What we talked about
Hiten Sonpal is the CEO of RISE Robotics, an MIT-founded company targeting the $60 billion hydraulic actuator market with the Beltdraulic, a fluid-free actuator that is three times faster and up to 90 percent more energy efficient than traditional hydraulics.
Show notes
Hiten Sonpal spent 16 years at iRobot growing from engineer to director before arriving at RISE Robotics, where his team is replacing a century-old technology with something inspired by how human muscles actually work. The company’s BeltDraulic actuator eliminates hydraulic oil entirely, drawing on belts originally developed for high-rise elevators to pull pistons rather than push fluid, and the physics advantage turns out to be enormous.
What we covered
- RISE Robotics invented the BeltDraulic by replacing hydraulic oil with polyurethane-and-steel-rope belts originally designed for elevators, where they were so reliable they lasted the lifetime of a building. The founding team, mostly MIT graduates, started by trying to build an Iron Man-style exosuit and turned to this belt technology after realizing muscles work by pulling in tension, not pushing with pressure.
- The actuator is three times faster and 75% efficient from electricity-in to linear-motion-out, compared to roughly 30% for typical hydraulic systems. Because the only place force is applied is the piston and the belt anchor points, there are no pressure spikes across hoses and seals that cause leaks and heat buildup in conventional systems.
- Autonomy compatibility is built in from the start. BeltDraulic actuators are digitally controlled and provide position, force, orientation, and health feedback to a vehicle control unit, making it straightforward to build a deterministic digital twin, the same drive-by-wire foundation that makes systems like Waymo possible.
- One unexpected use case: in an unloading cycle for a container ship, as long as the cargo weighs more than the empty fork, the system can recover enough energy lowering loads to lift the empty end effector back up, allowing the machine to run continuously without charging. Hiten described this as a “perpetual unloading cycle.”
- RISE targets industries with 24/7 pain points rather than slow-adopters. Oil and gas runs continuously, so efficiency and reliability gains multiply faster than in construction, making customers more willing to pay a premium. Marine and maritime are a second focus because hydraulic oil contamination at sea is a significant liability, fishing boats cannot afford a leak destroying a day’s catch.
- On leadership, Hiten described a moment he stepped out for a phone call and returned to find his team had independently reorganized the company, canceled first-generation projects, and restructured around a cylinders team serving internal and external customers. He quoted a leadership principle that stuck with him: a great leader isn’t moving people like pieces on their own chessboard, the team is moving the leader like a piece on theirs.
About Hiten
Hiten Sonpal is CEO of RISE Robotics, an MIT-founded company working to replace hydraulic actuators with its fluid-free BeltDraulic technology. He spent 16 years at iRobot growing from engineer to director, overseeing hundreds of people and millions of units shipped, before founding, leading, and advising robotic companies across autonomous, outdoor, and industrial sectors.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiten-sonpal
- Website: https://www.riserobotics.com
Episode 143 of the PreVetted Podcast.