Joanna Lichter: Robotics Value Concentrates at the Ends of the Barbell

Investor Joanna Lichter argues that value in the robotics sector follows a barbell structure. One end consists of horizontal Robotic Foundation Models (RFM) and infrastructure platforms that benefit from compounding data and compute. The other end comprises category-leading application companies that capture value by converting intelligence into practical work. Lichter notes that the middle layer, including commoditized models and easily replicable tools, lacks appeal. Unlike Large Language Models, robotics faces physical constraints and high distribution c