Lightberry

What do they actually do

Lightberry builds a software "social brain" that runs on physical robots to handle conversation, perception, and on-device decision-making, so robots can listen, speak, and act around people without custom engineering for each model. The system runs as a runtime/SDK on supported robots and uses an always-on listen→think→act loop where the robot decides when to engage or move, rather than just passing through voice commands (YC profile, lightberry.com).

The product is live in demos and early deployments. The company publishes demo videos and offers a public "Hire a Robot / Deploy Lightberry" flow, and it says it works with manufacturers (e.g., Unitree) with pilots in conferences, offices, and homes. Field behavior can be configured by voice, aimed at non‑engineers (YouTube channel, lightberry.com, YC profile, launch post).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Robot manufacturers (OEMs) building mobile or humanoid robots: They don’t want to spend months building conversation, perception, and social decision-making for each chassis and need a drop-in interaction layer that makes hardware usable out of the box (YC profile).
• System integrators and resellers deploying robots into venues: Per-site engineering for behavior, speech, and navigation is costly and slow. They want repeatable installs and faster onboarding rather than bespoke tuning (lightberry.com).
• Venue operators and event organizers using people-facing robots: Robots must behave politely and reliably, respect privacy, and be configurable on site by non‑engineers without a robotics team (YouTube demos, lightberry.com).
• Small robotics startups or product teams adding social features: They can’t afford specialized conversational/perception engineering and want an SDK/runtime to add social behaviors quickly and iterate on features (YC profile).
• Privacy- or security‑sensitive customers (healthcare, offices, homes): They need local/offline options and predictable behavior so audio/video aren’t routed to third parties (coverage on local mode).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led, on‑site pilots at conferences, offices, and trade shows with demo robots to prove the listen→think→act loop, fix integration gaps, and create short case studies/videos (YC profile, YouTube demos).
• First 50: Package adapters/SDKs and a step‑by‑step “Deploy Lightberry” playbook; run paid short pilots with 1–2 days of on‑site support so integrators can replicate installs and build reusable behavior templates (lightberry.com, SDK coverage).
• First 100: Scale via OEM bundles and channel partners that preinstall or resell Lightberry; add a small field‑success team and vertical feature packs (e.g., privacy/local mode) and launch a paid self‑serve portal for trials and purchases (YC profile, local mode coverage, lightberry.com).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Software for people‑facing/social robots is the closest fit: social robots are ~US$7.5B in 2025 and ~US$30.4B by 2030, with software a fast‑growing component (Mordor Intelligence — Social Robots). For broader context, robot software overall is ~US$24.2B in 2025 and ~US$64.5B by 2030 (Mordor — Robot Software).

Bottom-up calculation:

Using the social‑robots market and a ~42% software share (implied by a 57.8% hardware share), 2025 social‑robot software TAM ≈ 0.422 × US$7.47B ≈ US$3.15B; by 2030, ≈ US$12.8–15.2B if software holds or grows share (Mordor — Social Robots). This aligns with the broader robot‑software totals (~US$24.2B → ~US$64.5B) as an upper bound if expanding beyond social robots (Mordor — Robot Software).

Assumptions:

• Lightberry targets software spend tied to social/people‑facing robots, not industrial robotics.
• Software holds roughly 42–50% share of social‑robot value by 2030 as software grows faster than hardware.
• No material deviation from cited market CAGR trajectories.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• SoftBank Robotics (Pepper/NAO): Sells people‑facing robots with built‑in conversational behavior and SDKs, often used in retail/hospitality—an integrated alternative to third‑party interaction software (site).
• Furhat Robotics: Provides a social robot and developer platform (FurhatOS/SDK) focused on conversational human‑robot interaction in public settings and research (site).
• Engineered Arts (Ameca): Builds expressive humanoids for public interaction (e.g., Ameca) with integrated perception/conversation stacks used at venues and exhibitions (site).
• LuxAI (QTrobot): Offers a social robot with an SDK aimed at education and therapy; developers can deploy conversational and perception behaviors on turnkey hardware (site).
• Viam: General robotics software platform for building, deploying, and managing robots (cloud/edge, perception, control); a horizontal alternative for teams assembling their own interaction stack (site).