Funding SoftBank Put $225M Into ASI and Separately Funded a Construction Joint Venture With It The $225 million is not the start of this relationship. SoftBank Robotics America took a minority stake in Autonomous Solutions in 2022, and the two launched ASI's heavy-construction business unit together in May 2025 — a year after ASI sold its mining division to Epiroc. Last week added a joint venture whose size, ownership and name have not been disclosed. Hugo Pegley · Sep 29, 2026
Analysis Caterpillar's Physical-AI Deal Is About Watching, Not Driving Caterpillar is putting FieldAI's robot foundation models to work on inspections, digital twins and situational awareness. No terms, no timeline, no machine named — and read the list of applications carefully, because not one of them operates a machine. Hugo Pegley · Sep 11, 2026
Funding SoftBank Just Wrote a $200M Series A Into a Company That Bolts Brains Onto Excavators You Already Own Gravis Robotics raised the largest Series A construction robotics has seen, from a single investor, at a reported $1 billion valuation — nine months after a $23 million round. The retrofit thesis just got the most expensive endorsement it has ever received. Hugo Pegley · Aug 24, 2026
