early-stage |
| Aquaculture Robotics | Aqua Robotics | Molaug family | Startup | Early-stage / undisclosed |
| Machine Vision for Robotics | Zivid | Henrik Schumann-Olsen & Øystein Skotheim | Scaleup | VC-backed (multiple rounds) |
| Social & Assistive Robotics | The Human Touch Robotics | Andrija Milojevic | Startup | Early-stage / undisclosed |
| Industrial Robotics / Automation | Solwr | Norwegian founding team | Scaleup • Founded 2016 | Privately held |
