About
Articles by Saman
-
American Factories Need Their AWS Moment
American Factories Need Their AWS Moment
Two decades ago, every company that wanted to scale had to build a data center. Servers, cooling, and redundancy are…
-
AI is changing everything
AI is changing everything
Sebastian Thrun, the inventor of Google’s self-driving cars, told the Financial Times that “almost every established…
2 Comments -
What are intelligent machines?
What are intelligent machines?
These are exciting times for Intelligent Machines. The Comet Labs blog tracks the pulse of this rapidly changing field.
3 Comments
Activity
13K followers
-
Saman Farid shared thisRobots in the real world >> robots doing demos. Proud to celebrate the fleet & all the manufacturers that our robots have been able to support. Here's to the next 10,000 robots.Saman Farid shared thisLast week, we opened our first West Coast facility in Oakland. Hundreds of manufacturers, partners, and community leaders showed up, including Oakland's mayor. We showed live humanoid demos alongside our existing fleet of palletizers, case packers, and AMRs. A few numbers worth sharing: - Formic operates the largest independent robotic fleet in the United States. - We've surpassed 650,000 production hours across our deployments. - Oakland is our first facility on the West Coast, but more regional expansion is coming. Manufacturing automation isn't a future story. It's running right now, on flat monthly rates, with zero capital expenditure, in facilities across the country. Oakland proves the model works at scale. Thank you to everyone who came out. More to come!
-
Saman Farid reposted thisSaman Farid reposted thisThe future of the U.S. human-robot workforce is taking shape right here in the East Bay. Case packing, palletizing, humanoids, and the talented humans at Formic building it all. Such a cool experience to get an inside look at its new Oakland lab/HQ and learn how physical AI and robotics is transforming manufacturing. 🤖 👏 Thank you for the invite Theresa Dobson! Was an incredible event. 🌟
-
Saman Farid reposted thisSaman Farid reposted thisFormic ranked #485 on the 2026 Inc. Magazine 5000 list. We grew over 700% over the past three years. That growth comes from manufacturers choosing to automate: without the CapEx, without the risk, and without the wait. Every deployment on this list represents a real plant with a real team that decided to stop waiting on labor and start scaling output. Thank you to our customers, our team, and every operator who bet on Full Service Automation before it was the obvious choice. This is just the start! https://lnkd.in/eBGHyVTHInc. 5000 2026: Meet the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in AmericaInc. 5000 2026: Meet the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America
-
Saman Farid posted thisWe're looking for a contract recruiter to help us through a period of growth here Formic -- every person you hire will have an impact for the next 100 years as they are building the brain and nervous system for every robot that will be deployed in the future. reach out if you're interested.
-
Saman Farid shared thisLots of fun to be on a panel with some of the greats at the AGI Summit, talking about practical deployments of robotics in the real world. Awesome group of co-panelists Kevin Chen, PhD, C. Tsai, Lisheng Wang and Manoj Leelanivas
-
Saman Farid shared thiswho likes crunchy cheesy things?Saman Farid shared thisWyandot Snacks went from 300,000 pounds of snacks per week to over a million. Not by replacing workers: by building a production floor where people and robots do what each does best. At their Marion, Ohio, facility last month, they opened the doors for other local manufacturers to see it firsthand: live robots, real product on the line, and a candid conversation about what it actually takes to make automation work. A few things that stood out from their story: They tried automation before. Bought systems outright, required specialized expertise to maintain, and ended up with equipment sitting idle. This time, they went Full Service with Formic, and the difference was total: 98% uptime, tripled output, eliminated temp labor, and added 100 net new employees from the surrounding community. "Work with Formic because it's going to change the way you operate as a manufacturing company." -Allie Helton, Director of Operations Watch the video, or read the full recap here: https://lnkd.in/egkh96Dj
-
Saman Farid reposted thisSaman Farid reposted thisThe Magnificent Seven's 2026 capex guidance is bigger than the Apollo program, the transcontinental railroad, and the interstate highway system combined. I sat down with Brexton Pham, Global Co-Head of Compute Infrastructure at Cantor Fitzgerald, to map where the opportunity lives in this buildout. His mandate spans power, land, and capital – what he calls "humanity's largest ever infrastructure efforts." And we've barely started. By his estimate, global internet penetration is ~75%, but AI penetration is "maybe 15% if I'm being really generous." In a world where hyperscalers can verticalize overnight, software seams get swallowed fast. But physical seams don't. A rough map of where the non-hyperscaler opportunities are most compelling: 🔌 Energy Aggregation: Hyperscalers want powered land, but they'd rather buy the result than do the work of aggregating behind-the-meter power, siting reactors, and negotiating with utilities. Some companies in this space include American Terawatt, Aalo Atomics, Valar Atomics, and Blue Energy 🛡️ Resilience Infrastructure: The supply chain under AI is fragile (rare earths, ASML, TSMC, sea cables, the Strait of Hormuz). Recent data center strikes during the Iran war may be the "Stuxnet moment" for hardening AI infrastructure. 🛰️ Space: Agentic workloads don't need low latency, which makes orbit viable once you escape land, grid, and permitting constraints. There's a national-security case too. Some companies building here include Starcloud, Kepler Communications Inc., Sophia Space, Starfish Space, and Infinite Orbits. 👷 Labor: "We straight up don't have enough electricians and data center operators." Robotics, workforce pipelines, and remote operations can all solve for this constraint. This is a similar sentiment to conversations I've had in the past with Ben Pouladian (https://lnkd.in/dy3hrFPa) and Saman Farid (https://lnkd.in/g9M-eQA2). Gating all of this is public sentiment. The average American is more anxious about AI than excited (which Silicon Valley is underestimating). The easy take is that giants will own the AI infra buildout, or that backlash stalls everything. I don't buy either. I believe some of the best opportunities are those that can't be verticalized overnight. They are constrained by physics and time. And though some of them may look narrow today, they will become the foundation the intelligence economy runs on. Full post linked in comments.
-
Saman Farid reposted thisSaman Farid reposted thisLast week, S2G portfolio company Formic held a grand opening for their new headquarters in Bolingbrook, IL. At 53,000 square feet, the new facility is 5x the size of the company's previous location and will allow Formic to accelerate its robotics-as-a-service model for manufacturers across the country. By lowering adoption barriers, Formic is enabling manufacturers to increase productivity, reduce reliance on volatile labor markets, and capture resource efficiencies, helping to bring automation to an underserved segment of U.S. industry. In doing so, Formic is expanding access to automation for companies that might otherwise be left behind and creating a scalable model for industrial efficiency. Congratulations to Saman Farid and the Formic Team on this milestone! Read more about Formic’s solutions and the new HQ: https://lnkd.in/ej-Jug9w Shawn Fitzgerald Jennifer Ramsey Brooklyn Kiosow Marisa C. Sweeney August O'Hern Kevin O'Shaughnessy #Robotics #Manufacturing #Illinois
-
Saman Farid reacted on thisSaman Farid reacted on thisA few weeks ago, Machina Labs crossed a pretty big milestone: hardware built by our Robocraftsman flew for the first time on a crewed aircraft. Getting a new manufacturing technology onto a manned aircraft is not exactly a “move fast and break things” business. It takes years. In the case of 3D printing, it took more than 25 years from commercial inception to flight. We did it in 5. Incredibly proud of this team and everyone who helped us get here. Great seeing some of the extended Machina family today who helped make it happen celebrating this milestone.
-
Saman Farid reacted on thisSaman Farid reacted on thisI’ve been a bit quiet on here lately. I’ve been incredibly busy with a new job - being a mom. As part of my new gig my baby gets: 🍼 24/7 service 🍼 Uptime guarantee (up at night, anytime she needs) 🍼 Spare parts and maintenance included (diapers, onesies, baths) All for 0 CapEx - she “pays” in daily cuddles and cuteness. You probably won’t hear from me for a few months. But when I’m back, be prepared for more automation posts fueled by first time parenting stories and analogies. And in the meantime, if you’re curious how you can get 24/7 service, uptime guarantee, and maintenance included for 0 CapEx on your own robot babies on your manufacturing floor - reach out to Joel Onyshuk and the incredible Formic team. Cheers! 🍼🦾🍼🦾🍼🦾
-
Saman Farid liked thisSaman Farid liked this95% sounds impressive. In manufacturing, it's a failure. Robots on the plant floor run through roughly 10,000 cycles a day. At 95% accuracy, that's hundreds of failures every single day. Formic's Saman Farid breaks down why the reliability bar for manufacturing robotics is nothing like the bar anywhere else, and why "good enough" isn't good enough on the line. Full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eWk3Y4ia
-
Saman Farid reacted on thisSaman Farid reacted on this“There will not be a ChatGPT moment for robotics,” Adrian told TechCrunch. “The thing that made ChatGPT a moment in time was distribution - they went from zero to a million active users in like a week...distribution in the real world is way harder than that, right? I'm excited for the Apple II moment in robotics or the IBM PC moment in robotics. When can I buy like a home robot that is gonna start doing some useful and fun stuff?” Enjoyed connecting at #Actuate26 - thanks Tim Fernholz! https://lnkd.in/eFkqa6iTRobot brain builders are pushing out of their GPT-2 era | TechCrunchRobot brain builders are pushing out of their GPT-2 era | TechCrunch
-
Saman Farid liked thisSaman Farid liked thisTop 100 𝐋𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐬 in the United States. 1 in 10 jobs in the U.S. is connected to the CPG space, which supports over 22 million workers. Now, the U.S. consumer goods industry is over $1.5 trillion in revenue with 20,000 manufacturing companies, but that quickly expands to 170,000 when including supply chain, warehouse, and retail. Many of these companies continue to look for technology, automation, and new solutions that will drive productivity and support this growing workforce. PACK EXPO International is back in Chicago Oct 18- 21, featuring 2,600 exhibitors and attendees from 40+ industries, including pavilions like the Food & Beverage Processing Zone, Containers and Materials, Logistics and more where companies can learn about food safety, automation, sustainability, quality control, and much more! ---- Author Note ---- Some of the companies on the map have global headquarters abroad and U.S. headquarters, or may not be shown because they are primarily international manufacturing companies. #TheManufacturingMillennial #PACKEXPOPartner #Automation #FoodProduction #Processing
-
Saman Farid reacted on thisSaman Farid reacted on thisA bit late to announce, but I’m excited to share that since graduating from University of California, Berkeley, I’ve joined Formic as a Robotics Software Engineer! Formic has already deployed 100+ robotic systems across U.S. manufacturing, and I’m excited to be joining the team as we push further into humanoid robotics. It’s been a packed month and a half, from training and deploying VLAs and working on sim-to-real, to visiting customer sites and helping bring our new Oakland facility to life. One of the highlights was helping a humanoid cut the ribbon at the opening. Really looking forward to continuing to learn, build, and deploy useful humanoid robots for manufacturers! #Robotics #Humanoids #RobotLearning
-
Saman Farid reacted on thisIt's good to be back!Saman Farid reacted on thisDrug discovery remains concentrated around familiar drug targets and familiar chemical scaffolds, even though the greatest value comes from opening up entirely new therapeutic possibilities. The important question in AI-for-drug-discovery is "Can we make medicines that would otherwise not exist?" That is why we built WonderTx. We're developing AI that can work where there is no on-target training data, then connecting it to an automated design-make-test loop. The goal is first-in-class medicines against disease targets that cannot currently be drugged effectively or at all. https://lnkd.in/gRDgmfFwWonderTx — Extrapolative AI for First-in-Class DrugsWonderTx — Extrapolative AI for First-in-Class Drugs
Experience & Education
Organizations
-
Ruhi Instittute
Junior Youth Empowerment Program - Animator Volunteer
- PresentThe JYEP is a comprehensive educational program designed for junior youth aged 12 to 15 aiming to equip junior youth with a profound understanding of their own potential and empower them to engage in acts of service to the community.
-
Cooper Union Laboratory For Energy Reclamation and Innovation
Research Assistant - Project Lead
-
Engineers Without Borders - Cooper Union Chapter
President
Other similar profiles
Explore more posts
-
Doug Green
🎙️ “AI isn’t a product — it’s a velocity enabler.” — Matt Siemens, NUSO At the #Crexendo User Group Meeting, I caught up with Matt Siemens of NUSO, where the company is taking a bold, practical approach to AI and expanding across Europe. 🌍 In his main-stage talk, Matt explained how NUSO has built a digital twin of its own network — a live, structured data model that keeps AI grounded in real-world conditions. The result: 🤖 Fewer hallucinations 🧠 Smarter transcription and sentiment analysis 🔁 Better context for every customer interaction Matt also highlighted how #vCons** act as “micro-mirrors”* — threading together the moments that define customer experience and helping AI focus on outcomes, not just outputs. Beyond AI, NUSO announced a global technology partnership with Crexendo** and continued European expansion — now with operator authority in 14 countries, and new momentum in 🇫🇷 France, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇪🇸 Spain, and 🇮🇹 Italy. If you’re at **Crexendo UGM**, stop by the **NUSO Lounge on the 3rd floor** for a quiet conversation and a closer look at their next-generation UCaaS platform. Or learn more at 👉 [nuso.cloud](https://nuso.cloud) #NUSO #AI #DigitalTwin #vCon #UCaaS #TelecomInnovation #CrexendoUGM #TechnologyResellerNews #CloudCommunications #AIinTelecom #CrexendoUGM 2025 Snom Technology GmbH\ #SnomAtTheShow Doug Green TR Publications #Podcast Julie Smith Chad Collins Antoine Karachekhlian Vincent Gianfrancesco Outsourcing Services International | OSI TELCLOUD NUSO Yealink Nomadix, an ASSA ABLOY company Grandstream Networks Ozonetel | oneCXi 888VoIP Poly HP NTSDirect VOLA NETWORKS FaxSIPit Services Inc. CCT Solutions Adaptiv Networks Creo Solutions Ecosmob Technologies Sinch TransNexus Amanda Howard Jason Byrne
2 Comments -
Jay Uhm
Since officially becoming TPC Robotics Corp. last March, we have been aggressively executing our strategic pivot from factory automation to advanced intelligent robotics. We are moving past proof-of-concept and focusing strictly on delivery. Here are the core milestones driving our roadmap: ◾️ Humanoid Robotics: Executed a strategic partnership with HCBOT to co-develop and manufacture customizable humanoid robots. ◾️ Dedicated R&D: Launched our new AI Robot Research Institute to bridge our strong hardware fundamentals with advanced AI and software control. ◾️ Proprietary Hardware: Commencing mass production of our in-house robot actuators this August. By integrating motors, sensors, and drivers, we are establishing a new standard for price competitiveness and performance in the market. Beyond industrial applications, we are actively expanding our technology matrix into healthcare, co-developing AI rehabilitation robots and molecular diagnostic devices with our biotech partners. We are building the hardware that makes #AI actionable. If you are exploring technical partnerships, mass production, or supply chain integration, I invite you to connect. https://lnkd.in/gHSii8k8 #TPCRobotics #Robotics #Humanoids #Hardware #Manufacturing #Automation
-
Ryan Gariepy
Rui Xu's honesty and transparency should be celebrated here! (also, it gets 10x harder once one actually ships robots, and then 10x beyond that once people start relying on them) Unfortunately, this is merely an instance of a broad trend I'm seeing. If you're founding a robotics company without having even hacked on a robot before, ask yourself how many successful software companies had founding teams bereft of software dev experience...?
1 Comment
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content