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Mike LeBlanc

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Mike LeBlanc
Born (1986-03-10) March 10, 1986 (age 40)
Lyndhurst, Ohio, U.S.
CitizenshipUnited States
Education
Occupations
  • Business executive
  • author
Years active2000s–present
Known forCo-founding Cobalt Robotics and Foundation
SpouseChiryze LeBlanc
Children3
Military service
Branch
 United States Marine Corps
Service years
13
Rank
 Major (O-4)
Unit1st Reconnaissance Battalion
Conflicts
War in Afghanistan
Awards
Websiteofficialmikeleblanc.com

Mike LeBlanc is an American business executive and former United States Marine Corps officer. He co-founded Cobalt Robotics, which developed security robots for commercial buildings, and Foundation, which develops humanoid robots for industrial and defense use.[1][2][3]

LeBlanc served 13 years as a Marine Corps officer in infantry and intelligence roles, deploying three times to the Middle East, and later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.[4][5] He joined Cobalt Robotics in 2019 and sold it in 2024, then co-founded Foundation with Sankaet Pathak and Arjun Sethi.[3][6]

LeBlanc is an advocate for deploying humanoid robots in combat, a position that has drawn criticism from legal scholars, arms-control advocates, and military analysts.[1][6][7] He has created veteran hiring initiatives at Cobalt Robotics.[8][9] His first book, What If Anger Is the Answer?, is scheduled for publication in November 2026.[4]

Early life and education

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LeBlanc was born and raised in Lyndhurst, Ohio; his father was a house painter and his mother a schoolteacher.[10] He graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis in 2009. He has said that reading Thucydides as an undergraduate led him toward military service.[10][11]

Following his military service, LeBlanc earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2019, supported by the Timothy T. Day Marine Corps Entrepreneur Fellowship.[8][11]

Military service

[edit]

LeBlanc was a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps for 13 years, serving in infantry and intelligence roles and attaining the rank of major.[4][5][10] He deployed three times to the Middle East, including combat tours in Afghanistan.[2][1]

He spent twelve months as an adviser to the Afghan National Army in southern Helmand Province, taking part in more than 300 combat patrols, for which he received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. He later joined the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and deployed to the Arabian Peninsula with Joint Special Operations Task Force – Arabian Peninsula, receiving the Joint Service Achievement Medal for work relating to operations against the Islamic State.[11] While in the Marine Corps Reserve, he did work for the Pentagon assessing technologies for military application.[4][12]

Career

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LeBlanc following his commissioning as an officer in the United States Marine Corps

Cobalt Robotics

[edit]

LeBlanc joined Cobalt Robotics in 2019 as president, co-founder, and chief operating officer.[3][13][11] The company developed security robots that patrolled offices and commercial buildings alongside human security staff.[8][13] His work there was the subject of a Harvard Business School case study in 2019.[14] In 2024 he sold the company to entrepreneur Dean Drako for an undisclosed amount.[3]

Foundation

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In April 2024, LeBlanc co-founded Foundation, a robotics company developing humanoid robots for defense applications, with chief executive Sankaet Pathak and Tribe Capital co-founder Arjun Sethi.[6][15] The company's Phantom robot was designed primarily for defense use, and LeBlanc has supported the development of combat applications for it.[2][6]

LeBlanc during his deployment to Afghanistan

In June 2024, CNBC reported that Foundation's fundraising materials had overstated the company's relationship with General Motors; GM denied having any formal agreements with the company, and LeBlanc confirmed GM's account.[16]

By early 2026, Foundation had received $24 million in research contracts from the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force and had been awarded SBIR Phase 3 status.[1][15] In February 2026, two Phantom robots were deployed to Ukraine for reconnaissance and logistics tasks, with LeBlanc accompanying the deployment; reporting in May 2026 described the robot as useful for carrying supplies but limited by payload, battery life, and weatherproofing.[6][15]

Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump, invested in Foundation and later became its chief strategy adviser.[1][15] The appointment drew criticism from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who characterized the company's federal contracts as "corruption in plain sight"; a Foundation spokesperson said Eric Trump had been an investor before becoming an adviser.[15]

Views on automated warfare

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LeBlanc has argued that deploying robots in combat is an ethical obligation, telling Time in 2026 that there is a "moral imperative to put these robots into war instead of soldiers."[1] He has said the humanoid form is strategically valuable because it allows robots to use weapons and vehicles already designed for people, and that his aim is for Phantom to operate any weapon a human can use.[1] He has also said that Foundation is alone among American companies in developing humanoid robots for front-line rather than support roles.[10][7]

Foundation's Phantom MK-1 humanoid robot

LeBlanc has said that United States military officials involved in discussions with Foundation insisted service members would authorize every use of lethal force, comparable to the approval process for a drone strike.[6] Foundation's contracts as of early 2026 did not authorize arming the robots, and the units sent to Ukraine were unarmed.[6] Reporting in 2025 described him discussing possible domestic applications, including border patrol.[3]

LeBlanc has publicly disagreed with the 2022 open letter in which six robotics companies, led by Boston Dynamics, pledged not to weaponize their general-purpose robots, saying that competitors' unwillingness to pursue military work had left Foundation an unobstructed path to market and that "there's no moral debate going on in China" over the use of robots in combat.[6][3]

Criticisms

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His position has drawn criticism on accountability and humanitarian grounds. Bonnie Docherty of the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School has argued that autonomous weapons raise unresolved concerns under international law, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has characterized such weapons as politically unacceptable and morally repugnant.[1] Nicole van Rooijen of the Stop Killer Robots coalition told the BBC that lethal autonomous weapons lower the threshold for war and obscure accountability, and described the humanoid form as particularly concerning.[7] Other researchers have questioned the technology's near-term feasibility rather than its ethics, arguing that existing humanoid systems cannot cope with the uncertainty of combat environments.[7]

Writing

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LeBlanc's first book, What If Anger Is the Answer? A Harvard Marine's Guide to Shaping Aggression, is scheduled for publication on November 3, 2026.[4] It combines a memoir of his Marine Corps service with philosophy.[10][4]

Veteran advocacy

[edit]

LeBlanc has said that difficulties he experienced while transitioning out of the Marine Corps influenced his approach to hiring veterans.[17] At Cobalt Robotics he oversaw hiring initiatives under which more than 30 percent of the workforce were former military members, with recruitment focused in part on personnel from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.[8][9][3] The company participated in the United States Department of Defense's SkillBridge program.[9][11] As of 2026 he serves on the board of the Timothy T. Day Foundation, a nonprofit supporting Marine Corps veterans.[18]

Personal life

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LeBlanc lives in Newport Beach, California, with his wife, Chiryze, and their three children.[4][11]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Campbell, Charlie (March 10, 2026). "Rise of the AI Soldiers". Time. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Miller, Joshua Rhett (November 19, 2025). "Could This Humanoid Robot Become the Army's Ultimate Warrior?". Newsweek. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "An SF startup is pitching Trump on militarizing humanoid robots". The San Francisco Standard. August 13, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "What If Anger Is the Answer? A Harvard Marine's Guide to Shaping Aggression". Matt Holt Books / Simon & Schuster. November 3, 2026. ISBN 9781637749227. Retrieved July 28, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  5. 1 2 Oitzman, Mike (December 8, 2025). "From combat to the Space Foundation, Mike LeBlanc enters humanoid robotics". The Robot Report. WTWH Media LLC. Archived from the original on June 3, 2026. Retrieved July 7, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shaban, Bigad (February 24, 2026). "San Francisco startup pitches Trump admin on arming robots for U.S. military". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Corbyn, Zoe (June 9, 2026). "Could humanoid robots be heading for the battlefield?". BBC News. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Costelloe, Kevin (April 13, 2023). "No Sleeping, No Days Off: Cobalt Robotics Aims to Replace Humans at Front Desks". Orange County Business Journal. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 Cota-Robles, Marc (August 2, 2023). "Marine veteran turned business owner hires fellow vets to help with groundbreaking OC tech company". ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Fawcett, Kirstin (February 11, 2026). "Program Polymath: Catching Up With Tech Founder, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, and Debut Author Mike LeBlanc (A09)". St. John's College. Retrieved March 20, 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Entrepreneur Fellowship Recipients – Major Michael J. LeBlanc". Timothy T. Day Foundation. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  12. ↑ LeBlanc, Mike (interviewee); Ritland, Mike (host). Mike LeBlanc (Podcast). Mike Drop. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  13. 1 2 "These 5-foot-1 security robots made by Cobalt are patrolling workplace hallways. Here's how companies are using them to protect offices and employees". Business Insider. October 6, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2026.
  14. ↑ Fubini, David (June 2019). "Mike LeBlanc at Cobalt Robotics". Harvard Business School. Case 419-086. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 "Trump-linked robotics startup tests humanoids in Ukraine, targets U.S. military use". CNBC. May 30, 2026. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  16. ↑ Son, Hugh; Wayland, Michael (June 12, 2024). "Robotics startup cofounded by Synapse CEO is raising funds with exaggerated claims about GM ties". CNBC. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  17. ↑ Cramer, Jude (November 11, 2022). "4 reasons veterans make excellent startup hires (and prove hard skills aren't everything)". Fast Company. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  18. ↑ "Timothy T. Day Foundation Board of Directors". Timothy T. Day Foundation. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
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