
Yondu is a robotics engineering firm that leverages AI and robotics to provide autonomous solutions for retail and warehouse operations. Their flagship product automates the picking, stocking, and inventory management processes, significantly increasing worker efficiency and improving customer experience. With a pricing model that includes a $50k investment per robot and a $5k annual fee, Yondu offers a quick return on investment and substantial savings in total cost of ownership. The company positions itself as a leader in retail automation, addressing the challenges of unfilled retail jobs and rising labor costs while enhancing operational efficiency.

Yondu is a robotics engineering firm that leverages AI and robotics to provide autonomous solutions for retail and warehouse operations. Their flagship product automates the picking, stocking, and inventory management processes, significantly increasing worker efficiency and improving customer experience. With a pricing model that includes a $50k investment per robot and a $5k annual fee, Yondu offers a quick return on investment and substantial savings in total cost of ownership. The company positions itself as a leader in retail automation, addressing the challenges of unfilled retail jobs and rising labor costs while enhancing operational efficiency.
Company: yondu — robotics startup building embodied AI robots for brownfield warehouse automation
Founded: 2023
Headquarters: Gardena / Los Angeles, California
Product focus: Bin-picking, pick-and-place, shelf navigation for 3PLs and mid-sized warehouses
Investors: Y Combinator, SBXi
Warehouse and retail automation—reducing manual picking and stocking labor in brownfield facilities.
2023
Robotics Engineering
500000
Crunchbase lists a Pre-Seed round on this date with two investors (Y Combinator, SBXi).
2100000
Dealroom records a Seed round of $2.1M dated September 2024 with investors including Y Combinator, Link Ventures, SBXi.
“YC-backed (Y Combinator participation and investment); investors named include Y Combinator and SBXi”
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Note: Above salary is assuming 3 months
About Us: \ Yondu is deploying wheeled humanoid robots to automate logistics and warehouse operations. Our teleoperation system enables human operators to remotely control robots in real time while collecting the data needed to train autonomous behaviors.
We’re now expanding this system with advanced real-time 3D rendering and VR to make remote operation more intuitive, especially for objects and environments that aren’t pre-mapped or pre-modeled.
\ We are looking for a to lead a focused project on exploring methods for for our teleoperation platform.
You’ll be responsible for designing and implementing systems that model the “unmodeled” — anything not already represented in our static robot, shelf, bin, or product models — to give operators richer, more accurate situational awareness. This role blends computer vision, graphics, robotics, and VR development in a fast-paced R&D environment.
Key Responsibilities
Requirements We are looking for applicants who have done graduate level research or have industry experience implementing similar projects.
Strong software background
Proficiency in Python, C++, and/or C#
Understanding of networking protocols for real-time systems
Experience setting up and maintaining networked servers (for VR or teleop)
Unity experience
Building VR applications and interactive 3D environments
Integrating real-time sensor/vision data into Unity scenes
Computer vision / 3D data processing
OpenCV, Open3D, or similar libraries
Real-time point cloud, mesh, and texture processing
Computer graphics
Rendering pipelines, GPU acceleration, CUDA optimization
Robotics experience
Hands-on work with ROS (preferably ROS2)
Experience with Jetson platforms or other embedded systems
Familiarity with multi-sensor calibration and integration
Bonus Skills
What You’ll Get
Timeline And Compensation The compensation will be $3k-$5k a month. The salary below is monthly. The standard length will be 3 months with an option to extend it to a full Co-Op.