In January 2026 a humanoid robot did something no machine had done before: it helped care for a person living with dementia, in their own home. Behind that milestone is a company co-founded and led in part by women, and a vision of physical AI aimed not at factories or warfare but at one of society’s hardest problems — how to let people grow old with dignity where they live.
Women in AI robotics, building for care
Devanthro, a Munich company, builds what it calls “Robodies” — humanoid robotic avatars that combine physical AI with human teleoperation. Alona Pammer serves as co-founder and CTO, and fellow co-founder Alona Kharchenko helped shape the company’s mission after moving from Ukraine to Germany to work on cutting-edge technology. Their focus on women in AI robotics is notable in a field still dominated by men and by industrial or defence applications; here the goal is compassionate, human-centred care.
How the technology works
Devanthro’s Robody Cares platform lets a caregiver remotely operate a humanoid avatar using an immersive VR headset — a blend of telepresence and telemanipulation. Rather than replacing human carers with fully autonomous machines, the design keeps a person in the loop: the robot extends a caregiver’s reach into a home they cannot physically be in, so one carer can support more people without losing the human touch. The January milestone, in which a Robody assisted someone with dementia at home, showed the approach working in the hardest real-world setting.
Why the framing matters
Who builds a technology shapes what it is for. An elder-care crisis — too few carers, ageing populations, people who want to stay in their own homes — is exactly the kind of problem that gets deprioritised when the people setting robotics agendas are far from it. Women leading a physical-AI company have put care at the centre, a pattern that echoes the broader value of women leading in AI governance and direction. It is applied AI with a clearly human purpose.
A wider signal
Physical AI — robots that act in the real world — is one of the fastest-moving frontiers of 2026, and Devanthro is a reminder that women are helping define it, not just the software layer. That belongs in the same story as the growing roster of women AI founders to watch: leaders choosing to point powerful technology at problems that matter for real people, and proving the market will follow.
