Independent research · Refreshed August 17, 2026 · vivekally.github.io

Two industries, one research shelf.

Five reports, in two categories. AI covers the software stack, the labs setting its direction, and the frontier bets nobody has solved yet. Robotics covers physical AI, where every deployment claim is graded against a stated evidence bar and mapped onto the supply chain underneath it. Same method throughout: volatility-tiered fact-checks, conflicts logged rather than smoothed, and every figure sourced.

Category 01

AI

3 reports · the stack, the labs, the frontier

Software AI, from the silicon underneath it to the people deciding where it goes next. Where the value sits, what the builders believe, and who is attacking the problems nobody has solved.

TRACKER · UPDATED AUG 7 2026 AI 03 · THE FRONTIER

Who is working on the problems nobody has solved

38 frontier bets sorted by unsolved problem — Skyfall, Mirendil, Oak Lab, Ineffable, Discovery Loop, Ndea. Plus a sortable ledger of 2026's funding, what came out of YC, and the method for tracking it yourself.

38
Frontier bets
192
Rounds logged
$394B
Tracked
199
YC W26
Open the tracker →
Q1
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
GLOBAL VC BY MONTH, 2026 · Q1 $300B
MAY $92B — SECOND-LARGEST MONTH ON RECORD
TWO COMPANIES TOOK 43% OF H1
Category 02

Robotics

2 reports · physical AI, evidence-graded

Physical AI, where a claim has to survive contact with hardware. What has actually shipped and what has only raised, and the fourteen-layer supply chain neither side can escape.

AUG 7 2026 · TIER-1 SOURCED ROBOTICS 01 · PHYSICAL AI

Two robot industries,
and a wall going up between them

One robot industry earns billions and is almost entirely teleoperated. The other has raised more capital in eight months than the first earns in a year, and mostly cannot say how many units it has in the field. Every deployment claim graded against a stated evidence bar — plus the fortnight the US closed its market to Chinese robots and Unitree went public.

20
Graded
11
Stack layers
6
Fault lines
8
Conflicts logged
Open the briefing →
AUG 7 2026 · 181 COMPANIES ROBOTICS 02 · THE STACK

The Robotics Stack
Definitive Landscape Report

14 layers from rare-earth magnets to robot-delivered services, mapping the entire industry — humanoids, autonomous vehicles, drones and defence, surgical, agricultural, warehouse and industrial. Competitive tables, a searchable company index, a force-directed knowledge graph, and strategic build opportunities by funding tier.

14
Layers
181
Companies
422
Relationships
84
Sub-layers
Open the stack map →
Category 03

Products

2 products · shipped, not written up

The other half of the shelf: things built rather than researched. Working software and the thesis behind it, each with its own source.

OPEN SOURCE · GITHUB PRODUCT 01 · PERSONAL FINANCE

AI Personal
Finance Advisor

An AI advisor for personal finances — the registered-account rules, the contribution room, and the sequencing decisions, handled conversationally instead of in a spreadsheet.

LIVE · PLUS MARKET THESIS PRODUCT 02 · BRAINALLY

BrainAlly
the company brain

The landing page for the product, and the market thesis underneath it — who the buyers are, where the wedge sits, and why consent is the thing worth owning.

Where to start

AI

Read the stack first if…

you're deciding where to build or invest. It ranks every layer's players, sizes the markets, and flags the gaps worth funding, from bootstrappable to deep-pocketed.

Read the labs first if…

you're deciding what to believe. It maps the strategic bets of the 22 labs that set the direction the entire stack has to follow.

Read the tracker first if…

you're deciding what to watch. It sorts the newest labs by the problem they claim to be solving, follows the money month by month, and lists the dated events that would prove any of it.

Where to start

Robotics

Read the robotics stack first if…

you need the map. 14 layers and 181 companies from rare earths to robotaxi services, with a searchable index and a knowledge graph — the reference document for who sits where in physical AI.

Read the robotics briefing first if…

you want to know what is actually running. It grades every physical-AI deployment claim against a stated evidence bar, separates the robot industry that earns from the one that raises, and maps the supply chain neither can escape.

THREE CATEGORIES · FIVE REPORTS · TWO PRODUCTS · ONE METHOD: VOLATILITY-TIERED FACT-CHECK DISCIPLINE · CONFLICTS LOGGED, NOT SMOOTHED · SOURCE-CITED · SINGLE-FILE HTML, NO TRACKING