Physical AI at scale will define the next industrial era. The United States remains at the frontier of many of the technologies that form the “brain” of modern robotics—including artificial intelligence, computer vision, autonomy, and software—but it has not yet translated those strengths into comparable capacity to build, deploy, and sustain robotic systems at scale.
The National Security Commission on Robotics for Advanced Manufacturing is developing a practical blueprint to reverse this trajectory and secure lasting American industrial leadership.
About the Commission
The National Security Commission on Robotics for Advanced Manufacturing is a bipartisan group of leaders from manufacturing, technology, academia, research, investment, workforce development, and national security.
The Commission was established to help ensure that the United States leads the next era of robotics and advanced manufacturing. It brings together expertise from across the public and private sectors to develop actionable recommendations for expanding robotics adoption, strengthening domestic production and critical supply chains, building the necessary workforce, and sustaining American innovation.
The goal is not to replicate a top-down, state-directed model. It is to mobilize America’s own strengths—private-sector dynamism, world-leading research, deep capital markets, regional manufacturing ecosystems, and skilled workers—to build, deploy, and sustain the technologies that will shape the next industrial era.
Co-Chairs

Sen. Ted Budd
United States Senator, R-NC

Sen. Elissa Slotkin
United States Senator, D-MI

Ylli Bajraktari
President and CEO, SCSP
The Full Commission
A bipartisan group of leaders with deep experience developing, financing, producing, deploying, and governing robotics and advanced-manufacturing technologies.

Peter Barrett
Co-Founder & General Partner, Playground Global

Heather Carroll
Chief Revenue Officer, Path Robotics

Michael Cicco
President & CEO, FANUC America

Dr. Torsten Kroeger
Chief Science Officer, Intrinsic

Rev Lebaredian
Vice President of Physical AI Simulation, Nvidia

Anne Neuberger
General Partner and Head of Global Affairs, Andreessen Horowitz, Fmr. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cybersecurity & Emerging Technologies

Dr. Chinedum Okwudire
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director, Advanced Manufacturing Institute, University of Michigan

Dr. Elisabeth Reynolds
Professor of the Practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Brendan Schulman
Vice President of Policy & Government Relations, Boston Dynamics

Keith Strier
Senior Vice President of Global AI Markets, AMD

Josh Tavel
Senior Vice President of Manufacturing & Product Engineering, Research & Development, General Motors

Dr. David Van Wie
Director, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Chris Walti
Co-Founder & CEO, Mytra
Four Pillars

National Framework
Create durable American leadership and industrial capacity in robotics and advanced manufacturing. Align private-sector dynamism with strategic public goals and turn fragmented federal initiatives into coherent, predictable signals that industry can act on.

Innovation Ecosystem
Translate America’s leadership in artificial intelligence and robotics software into strength across hardware, critical components, and supply chains. Pair sustained innovation with strategic investment to close commercialization gaps, lower costs, and expand domestic production.

Talent Pipeline
Build and sustain the workforce needed to design, manufacture, operate, and maintain increasingly capable robotic systems. Expand credible pathways into technical careers, align education and training with shop-floor needs, and help incumbent workers develop the skills to work alongside advanced technologies.

Adoption at Scale
Expand robotics adoption across the American manufacturing base. Reduce capital, integration, readiness, and knowledge barriers—particularly for small and medium-sized manufacturers—and create the conditions for sustained demand and continuous improvement.
Related Resources
Events
Reports and Memos
Newsletters and Podcasts
- Newsletter: Three Fronts of Strategic Competition: Turning the Future of Work, Robotics, and Quantum into U.S. Advantage
- Newsletter: The Robotics Data Gap: How Training Data Pipelines will Shape the Global AI Race
- Newsletter: The Re-Industrialization Roadblock: China is Dominating Robotics for Advanced Manufacturing
- Newsletter: Preparing for the Robotic Workforce
- Newsletter: Will the United States or China Lead In Humanoid Robotics?
- Podcast: Robotics with Abigail Kukura and Brady Helwig
- Podcast: Advanced Manufacturing with Addis Goldman and Brady Helwig
