Humanoid robot startup Diligent taps Cruise executives as it looks beyond healthcare

Diligent Robotics has added two top executives from robotaxi firm Cruise as it prepares to scale beyond hospital logistics, the humanoid robot maker said on Thursday.

The hires signal a strategic shift to broader commerical applications for Diligent, whose Moxi robot handles non-patient-facing tasks such as delivering supplies, medications and lab samples in hospitals.

Rashed Haq, who was head of AI and robotics at Cruise, joins as chief technology officer, and Todd Brugger, previously operations chief at Cruise, joins as chief operations officer.


Haq brings expertise in deploying large-scale autonomous systems and will lead Diligent's AI roadmap, the company said. Brugger will oversee operations and commercial strategy, aiming to scale Diligent's robotic deployments across industries.

"Rashed and Todd's experience scaling autonomous vehicle technology is exactly what we need as we expand into broader commercial applications," said Andrea Thomaz, CEO of Diligent Robotics.

Moxi, the company's humanoid robot, has completed over one million deliveries in more than 30 U.S. hospitals, saving nearly 600,000 staff hours, the company said. Diligent is aiming to position itself at the forefront of embodied AI, with plans to deploy over 3,000 robots by 2030.