Jack Morrison and Davis Foster, co-founders of Scythe Robotics, launched Agency Tool Co. on July 28, 2026, about a year after leaving Scythe, where Morrison spent eight years. The first product, ATC Deploy, ships over-the-air software to fielded robots.
It works with existing OS images, Docker OCI images and any file or directory tree, requiring no architecture change. That constraint is deliberate: teams with robots already in the field cannot re-platform to adopt an update tool.
Built for links that barely work
The design target is connectivity that would be considered broken anywhere else — robots on "straw-like LTE or 3G," undersea robots communicating over sonar, and satellites with links "measured in bits, not megabits." Morrison adds a constraint software engineers rarely face: "Robots also turn off at random times that you can't control."
He describes the status quo bluntly: teams manage "a whole host of scripts to copy the software onto the machine… and that's just with one robot sitting in front of you. You scale that out to tens, hundreds, or thousands of machines, and it becomes a problem."
Launch partners span three maturity stages: Burro in agriculture, with more than 750 robots in the field; Gather AI, running warehouse inventory drones; and Tempo, at early field stage with grinding machines. A second product, ATC Build, offers cloud-hosted access to embedded compute boards for continuous integration, letting teams build and test with a one-line change. Full ATC Deploy rollout is due within a few months.
Key Facts
- Agency Tool Co. launched July 28, 2026 by Scythe Robotics co-founders Jack Morrison and Davis Foster
- ATC Deploy ships OTA software using existing OS images, Docker OCI images or any file tree — no architecture change required
- Designed for LTE/3G, sonar-linked undersea robots and satellite links measured in bits, plus machines that power off unpredictably
- Launch partners: Burro (agriculture, 750+ robots fielded), Gather AI (warehouse inventory drones), Tempo (grinding machines, early field stage)
- Second product ATC Build gives cloud-hosted access to embedded compute boards for CI
Why it matters
Fleet robotics has a maintenance problem that scales worse than its capability problem. A model improvement is worthless if it cannot reach the machines, and every robotics company currently solves this with in-house scripts that break at a few hundred units.
The wider pattern is worth noting. Physical AI is starting to grow the same supporting tier that software did — deployment, CI, observability, security testing. Companies selling into robotics rather than building robots are a sign the category is maturing past the demonstration stage.
Frequently Asked
What does it do?
Ships over-the-air software updates to robots already in the field, without requiring an architecture change.
Why is that hard?
Fleet robots run on 3G, sonar or satellite links and shut down unpredictably — assumptions no normal deployment tool makes.
Who is using it?
Burro (750+ agricultural robots), Gather AI (warehouse drones) and Tempo (grinding machines).