Gecko Robotics just landed a critical contract with the U.S. Navy, deploying its AI-powered robotic inspection platform to accelerate ship repairs as the military races to meet an ambitious 80% fleet readiness target by 2027. The Pittsburgh-based startup, valued at $633 million after its 2022 Series C, is bringing wall-climbing robots and predictive maintenance software to naval shipyards in what CEO Jake Loosararian calls a pivotal moment for defense infrastructure modernization.
Gecko Robotics is bringing its AI-powered inspection technology to one of the military's most pressing challenges: getting ships back in the water faster. The company announced a new contract with the U.S. Navy to deploy its robotic platform across ship repair operations, a move that comes as the Pentagon grapples with aging vessels and shrinking maintenance windows.
CEO Jake Loosararian told CNBC that Gecko is "supporting the Navy's push to have 80% fleet readiness by 2027" - an ambitious target that requires dramatically faster turnaround times at naval shipyards. The current readiness rate hovers in the mid-60s, with ships spending months longer in maintenance than planned.
The deal represents a significant bet on physical AI - robots that don't just analyze data but interact with the real world. Gecko's wall-climbing machines, which look like oversized Roombas with magnetic treads, crawl across ship hulls and bulkheads collecting millions of ultrasonic measurements. The company's Cantilever AI platform then processes that data to predict failures before they happen, telling maintenance crews exactly where to focus repairs.
"We've been in power plants and oil refineries for years, but defense infrastructure is where the stakes get existential," Loosararian said in previous interviews. The company's technology has already inspected over 40% of U.S. nuclear power capacity and critical infrastructure across 35 countries.
The Navy's maintenance crisis has become a national security concern. Ships routinely spend 20-30% more time in repair than scheduled, leaving the fleet stretched thin across global commitments. Traditional human inspection of a destroyer can take weeks and still miss critical flaws hidden beneath paint and insulation. Gecko's robots complete the same work in days while generating 100 times more data points.
