RigidRobotics is KI’s legged autonomous platform track. The same motion control, perception, inference, and vaulting ecosystem powering the wheeled platform powers the quadruped. The platform is next. The intelligence is now.
Most robotics companies build a platform and then figure out the software. KI built the software first. RigidPulse handles motor actuation. RigidSense handles perception. RigidAI handles onboard inference. RigidVault handles session logging. RigidDrive handles autonomous navigation. Every module already exists, already runs, and already talks to the others.
Phase 1 proved the stack on wheels. A fully autonomous RC-scale platform running onboard GPU inference, multi-camera environmental awareness, and sovereign session vaulting to local storage — no cloud dependency, no foreign servers, no data leaving the property.
Phase 2 applies the same stack to legs. The actuation layer changes — BLDC servos driving a quadruped gait instead of wheels — but the perception, inference, vaulting, and navigation layers remain identical. One intelligence stack. Two embodiments.
The Phase 1 wheeled autonomous platform is running on the KI test track. Every run generates sovereign training data. Every session is logged to RigidVault. The stack is proven.
All navigation decisions are computed on-device by KI-class edge compute. No cloud connection. No latency from a remote server. Inference runs at the edge.
Four cameras feed environmental data to the perception layer simultaneously. Object detection, obstacle identification, and path planning run on local compute.
RigidPulse handles all motor actuation. Field-oriented control. Absolute position known at all times. No missed steps. No homing required.
Every autonomous run is logged to RigidVault. Speed, heading, obstacle events, inference decisions, and environmental data. Immutable. Timestamped. Yours.
Radio control override is active at all times. Law 1 of the Three Laws enforcement: no autonomous action can override a human operator. Hard stop at the hardware layer.
Every run on the test track generates labeled training data. Each session is a data generation event that improves the navigation model for the next deployment.
The intelligence stack is already built. RigidPulse handles actuation. RigidSense handles perception. RigidAI handles inference. RigidVault handles session logging. Phase 1 proved all four layers running together on a physical platform. Phase 2 changes the form factor. The stack stays the same.
Kavanagh Industries operates 5 miles from the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan — home of TACOM, the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Systems command. The autonomous ground vehicle stack KI is building is the same architecture that powers unmanned ground vehicle platforms.
Every autonomous run is logged to local RigidVault. Immutable. Available for after-action review. No foreign cloud. No vendor access to operational data.
The platform operates without any internet connection. All inference runs on-device. Data stays on the operating platform and syncs to local RigidVault on return. This is the default — not a premium configuration.
5 miles from the Detroit Arsenal. Michigan-based. American hardware. American compute. American data storage. KI’s facility is within the ground combat systems procurement ecosystem.
For defense R&D inquiries — unmanned ground vehicle prototype capability, sovereign session logging, and TACOM-proximity positioning. Contact shaun@kavanaghind.com for a direct briefing.
RC-scale wheeled platform. Onboard AI inference. Multi-camera environmental perception. Closed-loop BLDC motor control. Sovereign session logging to RigidVault after every run. Backyard test track. Stack proven across all four layers: RigidPulse, RigidSense, RigidAI, RigidVault.
Expanded RigidSense sensor suite — LiDAR integration, additional cameras, environmental sensors. Facility floor navigation. Obstacle mapping. Payload capability. TACOM demonstration-ready configuration.
Same intelligence stack. Same four-layer architecture. Different actuation layer — BLDC servos driving a quadruped gait instead of wheels. Environmental perception, inference, vaulting, and navigation layers are identical to Phase 1 and 2.
RigidRobotics isn’t a new product requiring a new stack. It’s an existing stack applied to a new form factor. Every pillar below is already operational in Phase 1.
Brushless DC motor controllers driving the legs through closed-loop position and torque control. The same actuation architecture powering the wheeled platform — adapted from wheels to joints.
Multi-camera environmental awareness, inertial measurement, and spatial orientation. The quadruped sees, balances, and understands terrain the same way the wheeled platform reads its surroundings.
GPU-accelerated onboard compute running a robotics-native inference stack. Gait planning, obstacle avoidance, terrain classification, and behavioural decision-making — all running locally, nothing in the cloud.
Every movement session — telemetry, camera feeds, motor states, inference decisions — vaults automatically to sovereign local storage. Immutable run records. No data leaves the property.
The autonomous navigation and platform identity layer. RigidRobotics covers both form factors — the wheeled platform is Phase 1, the quadruped is Phase 2. Same navigation intelligence, different locomotion.
The quadruped becomes a teaching platform. CTE students build, program, and operate autonomous systems using real hardware. The RC car → drone → quadruped → industrial AGV progression is a complete workforce pipeline.
This is the ecosystem thesis in motion. KI didn’t build six products. KI built one intelligence stack and applied it to six surfaces. RigidRobotics is the proof that the architecture works — the same code that drives a wheeled platform on flat ground will drive a legged platform over rough terrain. The stack transfers. The modules compose. The ecosystem compounds.
A KI quadruped powers up on a 0.4-hectare (~1-acre) property in Clinton Township. The onboard GPU boots a robotics-native inference stack. Four cameras initialise and begin building a spatial map of the environment. The inertial measurement unit calibrates. The BLDC servo controllers on each leg joint report ready.
The operator defines a perimeter via a tablet interface. The quadruped begins a patrol pattern. RigidSense feeds continuous environmental data — obstacle distance, terrain gradient, surface classification. RigidPulse manages the gait cycle in real time, adjusting stride length and joint torque based on terrain feedback. The locomotion is reactive, not scripted.
RigidAI runs inference continuously. The onboard GPU processes camera feeds, classifies terrain, predicts traversability, and adjusts the navigation plan without any cloud round-trip. Every decision happens on the platform. Nothing leaves the property.
Every session vaults automatically. Telemetry, camera snapshots, motor state logs, inference decisions, gait parameters — all written to sovereign local storage via RigidVault the moment the session ends. No cloud upload. No foreign server. Michigan hardware, American law.
As sessions accumulate, RigidAI builds gait models from the logged data. The platform learns the property. Soft ground near the tree line. Slope change along the eastern boundary. The gravel section that requires shorter strides. Each run improves the next because each run is vaulted, immutable, and available for model refinement.
This is the same pattern the Phase 1 wheeled platform already follows — perceive, decide, act, vault, learn. The legs are new. The intelligence is proven.
KI is headquartered 8 km (5 mi) from the Detroit Arsenal — home to TACOM and the U.S. Army’s ground vehicle and unmanned systems command. Autonomous platform development at this proximity to the defence acquisition centre isn’t a coincidence. It’s a positioning decision. Phase 1 is running now. Phase 2 is next.
Explore the wheeled platform running today under RigidDrive, or register your interest in the legged quadruped programme as it develops.
Kavanagh Industries LLC · Clinton Township, Michigan
USPTO Patent Pending #63/991,057
Kavanagh Industries · Always on