This Startup Brought a Remote-Controlled Excavator at Demo Day
- S2E65
- 49:37
- October 14th 2025
A robotaxi playbook… for dirt. Flywheel AI is turning excavators into remotely operated, camera-first machines — collecting the data to make them autonomous next.
In this YC-insider episode, we unpack Flywheel AI’s “Waymo for excavators” strategy: retrofit any machine in hours, deliver value with tele-op now, and use that profitably collected data to train autonomy later. We get into labor shortages, safety economics (OSHA penalties), competitor traps (drive-by-wire only), and how to actually do hardware at YC in 90 days without getting stuck in pilot hell.
You’ll learn
Why construction’s bottleneck is skilled operators — and how tele-op removes it
The dangerous blind-spot reality on sites and the true cost of safety incidents
Flywheel’s retrofit + single-screen UX that works on any excavator brand/size
The autonomy roadmap: camera-only stack, data flywheel, edge-case capture
How to win data rights on site (be the only retrofit, own the dataset)
The YC hardware playbook: sell first, build last; parallelize to kill lead-time
📌 Watch now and subscribe for more smart, fast, founder-first interviews.
Chapters:
00:00 From Sandbox to Real Excavator: The Journey Begins
00:20 Introducing Flywheel AI: Revolutionizing Excavators
01:49 The Labor Shortage Crisis in Construction
03:51 The Dangers of Operating Excavators
05:58 Teleoperation: Enhancing Safety and Efficiency
11:28 The Path to Autonomous Excavators
16:34 Competing in the Autonomous Excavator Market
22:26 Demo Day: Bringing an Excavator to YC
24:37 Returning the Excavator
24:47 Demo Day Setup and Reactions
26:04 Autonomy and Data Training
26:38 Joining YC and Initial Thoughts
28:03 YC's Impact on Hardware Startups
29:18 Building and Iterating Hardware
33:13 Advice for Hardware Startups
34:49 Final Thoughts and Reflections
45:03 Accelerating Iteration Cycles
48:38 Conclusion and Contact Information
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