A boiler and a dorm room
As an engineering student at Grove City College in 2012, Loosararian visited a power plant losing millions of dollars a month to downtime, and heard about a worker who had died in a fall while searching a boiler for defects.1
He went back to his dorm room and built a robot that could climb walls carrying ultrasonic sensors and cameras. After weeks of adapting it on site, the prototype found the plant's recurring problem.1
Building Gecko
He co-founded Gecko with his college roommate Troy Demmer. A $125 million Series D in June 2025 valued it at $1.25 billion.1,2
In October 2026 the US Navy and GSA raised the ceiling on Gecko's maintenance contract to $300 million, quadrupling it six months after an initial $71 million award.3
The conversation around AI and robotics in defense is no longer about experimental technology. It's about delivering measurable and impactful returns.Jake Loosararian, Gecko Robotics announcement
