Meet the founder betting Washington can help him build America's robotics giant

Detailed summary

Standard Bots CEO Evan Beard wants to build the world's largest robot manufacturer in the US — and he's looking to Washington for help.

Evan Beard was having dinner with his wife and friends this summer at a Long Island country club when the Pentagon called. It was 7:30 p.m. on a Friday. Cellphones weren't allowed in the dining room, so he walked away from his pasta to answer. The Defense Department needed to know: Could his company's robots launch drones? "They were like, 'We want to get robots to Iran really quickly,'" Beard said. The officials wanted his advice on whether robotic arms could launch drones from autonomous boats and what such a system might look like. Launching a drone is one of more than 300 jobs Beard's company, Standard Bots, says its robotic arm can perform.

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