Two former co-founders of Scythe Robotics have launched a new startup, Agency Tool Co., taking on one of robotics' most thankless problems: over-the-air (OTA) software updates?OTA (over-the-air): Updating a device's software remotely over a network, without physical access to the machine. for robots working in the field. Its first product, ATC Deploy, ships updates to fleets of robots even over very poor connections. The Robot Report reported the launch on 28 July 2026.
Key takeaways
- Agency Tool Co. was founded by Jack Morrison and Davis Foster, both formerly co-founders of Scythe Robotics
- The first product is ATC Deploy — a platform for deploying software to robots in the field over the air
- ATC Deploy works with OS images, Docker/OCI containers, and file and directory structures
- Launch partners are Burro (750+ robots), Gather AI, and Tempo
- A second product, ATC Build, is announced — giving developers cloud access to embedded hardware for CI testing
The problem nobody enjoys solving
Updating software on one robot is easy. The trouble starts with a fleet.
As the company's co-founder explains, managing deployments at scale today means "a whole host of scripts to copy the software onto the machine, to change which version is running, to manage restarting the software." On top of that comes validating that the data arrived intact — across one device or thousands at once. It's work many teams cobble together from their own scripts, and Agency Tool Co. wants to replace it with a single tool.
It's a whole host of scripts to copy the software onto the machine, to change which version is running, to manage restarting the software.
Jack Morrison, co-founder of Agency Tool Co., previously Scythe Robotics.
Connections measured in bits, not megabits
The most interesting part of ATC Deploy is how it handles poor connectivity. Robots in the field rarely have fast internet — they run on LTE or 3G, and in extreme cases on satellite links or undersea sonar communications where, as the company puts it, bandwidth is "measured in bits, not megabits."
In those conditions the usual "download a new system image and install it" simply breaks. The platform is built to cope with dropped connections and to verify data integrity, so an update never leaves a robot half-installed and dead.
ATC Deploy does not force a single format. It works with what a customer already has: full operating-system images, Docker containers in the OCI standard?OCI (Open Container Initiative): An open, vendor-neutral standard for container formats, popularized by Docker., and plain file and directory structures. That matters, because robot fleets are rarely uniform.
Who is already testing it
The company named three launch partners from very different areas. Burro, which supplies autonomous mobile platforms for agriculture, has more than 750 robots in the field. Gather AI uses drones for warehouse inventory, and Tempo is at an early stage of deploying its grinding machines.
The mix is not accidental: agriculture, warehouses, and industry are three settings where robots operate far from a server room and good connectivity. If the tool holds up across such different conditions, that is a stronger signal than a single deployment.
The second announced product is ATC Build — cloud access to the embedded hardware robots actually run on, in order to run CI?CI (continuous integration): Continuous integration — automatically building and testing code after every change. tests on it. It addresses the same gap: testing code on the target hardware is painful today. The company did not disclose funding or investors, and a full rollout of ATC Deploy is expected "in the next few months."
Why it matters
Robotics loves to talk about control models and new grippers, but rarely about how you keep a fleet of robots alive after deployment. Yet updates, versioning, and remote fixes are exactly what decide whether a 750-machine rollout is profitable or an operational nightmare.
The "work with what you have" approach and the focus on poor connectivity show the company is built by people who have managed field fleets themselves. It is also a sign of the sector maturing: a layer of developer tooling dedicated to robots is emerging, much like the one the web-software world built years ago.
What's next?
- A full rollout of ATC Deploy is expected "in the next few months," per the co-founder's comments to The Robot Report
- The second product, ATC Build — cloud access to embedded hardware for CI testing — is planned (no date given)
- The business model and funding remain open — the company disclosed neither a round nor investors
Sources
- The Robot Report — Agency Tool Company wants to make OTA software updates easier
- Scythe Robotics — Scythe Robotics
