prototype
Manufacturer
Cartwheel Robotics
Cartwheel Robotics: the home humanoid Yogi from a former Boston Dynamics engineer; company closed in February 2026.
- USAcountry
- 7employees
- 3m USDfunding
- 1models tracked
Key facts
- CountryUSA
- Models listed1 (with price: 0)
- CategoriesHumanoid robots
- Models with a Polish seller0 of 1
The story of Cartwheel Robotics is a warning for the whole home-humanoid segment. The company was founded by Scott LaValley, a former Boston Dynamics engineer and Disney Imagineer, who built Yogi: a friendly humanoid about 76 cm tall with more than 50 degrees of freedom and a proprietary “Motion Language Model” for expressive, personalized movement.
The team numbered just 7 people, and outside funding was limited to $3 million, little compared with rounds in the hundreds of millions at competitors such as Figure AI or 1X. In early February 2026 the company ceased operations, which trade media described as another case of the “valley of death” for humanoid startups. The robot never went on commercial sale.
Yogi's story is now the record of a closed project, not a market offer, and a significant warning when assessing investment risk in this segment. The fate of Cartwheel Robotics is often cited as an example of caution when judging the funding announcements of robotics startups.
Cartwheel Robotics