Inside the Defense and Industrial Dual-Use Strategy of Ghost Robotics: An Interview with the CEO of the Leading U.S. Quadrupedal Robotics Company Partnering with Mitsubishi Corporation

Ghost Robotics

As Japan and other developed countries face increasingly serious social challenges stemming from rapid population decline, aging populations, and labor shortages—including personnel shortages in defense operations—expectations for robotics technologies capable of replacing humans in hazardous worksites and performing inspections in harsh environments have reached unprecedented levels. In particular, quadrupedal robots, which can readily navigate uneven terrain, stairs, puddles, and other obstacles that pose significant challenges for wheeled or tracked vehicles, are attracting considerable attention from both the defense and civilian sectors as next-generation unmanned solutions.

One company rapidly expanding its deployment footprint in the quadrupedal robotics market is Ghost Robotics, a U.S.-based defense technology startup distinguished by the exceptional durability and practicality of its robots in demanding real-world environments. Its flagship robot, the Vision 60, features an IP67-rated waterproof design capable of operating in water up to one meter deep, as well as more than three hours of continuous walking capability. The robot has already been deployed across a wide range of applications, from military operations such as U.S. Air Force base security to demanding industrial environments in the oil and gas, construction, and mining sectors.

Why did this rapidly growing startup choose a major strategic partnership involving the acquisition of a majority stake by LIG Defense & Aerospace, a leading South Korean defense company, rather than pursuing a conventional venture capital-driven growth strategy? Drawing on an interview with Gavin Kenneally, founder and CEO of Ghost Robotics, this article explores the frontiers and future of defense technology and industrial robotics. Topics include the company's alliance with Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan, the status of adoption by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, pilot deployments in Japanese manufacturing and construction industries, and Kenneally's pragmatic perspective on the humanoid robotics market amid an unprecedented investment boom.

CEO Gavin Kenneally

Ghost Robotics: From a University of Pennsylvania Laboratory to the Exceptional Capabilities of Its Flagship Vision 60

Ghost Robotics was founded in October 2015 by Gavin Kenneally and co-founder Avik De. At the time, both were doctoral researchers at the University of Pennsylvania specializing in legged robotics. They recognized a critical gap in the market: the absence of practical robots capable of performing tasks remotely in hazardous environments without requiring humans to enter those areas. As academic research into legged robotics was reaching maturity, their most significant technological breakthrough was shifting much of the complexity traditionally embedded in mechanical hardware and control mechanisms into software. By keeping the mechanical architecture simple and robust while using sophisticated software to control robot dynamics, they successfully developed a robotic platform that was durable, easy to maintain, highly scalable, and well suited to mass production.

The company's flagship product is the Vision 60, a medium-sized quadrupedal robot. Designed to traverse a wide variety of real-world outdoor terrain, including uneven ground, gravel, rubble, snow, and steep slopes, its greatest strength lies in its exceptional environmental resilience and robustness. With an IP67-rated waterproof and dustproof design, the Vision 60 can withstand complete immersion in water at a depth of one meter for 30 minutes while maintaining functionality. This enables the robot to carry out missions even under extreme weather and environmental conditions, including severe storms, heavy rainfall, and river crossings that require walking through water.

The Vision 60 also boasts industry-leading endurance. It can walk continuously on battery power for more than three hours, while actual operating scenarios combining walking, stationary periods, and sensor-based inspections allow for extended missions lasting five to six hours. This represents a decisive advantage over small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which typically require frequent charging or battery replacements during extended operations. Furthermore, its open-platform architecture allows a diverse range of third-party payloads—including cameras, sensors, communication equipment, and manipulator arms—to be integrated with relative ease. The platform also offers excellent field repairability, enabling components to be replaced or repaired quickly on-site without requiring specialized technicians.

The Vision 60 features an IP67-rated waterproof and dustproof design.

Expanding from Defense to Industrial Applications: Business Model and Market Development in the Dual-Use Sector

According to Gavin Kenneally, defense and government customers currently account for the majority of Ghost Robotics' revenue, but growth in the civilian and industrial markets has been particularly remarkable. Industrial revenue is expanding at a pace approaching a doubling year over year, and the company has established a long-term objective of achieving a balanced dual-use revenue structure, with defense and industrial applications each contributing approximately 50% of total sales.

The oil and gas industry represents what Ghost Robotics sees as its largest long-term market opportunity. Oil and gas facilities encompass vast sites containing countless processing units and extensive pipeline networks, creating enormous inspection requirements alongside substantial capital investment and stringent safety management obligations. Workers currently responsible for inspections at these facilities are often highly skilled technicians who also perform preventive maintenance and equipment repairs. Having these specialists spend significant amounts of time on routine inspections reduces overall plant productivity. As a result, there is strong demand to delegate routine inspection tasks to quadrupedal robots, allowing human technicians to concentrate on more advanced and complex maintenance and repair activities.

However, deploying robots at scale in oil and gas facilities requires compliance with strict industry regulations and the acquisition of intrinsically safe certifications to ensure that equipment does not create ignition risks in hazardous environments containing flammable gases. These requirements involve significant development time and regulatory procedures. Accordingly, Ghost Robotics is focusing its short- to medium-term efforts on structural inspections and security patrols at construction sites, mines, and various industrial plants. The company has already established a perimeter security solution through a joint project with the U.S. Air Force, designed to protect the extensive boundaries of military air bases. This system autonomously patrols designated areas while using thermal and optical cameras to detect intruders and abnormalities. Because these security requirements closely resemble those of private industrial facilities and logistics hubs, Ghost Robotics has successfully extended the underlying system into industrial applications without requiring major changes to its core architecture.

Clear Differentiation and Complementary Roles: Quadrupedal Robots Versus Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

When considering the automation of patrols and facility inspections, quadrupedal robots are frequently compared with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, Gavin Kenneally emphasizes that "quadrupedal robots and drones are not competing technologies; they complement each other," highlighting several distinct advantages of ground-based robotic platforms.

The first differentiating factor is vantage point. Drones excel at providing an aerial overview of large areas, whereas quadrupedal robots can conduct inspections from essentially the same perspective as human workers. By equipping robots with manipulator arms or movable cameras, operators can inspect areas behind pipes, beneath structures, and within narrow spaces close to the ground, performing detailed surface examinations at close range.

The second advantage is significantly greater operational endurance and weather resistance. While typical industrial drones have flight times of approximately 20 to 30 minutes and must frequently return to charging stations, the Vision 60 can walk continuously for more than three hours and operate for up to five to six hours in practical deployment scenarios. Moreover, strong winds, rain, and snowfall can make drone flights dangerous or impractical, whereas IP67-rated quadrupedal robots can continue collecting inspection data on a stable schedule with far fewer weather-related restrictions.

An equally important distinction is the advantage quadrupedal robots offer in sensing applications, particularly acoustic diagnostics and gas detection. One of the most critical inspection tasks at industrial plants is the early identification of compressed-air leaks and small gas leaks from pipelines. Detecting these problems requires acoustic microphone arrays capable of identifying specific sound frequencies, much like a human technician listening carefully for unusual noises, as well as highly sensitive gas sensors. However, the substantial noise generated by drone rotors makes acoustic diagnostics extremely difficult, while powerful downward airflow disrupts the surrounding air and interferes with accurate gas concentration sampling. By contrast, the Vision 60 operates relatively quietly and moves steadily along the ground, enabling effective acoustic inspections and air sampling. Ghost Robotics anticipates that the optimal division of responsibilities—using drones for tasks best approached from above, such as inspecting the tops of large storage tanks, and quadrupedal robots for detailed ground-level inspections and acoustic or gas detection—will become a standard model for next-generation infrastructure inspection.

The Limitations of VC-Driven Growth and the Strategic Rationale Behind LIG Defense & Aerospace's Majority Acquisition

Securing sufficient working capital for mass production is one of the major challenges startups face as they scale rapidly. This is particularly true for hardware businesses in the defense and industrial sectors, where the cash conversion cycle is exceptionally long. Companies must purchase components in advance, assemble robots, and deliver finished products to customers before receiving payment. As orders increase rapidly, working capital requirements can expand dramatically, placing considerable financial pressure on an independent startup.

While many startups pursue repeated funding rounds from venture capital firms, Gavin Kenneally and his team have also highlighted the limitations of the traditional VC model. Venture capital often operates under a polarized incentive structure: companies are expected either to achieve exponential growth through substantial short-term capital injections or face pressure to exit relatively quickly. This approach can be poorly suited to industries such as defense, where navigating regulatory requirements, securing certifications, and understanding specialized procurement processes demand patient, long-term market development.

Against this backdrop, Ghost Robotics began searching globally for a strong industrial partner capable of sharing its long-term vision. After extensive screening and negotiations involving companies in the United States, Europe, and Japan, it ultimately selected LIG Defense & Aerospace, a major South Korean defense company. LIG Defense & Aerospace acquired a majority stake in Ghost Robotics and established a framework to provide comprehensive management and operational support as its largest shareholder. South Korea's particular social and economic circumstances also help explain why a leading Korean industrial and defense group pursued such an ambitious investment in quadrupedal robotics. Although South Korea has achieved extraordinary economic growth over the past 60 years, it now faces rapidly declining birth rates, an aging population, and demographic contraction. Maintaining and expanding economic growth despite a shrinking population requires substantial improvements in productivity per capita. As a result, investment in automation and robotics has accelerated at the national level. Hyundai Motor Group's acquisition of Boston Dynamics and LIG Defense & Aerospace's acquisition of Ghost Robotics can be understood as strategic decisions supported by these broader demographic trends and national challenges.

The partnership with LIG Defense & Aerospace has also played an extremely important role in addressing supply chain challenges arising from geopolitical risks. In recent years, national security concerns have prompted governments and defense organizations worldwide to reduce their reliance on Chinese-made components in defense and government procurement. Ghost Robotics previously sourced certain motor components from China but made a comprehensive transition to high-quality motors supplied by South Korean manufacturers several years ago. The strategic foresight of this decision became evident when the Chinese supplier in question was subsequently subjected to U.S. restrictions that prohibited further transactions.

South Korea has numerous highly capable precision manufacturers and component suppliers that have traditionally focused on their domestic market. Although these companies possess advanced technical capabilities and maintain rigorous quality control, many do not engage in the aggressive international sales outreach commonly seen among Chinese suppliers. For overseas startups such as Ghost Robotics, independently identifying these manufacturers, negotiating directly with them, and securing supply agreements that can scale from small production runs to mass manufacturing can be extremely difficult. The introduction, credibility, and commercial support provided by LIG Defense & Aerospace, a trusted and established Korean defense company, enabled Ghost Robotics to rapidly establish a supply chain that does not depend on China.

Naturally, differences in organizational scale and corporate culture exist between Ghost Robotics, an agile startup with approximately 70 employees, and LIG Defense & Aerospace, a publicly listed company employing around 3,500 people. LIG Defense & Aerospace operates within a highly systematized and disciplined corporate environment that emphasizes rigorous processes and planning horizons extending three to five years into the future. The two companies are now working to turn these cultural differences into complementary strengths by combining Ghost Robotics' agile decision-making capabilities with LIG Defense & Aerospace's expertise in long-term planning, operational management, and stringent quality control systems.

Region-Specific Global Expansion Strategies and the Path Toward Securing Programs of Record

As defense and industrial demand increases worldwide, Ghost Robotics has adopted a flexible market-entry strategy built around collaboration with carefully selected local partners rather than attempting to handle every aspect of international expansion internally. This approach allows its relatively small team of approximately 70 employees to pursue global opportunities efficiently. Defense procurement systems, industrial structures, business practices, and cultural contexts vary significantly across countries and regions, limiting the effectiveness of direct sales efforts by foreign companies. Recognizing its organizational constraints, Ghost Robotics forms alliances with leading local players who possess deep knowledge of their respective markets and entrusts them with primary responsibility for business development.

The company's regional operating models are tailored to local regulations and purchasing practices. In North America, Ghost Robotics maintains a direct sales organization in its home market, the United States, serving government agencies and industrial customers. In neighboring Canada, however, it has established an indirect sales structure through local distributors to accommodate country-specific requirements and government procurement practices. Similar strategies are applied across Asia and Europe. In India, the company has established a local joint venture and pursued licensing and technology transfer arrangements to meet requirements for local manufacturing and procurement. Across Europe, where regulatory systems and languages vary considerably, Ghost Robotics works with a diverse network of distributors, ranging from partners responsible for individual countries to those covering multiple national markets. In East Asia, its parent company, LIG Defense & Aerospace, leads defense business development in South Korea, while Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan's largest general trading company with an established track record in defense, serves as its exclusive partner for developing the Japanese market. Furthermore, in countries where government defense sales and commercial industrial sales require different expertise and distribution channels, Ghost Robotics adopts a flexible multi-partner model, appointing separate local partners for defense and commercial activities within the same country.

According to Gavin Kenneally, one of the greatest challenges in international expansion is understanding the procurement timelines of national defense organizations. Defense procurement involves lengthy and complex processes, from initial evaluation and budget allocation to contract awards and purchase orders. Communication through local partners can introduce delays and make timelines even more difficult to predict. Many of the orders Ghost Robotics currently receives around the world are contracts intended for evaluation and trial operations. These range from relatively small pilot deployments involving five to ten robots to larger test programs involving approximately 100 units. However, most remain one-off contracts rather than recurring procurement commitments. The company's next major growth milestone is securing a Program of Record (POR), through which its robots would be incorporated into formal, long-term government defense procurement programs. A POR could establish a multiyear procurement framework, potentially involving the delivery of a specified number of robots annually over a five-year period. This would enable the manufacturer to develop more stable, long-term production and investment plans. Ghost Robotics anticipates securing its first POR as early as next year. The company believes that once a POR is established in one country, other governments may rapidly benchmark and adopt similar procurement approaches, potentially accelerating global expansion on a substantial scale.

Japan's Unmanned Defense Strategy and the Potential of the Japanese Market

Gavin Kenneally views Japan as a high-priority market with significant potential for quadrupedal robotics in both defense and industrial applications. In Japan's defense sector, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and Japan Air Self-Defense Force have been advancing demonstrations and proof-of-concept evaluations involving quadrupedal robots for applications such as base security, unmanned reconnaissance, and transporting supplies across difficult terrain. In particular, recent battlefield applications of unmanned systems and military robotics, including those observed in the war in Ukraine, have contributed to the increasingly proactive stance of Japan's Ministry of Defense and Self-Defense Forces toward adopting unmanned assets. As declining birth rates intensify recruitment and personnel shortages within the Self-Defense Forces, reducing manpower requirements through unmanned robotic systems has become an unavoidable priority for Japan's national security. The Vision 60 has already been evaluated in public demonstrations and other trials conducted by the Self-Defense Forces, and Ghost Robotics expects these efforts to lead to large-scale formal procurement contracts under Japan's defense budget within the next several years.

In the civilian industrial sector, concrete business development activities are also progressing steadily through the company's partner, Mitsubishi Corporation. According to Ghost Robotics, pilot operations and proof-of-concept trials involving the Vision 60 have already begun with Japanese customers in industries such as manufacturing and construction. In manufacturing, these evaluations primarily focus on perimeter security and routine facility inspections across extensive factory sites and large industrial plants. In construction, potential applications under evaluation include autonomous patrols, safety monitoring, and construction progress management at sites characterized by uneven terrain, elevation differences, and frequent movements of heavy equipment. Through these pilot programs, the company is identifying operational challenges and requirements specific to Japanese worksites while preparing for full-scale commercial deployments.

At the same time, while expressing strong interest in direct manufacturing partnerships with Japan's advanced industrial manufacturers and major defense prime contractors, Kenneally acknowledges that certain barriers to entry remain. Both South Korea and Japan possess world-class precision manufacturing technologies and mature supply chain ecosystems. However, from the perspective of overseas startups, identifying appropriate points of contact and understanding the processes required to establish supplier relationships can be challenging due to limited transparency and accessibility. This stands in contrast to Chinese machining and component suppliers, which often take a highly proactive approach to international business development. Kenneally sees overcoming these barriers and deepening collaboration with Japan's outstanding manufacturing companies and defense prime contractors as both an important challenge and a significant opportunity for Ghost Robotics going forward.