Hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) is gaining momentum across a variety of industries. Many of the early adopters of HaaS are in robotics, offering robots-as-a-service (RaaS) to decrease barriers to entry and improve overall value to customers. Others offer machine-as-a-service (MaaS), device-as-a-service (DaaS), or equipment-as-a-service (EaaS).
Some companies pitch outcomes more than assets, offering data-as-a-service or platform-as-a-service models. From network-as-a-service to facades cleaning; managed service providers (MSPs) to managed security service providers (MSSPs); and autonomous construction equipment to diagnostic sensors and 3D printers, these companies are on the cutting-edge of their fields.
This post is part of a series about modern hardware companies, their business models, and the future of HaaS. For more, see posts from early and late May, early and late June, early and late July, and early August.
Semios deploys an in-orchard sensor network across permanent crops including almonds, walnuts, pistachios, apples, cherries, citrus, grapes, pears, and stone fruit. The proprietary in-canopy wireless network backhauls data from tree-level instruments without depending on cellular coverage at the trunk, and feeds the Semios cloud platform that powers pest, disease, frost, and irrigation models. The hardware family includes automated insect camera traps that photograph trapped insects and replace manual count routes, plus pheromone aerosol dispensers that release at variable rates by block based on pest pressure. In-canopy weather stations catch microclimate conditions the orchard's edge weather station misses, while soil moisture probes paired with dendrometers close the loop on irrigation. The data lands in the Semios platform, where growers and pest-control advisors see pest pressure maps, disease risk forecasts, frost alerts, and irrigation schedules in one place across every block under management; the February 2026 Semios Hub update brought irrigation monitoring, automation, and fertigation control into one interface.
Semios sells the orchard deployment as a hardware-as-a-service bundle: the hardware, the software platform, and a field-service team that installs the network, replaces failed nodes, and tunes the models against the grower's blocks across the season. The field service is positioned as central to the model rather than as a post-sale support layer; the company is explicit that growers wanted a partner to stand behind the technology, not a vendor that ships hardware and walks away. Pricing is quote-based per orchard rather than published, and growers can either work directly with Semios or buy through California retail partners (Nutrien Ag Solutions, Wilbur Ellis, Helena Agri-Enterprises, and others) who fold the package into their input procurement. The recurring relationship is the model: a grower paying for a season of pest, disease, frost, and irrigation coverage is buying the bundle, not the sensors.
"Growers in tree fruit and tree nut don't need another sensor company," says Amie Thesingh, Chief Executive Officer at Semios. "They need someone who'll put the network in the canopy, keep it running across a season, and translate the data into what to spray, when to irrigate, and where the frost risk sits tonight. That's what we built. The field service team is the product as much as the sensors are."
Bright Machines
Bright Machines builds modular microfactories that help manufacturers adapt production faster, improve quality, and scale automation through software. The company’s system combines Bright Robotic Cells—reconfigurable modules equipped with robotics, sensing, and vision—with Brightware, a cloud-based platform that programs, orchestrates, and monitors entire manufacturing lines. These modules support a wide range of tasks, including assembly, fastening, dispensing, labeling, testing, and inspection. Brightware manages everything from process definition and simulation to real-time analytics, enabling faster deployments, shorter changeovers, and higher consistency across diverse product lines.
The company operates a hybrid HaaS model that blends capital equipment with recurring software value. Customers purchase microfactory hardware as durable automation infrastructure and subscribe to Brightware for configuration tools, performance analytics, remote diagnostics, and continuous ML-driven improvements. Some customers also use financing or installment plans to break large CapEx investments into predictable payments. This hybrid structure pairs long-lived robotic assets with a continually improving software layer, making advanced automation more accessible and adaptable for both enterprise and mid-market manufacturers.
Otodata
Otodata makes a wireless tank-level monitor that bolts to a fuel, lubricant, propane, water, or chemical tank and reports remaining volume back to the cloud across cellular and satellite paths. The latest Otodata Monitor pairs with up to eight wireless sensors per unit and is built for outdoor industrial deployments across North America, Europe, and South America. Two software products sit on top of the device. The Otodata Online Portal is the back-office dashboard that fuel resellers use to organize inventory by priority, plan delivery routes against an interactive tank map, configure up to four alert types per monitor, and export historical usage to CSV. The Nee-Vo white-labeled mobile app sits in front of the reseller's end customer, lets that customer track tank levels in real time on iOS or Android, request a refill in one tap, and customize their own level alerts. The reseller brands Nee-Vo with their own logo; the device, portal, and consumer app ship as one stack.
Otodata's HaaS Program packages the monitor, the Online Portal, and the Nee-Vo app into a single recurring fee that starts at $2.85 USD per month per tank monitor, with volume discounts and no minimum order. The structure is explicit hardware-as-a-service: the customer leases the device rather than buying it, the bundled software and connectivity remain current for as long as the subscription runs, and the reseller's capital outlay collapses to a per-tank operating expense the business can scale up route by route. Customers who prefer outright ownership can still buy the monitor in the traditional model, but the HaaS path is built for fuel companies that want to deploy across thousands of tanks without writing a check up front.
CynLr
CynLr develops visual robotic systems that give industrial robots the ability to manipulate objects they have never encountered before. The company's flagship platform, CyRo, combines modular robotics with proprietary vision hardware—including the CLX-01 intelligent vision system—to perceive shape, depth, transparency, reflection, and material properties without complex training or custom fixtures. The system uses an “object store” architecture, allowing customers to load new manipulation tasks much like software recipes, dramatically reducing programming overhead and enabling flexible low-volume and variable production. CyRo is designed to replace rigid, single-purpose automation with systems that can adapt to new parts, new processes, and new workflows on demand.
The company’s business model blends upfront hardware sales with ongoing software licensing and solution support. Customers purchase the robot platform—robotics hardware, vision system, and supporting modules—via a traditional CapEx model. The software that powers CyRo’s perception and object-handling capabilities is licensed and updated over time, forming a recurring value layer that enables continuous system improvement. CynLr also provides engineering support, deployment services, and application development to help manufacturers integrate the platform into existing lines. This hybrid structure reflects the system’s design: durable robotic hardware paired with software that expands its capabilities across new tasks and environments.
FORT Robotics
FORT Robotics builds the wireless safety and control layer that robot OEMs and integrators embed into their machines, vehicles, and humanoids rather than building it themselves at every program. The flagship Wireless E-Stop and Wireless E-Stop Pro trigger an immediate functional-safety shutdown on a connected autonomous machine, and the Safe Remote Control Pro gives operators a wireless teleoperation handset with long-range Bluetooth for line-of-sight or stretched-perimeter work. The Vehicle Safety Controller sits onboard each machine to handle fail-safe stop logic and fault management; the Nano Safety Controller Pro fits the same stack into smaller-form-factor robots including humanoids; the Endpoint Controller bridges the FORT safety network into existing machine systems via standard industrial protocols. All of this runs through the FORT Manager cloud platform, where engineering teams onboard new devices, configure device-to-device safety relationships, manage organizational permissions, and push security updates across the deployed fleet from a single web and desktop interface.
FORT sells the safety hardware to robot OEMs and integrators as a capital purchase and runs the FORT Manager cloud platform on top as the recurring layer that keeps the deployed fleet configured, updated, and secured over the life of the machine. The model is hybrid recurring: device sales front the relationship, software subscription extends it. The commercial logic is horizontal: rather than picking one robot category and competing with the OEMs that buy its safety stack, FORT supplies the same wireless e-stops, controllers, and cloud platform to a warehouse-AMR builder, an autonomous tractor builder, a defense uncrewed-ground-vehicle program, and a humanoid startup. Large robot programs typically run through direct sales, with onboarding support and configuration consulting from FORT's customer-experience team.