(October 29, 2025) In 2013, a young Sidharth Thakur began testing a small robot prototype in his backyard. It was a response to a devastating structure fire in his community that left a deep impression on him. A decade later, that prototype has evolved into FireBot, a rugged unmanned ground vehicle designed to save lives in the world’s most dangerous environments.
Siddharth who has pursued Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin, has turned that early experiment into Paradigm Robotics, a startup he co-founded in 2022 with Krishnan R. Their mission is to “serve those who serve,” including firefighters, emergency responders, and public safety professionals operating in hazardous situations.
Two months ago, Paradigm Robotics announced a $3.95 million pre-seed round, marking a major milestone for the startup. As Siddharth, the 21-year-old co-founder remarked in his announcement post, “I’m grateful to share that Paradigm Robotics has raised a heavily oversubscribed $3.95M pre-seed round to put ‘fuel on our fire’ serving those who serve in the most hazardous of environments.”
Siddharth Thakur
Building robots for the dull, dirty, and dangerous
Siddharth’’s belief in robotics as a tool for human protection is practical and urgent. “We believe in a future where robots should do the dull, dirty, and dangerous and work in the places where no human can or should go,” he mentioned. That principle guides everything about Paradigm Robotics.
While many robotics startups focus on automation for convenience or industry efficiency, Siddharth’s team is tackling mission-critical safety which are areas often overlooked. He points out that most robots today “aren’t ready” for the real world as they are “fragile, expensive, unscalable, or impractical.” Paradigm’s goal is to change that with hardware that’s not only intelligent but also rugged, scalable, and deployable under extreme heat, debris, or toxic exposure.
The company’s flagship product, FireBot, is built to endure environments where human presence is lethal. It can traverse burning structures, detect victims, identify toxic gases, and relay real-time data to firefighters outside, reducing exposure and risk.
The problem: Firefighting’s stagnant technology
Firefighting, despite its heroism, remains one of the most technologically underdeveloped public safety fields. The gear such as helmets, suits, breathing apparatus has evolved little in decades. As Siddharth observed in an interview, many departments still rely on ropes, manual searches, and thermal cameras that are expensive and unreliable in high-heat conditions.
Firefighters are required by regulation to conduct primary searches inside burning structures even when 60 percent of the time, no one is inside. They crawl through smoke-filled rooms, unable to see more than a few feet, relying on instincts and muscle memory. That process, while courageous, is dangerous and inefficient.
The consequences are grave in the form of rising injury and cancer rates, staffing shortages, and mounting fatalities. Siddharth summarized the reality in his post: “While wildfires, school shootings, hazardous events, fires, and explosions worsen, threatening our country, our nation’s first responders and industrial workers must do more with less, facing aging infrastructure, staffing shortages, and rising injury, fatality, and cancer rates.”
Image Credit_Paradigm Robotics
FireBot: A decade in the making
Starting as a local project to assist a single fire department has grown into a national effort. Siddharth and his co-founder have spent years refining their technology from testing prototypes in backyards to collaborating with tens of thousands of firefighters, police officers, soldiers, and industrial workers across the U.S.
“From knocking door to door at fire stations across Texas, to now working with tens of thousands of firefighters, police officers, soldiers, and industrial workers across the U.S., we’re building the next generation of scalable, rugged, unmanned ground vehicles,” Thakur wrote.
The company’s first generation platform, FireBot Gen 1, is designed for large-scale production and deployment. The new funding will help Paradigm Robotics finalize manufacturing, expand operations, and deliver its robots to customers. “We raised this round to design and scale production of our Gen 1 platform, open our new operations facility, hire key talent, and deliver robots to customers, delivering on a promise which is a decade in the making.”
What makes FireBot different
Unlike most robots that falter under pressure, FireBot’s strength lies in its thermal endurance. It can survive temperatures exceeding 650°C for up to 15 minutes, allowing it to enter active structural fires and map out conditions in real time.
Built from advanced alloys, it is small enough to navigate doorways and debris, yet powerful enough to climb stairs using its tracked base and flipper arms. FireBot’s array of sensors like thermal imaging, optical cameras, gas detectors, and hazard sensors transmit continuous data to a handheld control interface that firefighters can operate from a safe distance.
In Siddharth Thakur’s words, these robots provide “mission-critical situational awareness in hazardous environments, saving lives, injuries, billions of dollars, and increasing the chance that the brave return home safely.”
The long road to recognition
Siddharth Thakur’s journey to building Paradigm Robotics began long before venture capital came calling. As a teenager, he was driven more by curiosity than commercial ambition. He built his first prototypes using salvaged parts, with limited resources and no business plan.
By 17, he had already been recognized for innovation in robotics and engineering, having developed technologies addressing firefighting and environmental safety. He entered the University of Texas at Austin at 15, and it was there that his idea matured from a high school project into a viable startup.
In the early years, Thakur personally visited fire stations across Texas, demonstrating early versions of FireBot, collecting feedback, and refining designs. What started as a passion project has become a full-fledged venture shaping the future of public safety technology.
A mission backed by believers
The $3.95 million pre-seed round was led by Active Capital, with strategic participation from Boost VC, Leo Lion Limited, Unruly Capital, Higher Life Ventures, Earthling VC, and others.
Siddharth credits the success of the round to an extraordinary network of supporters. “We’re grateful to partner with an incredible group of investors,” he wrote, before adding his thanks to a wide roster of advisors and angels, including “Leena Palav, Jonathan Hurst, Jayesh Parekh, Meng Chee, Curtis Brown, Shoaib Makani, Robert Wuttke, Ryan Cunningham, and many others, including fire chiefs, deep-tech angels, and founders/operators.”
His gratitude extends beyond investors. “Thank you to the thousands of first responders who continue to believe in us,” he wrote as a reflection of the community-driven ethos that fuels Paradigm’s growth.
Leading from the front
At just 21, Siddharth represents a new generation of hardware founders who merge engineering depth with social purpose. While most people his age build software startups, Siddharth Thakur and his team are tackling real-world physics: heat, metal, smoke, and survival.
He acknowledges the steep challenges of building a hardware company, but his optimism remains unshaken. “I’m incredibly grateful to be on this journey with my co-founder Krishnan R. This milestone is a testament to the unwavering hard work and execution from the entire Paradigm Robotics team,” he wrote.
That sense of teamwork defines his leadership philosophy which is pragmatic, purpose-driven, and humble. Even as he celebrates progress, Siddharth remains grounded. “There’s much work ahead. I’m bullish on the team we’ve built, but this is just the start. Onwards and upwards!”
Scaling safety
The next phase for Paradigm Robotics is about scaling manufacturing, partnerships, and testing across the United States. With new funding secured, the company plans to open an expanded operations facility and begin delivering units of FireBot Gen 1 to early partners.
Siddharth Thakur envisions Paradigm as a cornerstone in a broader ecosystem of safety innovation. Beyond firefighting, the company’s technology could serve industrial, defense, and disaster response applications.
As he put it, the company’s purpose is not just to build robots, but to “help protect the brave in the most hazardous of environments.” From a teenage experiment sparked by tragedy to a multi-million-dollar deep-tech startup, Siddharth Thakur’s startup story embodies perseverance and purpose. If FireBot succeeds, the next time firefighters face a collapsing structure or a blazing inferno, they won’t be alone. A small, tireless robot will lead the way, one born from the conviction that those who risk their lives to protect others deserve the best protection technology can offer.
- Follow Siddhartha Thaku on LinkedIn
ALSO READ: Harshwardhan Zala: The inventor’s drone can destroy landmines without human risk
