Zinova Labs
"The execution layer of physical AI"
California physical-AI startup building Tool Intelligence for robots to use power tools; showed formwork and rebar tying on two LimX TRON 2 robots.
Zinova Labs, which presents itself in press material as ZINOVA, is a California-based physical AI startup developing what it calls tool intelligence: software that lets general-purpose robots recognise, grasp, sense and operate the handheld power tools that human tradespeople use. Its website describes the company as "a robotic workforce company with tool intelligence" and as the layer between how AI models think and how robots move. Founder Ziyou Xu (Xu Ziyou) argues that progress in physical AI will come from tool use that transfers across robot forms rather than from any single purpose-built machine. Equipment World describes Zinova as a spinoff of RIC Robotics, the Denver, Colorado maker of large-scale 3D concrete printing robots.
The stated plan is to build tool intelligence infrastructure and, on top of it, a skill library of pretrained action policies that other foundation models can draw on across most robot embodiments. Data is gathered through three methods named on the site: teleoperation, human-on-tool capture and field deployment. The company's target is one million hours of tool-use data within its first 36 months, and it lists its status as stealth testing. Construction is the first domain, chosen because job sites combine the widest range of tools and unstructured environments with persistent labour shortages; the company says it intends to extend the same approach to manufacturing, energy and infrastructure.
Its technology is organised around three pillars reported in press coverage. Grasp covers general-purpose grasping of tools of different shapes. Feel is TEISI, a sensing interface that captures force, torque, vibration and resistance during tool contact. Form covers task-specific robot embodiments. The system is intended to run on third-party hardware instead of a Zinova-built robot.
In September 2026 Zinova and LimX Dynamics announced a construction adaptation of LimX's TRON 2 modular dual-arm robot, carried out in a joint validation with RIC Robotics. The prototype, nicknamed Ziggy, used two TRON 2 units in a scaled-down concrete slab scenario: one robot fired a nail gun while the other positioned boards to assemble formwork for a tilt-up concrete pour, and the pair then placed and tied multi-layer rebar. LimX supplied the hardware platform, development tools, model training platform and SDK, and TRON 2 teleoperation allows a human operator to take over when conditions on site change, with each run generating data for later model training. LimX co-founder Pang Bo described Zinova's industry focus as the kind of ecosystem expertise embodied AI needs.
No founding date, headcount, funding, street address or commercial product pricing has been published, and no customers are named.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Tool Intelligence
AI stack letting general-purpose robots recognise, grasp and operate handheld power tools such as nail guns.
TEISI sensing interface
Sensing interface that captures force, torque, vibration and resistance while a robot uses a tool.
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Contact Zinova Labs
WEBSITE
https://zinovalabs.comHEADQUARTERS
United States
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Software/Algorithm
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North America
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