Diligent Robotics was founded by Dr. Andrea Thomaz and Dr. Vivian Chu, robotics researchers who set out to build socially-intelligent robots that can work alongside people in human environments. Its flagship product, Moxi, is an autonomous mobile manipulation robot designed specifically for hospitals, where it takes on the repetitive, time-consuming logistical tasks that pull clinical staff away from patients.
Moxi combines an autonomous mobile base with a robotic arm and a friendly, socially-aware design. It navigates busy hospital hallways, operates elevators, and uses its arm to pick up and deliver items such as medications, supplies, lab samples and patient belongings. Critically, Diligent emphasizes 'social intelligence', behaviors that let Moxi share space gracefully with nurses, doctors and patients, signaling intent and responding to people, which is essential for a robot operating in crowded, high-stakes clinical settings.
The rationale is acute: healthcare faces chronic staffing shortages and severe clinician burnout, and studies show nurses spend a large fraction of their time on non-clinical 'fetch and gather' tasks. By offloading those errands to Moxi, hospitals can return hours to care teams, letting clinicians practice at the top of their license and spend more time with patients. Moxi robots have been deployed across multiple US health systems and have completed large volumes of autonomous deliveries.
Diligent positions Moxi as a teammate rather than a replacement, integrating into existing hospital workflows and systems. The company raised a $25 million round led by Canaan, with return investors True Ventures, DNX Ventures and Next Coast Ventures and new strategic backer Northwestern Medicine Innovation, to fund systemwide expansion of Moxi across hospitals nationwide. With a proven product in live clinical use, Diligent is a leading example of service robotics addressing real operational pain in healthcare.