Sydney’s Contactile Wins Propel-AIR 2026 Innovation Contest And A Boston Residency

Sydney tactile sensing company, Contactile, has been named winner of Propel-AIR 2026, the AI and robotics sprint program run by Brisbane’s ARM Hub in partnership with Boston organisation, MassRobotics.

The prize is a residency at MassRobotics, the Boston innovation hub whose resident startups have collectively raised more than US$2 billion in venture funding since 2017.

The result caps a four-week sprint that took seven Australian companies through structured mentoring, investor sessions and a final pitch night.

Contactile develops bio-inspired tactile sensors and grippers that allow robots to measure force, slip and friction, so they can handle delicate or variable objects without damaging them.

The company was founded out of UNSW Sydney in 2019 and works in an area of industrial AI where dependable physical manipulation is the gap between a lab demonstration and a deployed system.

Brisbane and Boston sign an MoU

Alongside the winner announcement, ARM Hub and MassRobotics have signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalising closer collaboration between the two cities.

The agreement sets out a pathway to co-develop industrial AI and robotics capabilities, support the exchange of technology and expertise and move Australian companies into global markets.

Contactile’s residency will be the first initiative delivered under the MoU.

“We are excited to deepen our relationship with ARM Hub,” MassRobotics Director of Growth, Marita McGinn, told the pitch night audience.

“Our MoU opens a direct pathway for Australian companies into the Boston robotics ecosystem and a route to commercialisation in the United States.”

McGinn pointed to the company’s customer focus as a reason it took the prize.

“Contactile stood out for their commitment to building what their customers need and for their dedication to their technology,” she added. “Touch is what makes robots reliable in the real world, and it matters across a vast array of applications.”

Touch as a bottleneck for Physical AI

ARM Hub CEO, Prof Cori Stewart, framed the win around a problem the robotics sector is hitting as humanoid and general-purpose machines move out of research settings.

“The robotics world is racing to build humanoids and general-purpose machines, but a robot is only as capable as its sense of touch, and that is exactly what Australian robotics company Contactile has spent years perfecting,” Stewart remarked.

“Their technology answers a problem the whole industry is running into at once.”

Stewart said the Boston placement would put the team in front of buyers as well as peers.

“In Boston they will connect with the humanoid and Physical AI companies building the next generation of machines, and open doors to US customers and investors,” she continued. “It is the right technology at the right time, and Boston is the right place to prove it.”

Residency scheduled for October

Contactile CEO and Co-Founder, Dr Heba Khamis, thanked the Propel-AIR team for assembling the program and described the residency as a chance to widen the company’s network.

“This residency is an opportunity to connect with the Boston robotics ecosystem more broadly and build relationships with companies developing solutions in the Physical AI space,” Khamis commented.

She argued the commercial timing for tactile intelligence is favourable, “as Physical AI moves from demonstration to deployment, robots need a reliable sense of touch”.

Contactile will begin residency planning across August and September, with the Boston placement scheduled for October 2026.

Further details on joint initiatives under the MoU are expected to be announced in the coming months.

SpatioTemporal takes runner-up

SpatioTemporal, the Australian company building an intent-aware motion intelligence layer for Physical AI, was named runner-up in the cohort.

ARM Hub congratulated founder, Andrew Ballard, and the SpatioTemporal team on their performance across the sprint.

Program backing

Propel-AIR is designed to take Australian robotics and AI companies from local prospects to internationally investable businesses, with the MassRobotics partnership providing the route into the Boston ecosystem.

The program is delivered by ARM Hub’s AI Adopt Centre and culminates in a virtual pitch to an international panel of experts, with the winner receiving a month’s residency in Boston.

It was supported by partners including Nvidia, MassRobotics and the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources through the National AI Centre, which funds the AI Adopt Program.

The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub is an independent, not-for-profit company based in Brisbane, working on AI, robotics and design-led manufacturing across Australian industry. More at armhub.com.au.

Last Updated on August 6, 2026 by Nick Ross