NASA Gives Pittsburgh Robotics Firm a Contract to Build Tinier, Tougher Robot Joints

Key points

• HEBI Robotics, a Pittsburgh company, won a NASA SBIR Phase I contract (a small-business research grant) to develop miniaturised robot actuators, the motorised joints that make robot limbs move.
• A separate Phase II contract, worth $850,000 over two years, was awarded earlier in 2025 to build and test similar hardware for low Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit missions.
• NASA wants the hardware for CubeSats and other very small spacecraft where standard robotic parts are too big or too expensive.
• HEBI is a Carnegie Mellon University spinout whose modular, "Lego-like" robot parts are already used by research labs and industrial teams worldwide.
• Phase I runs through December 2026; a Phase II follow-on, with more funding, would be the next step if results are strong.

When a robot arm picks something up, it's a small motor called an actuator doing the work. Every joint in the arm has one. The problem for spacecraft designers is that actuators good enough for serious jobs have always been either enormous or eye-wateringly expensive.

HEBI Robotics thinks it's found a path to fix that.

What did NASA actually fund?

NASA awarded HEBI a Phase I SBIR grant, meaning a first-stage small-business research contract. It lets HEBI explore how to pack a high-torque motor and gearbox into a package small enough for a CubeSat, a standardised satellite roughly the size of a shoebox.

Phase I work runs through December 2026. Strong results would let HEBI apply for a Phase II award with a larger budget to build and test working prototypes.

This is HEBI's second active NASA contract. Earlier this year, the company received a two-year, $850,000 Phase II SBIR contract to develop control electronics for flight-ready actuation hardware aimed at low Earth orbit and geosynchronous Earth orbit missions, as first reported by The Robot Report. We've been watching the space-robotics hardware beat closely: our story on Magmotor Technologies building motors for space robots from 26 July shows how much competition is heating up for exactly this kind of specialist component.

Why does the size of a motor joint matter?

Robot hardware for space currently sits at two awkward extremes. Cheap hobby servos, the kind used in consumer drones and model aircraft, can't handle the demands of a real mission. Custom space-grade systems can, but they cost a fortune and take years to certify.

HEBI's director of hardware, Andrew Willig, put it plainly: the company wants to "bring the price point down on rugged hardware without compromising the reliability that a critical industry such as aerospace relies on."

The company's existing product line uses standardised building blocks that connect like Lego bricks, letting engineers assemble a custom robot arm without starting from scratch. The new miniaturised actuator extends that same logic to spacecraft.

Does any of this affect people on the ground?

Willig was direct about the spill-over potential. "Space is difficult, but the lessons apply here on earth as well," he said. Actuators tough enough for orbit are also useful in factories, on disaster sites and anywhere a robot needs to work in a rough environment.

For workers in those industries, cheaper and more reliable robotic components generally means faster deployment of automation in places that are currently too hazardous or too costly to staff.

What happens next?

HEBI will spend the next year and a half exploring design options under Phase I. Success would open the door to a funded Phase II build-and-test phase. The company also won a 2025 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award for its "inchworm" robot family, which signals its existing hardware is already earning outside recognition.

Here's my honest read: a contract to study something isn't the same as a contract to build a product. HEBI's still in the research stage. Phase II news in late 2026 is the real signal worth watching.