Monk Robotics: three products on one base
Monk Robotics, a robotics startup founded alongside the ServicePower role
Results
- MVPs
- 3
- Countries in the supply chain (parts from China, production in Nepal)
- 2
The prototypes worked. Monk stayed at the prototype stage and never grew into a company.
Where it started
Monk started with a solar powered autonomous lawnmower, built on an open source navigation framework from MIT. Environments were mapped on site at the first customer.
The build
Three MVPs. The solar mower. A UV sanitizing robot for university campuses on the same base when COVID hit. Then IoT retrofits for manufacturing equipment.
Key calls
Reused the base design for the COVID pivot.
The mower base became the sanitizing robot. Monk moved into a new market without starting the hardware over.
Sourced and built across countries.
Parts came from China. Production was coordinated in Nepal.
Built Monk in parallel, with the ServicePower manager aware.
Enterprise products at ServicePower by day. A founder's uncertainty at Monk by night.
Looking back
Hardware turns every weakness in sourcing, capital, sales cycles and unit economics into a physical constraint. Monk showed the difference between a clever machine and a company.