Intercognitive Foundation

About Intercognitive

We make the physical world accessible to AI.

The robots are here, they’re just not civilization-scale. Yet.

That's our mission and mandate.

For this to happen: maps, identity, positioning, sensors, compute, connectivity, and standards need to become shared infrastructure. Intercognitive brings together the people and companies building those layers, helps them work together, and gets the essential coordination problems out of the way.

The people

Rich Robinson

Rich Robinson

Founding Chair

Three decades wrangling startups through the back alleys of Boston, Beijing, Bali, and the internet. Keeps us pointed at builders, working systems, running code, and things people actually need.

Will listen attentively to a lamppost explain robotics if it maintains steady eye contact.

Nils Pihl

Nils Pihl

Board Chair · Founder & CEO, Auki Labs

Building shared spatial infrastructure so machines can agree on where things are and where they are.

Will explain how Warhammer predicted the AI-era until your coffee goes cold.

Temperance Shen

Temperance Shen

Head of International Operations

Turns vague ambitions into actual rooms, actual meetings, and actual things happening. The person translating “we should probably do this” into reality. Day after day.

Somehow still answering messages at midnight, regardless of whether the clock is set to Beijing or New York.

Hugo van der Merwe

Hugo van der Merwe

Head of Ecosystem

Ecosystem, partners, pipelines, pages, and the connective tissue between them.

Terminally online. This has, regrettably, become professionally useful.