Our Story

Cacti was formed to turn years of real-world robotics research into a deployable product.

The founding team worked together for over four years in an applied robotics lab at The University of Texas at Austin, where they built and deployed a wearable-first command and control system across eight multi-vendor robots and a mixed-reality headset. The platform has been demonstrated live for multiple U.S. Army organizations and defense partners.

Following successful field deployments, the team spun the technology out of the lab and incorporated Cacti to bring the system to market. Today, all founders are working full-time to scale the platform and expand its capabilities across industries.

Meet The team

  • Frank Regal

    CO-FOUNDER & CEO

    Frank is a fifth-year doctoral candidate at The University of Texas at Austin and is currently completing his dissertation in preparation for graduation. His doctoral research, titled “Human-Robot Interactions via Deictic Commands in Unknown Environments Using Augmented Reality Displays,” focuses on advancing the field of HRI to enable natural and intuitive communication strategies for abstract information from everyday users to robotic systems operating in complex, real-world environments.

  • Arjun Nair

    CO-FOUNDER & COO

    Arjun earned his B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. In the summer of 2025, Arjun joined the Nuclear and Applied Robotics Group (NRG), where he now serves as a Staff Research Engineer. His current work focuses on advancing human–robot interaction through augmented reality by developing scalable, intuitive control systems for multi-agent robotic platforms.

  • Rohan Polavaram

    CO-FOUNDER & CTO

    Rohan earned his B.S in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. In Summer 2024, Rohan joined the Nuclear and Applied Robotics Group (NRG), where he is now a Robotics Research Engineer. His current work combines mixed-reality interaction with human–robot teaming to deliver reliable robotic performance in complex, human-occupied environments.

  • Ayan Chaudhry

    CO-FOUNDER & TECHNICAL ADVISOR

    Ayan earned his B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Ayan joined the Nuclear and Applied Robotics Group (NRG) where he serves as a Research Engineering Scientist Associate. His current work involves developing solutions that advance human-robot interaction frameworks that enhance collaborative autonomy in complex environments.

  • DR. MITCH PRYOR

    CO-FOUNDER & SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR

    Mitch brings more than 27 years of engineering experience focused on robotics in hazardous environments, including nuclear facilities, oil and gas, and defense applications. He has taught university courses in robotic programming, mechanical design, and control systems, and currently serves as Principal Investigator of the Nuclear and Applied Robotics Group (NRG) at UT Austin. Under his leadership, NRG receives over $2M in annual funding and has successfully delivered numerous projects for the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Energy, and a wide range of industry partners. Dr. Pryor is also a co-founder and previous advisor of Pike Robotics, a company spun out of NRG.

  • JONATHAN SALFITY

    ROBOTICS & AI ADVISOR

    Jonathan is a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate at UT Austin working on skill learning and control strategies for modular robotic systems. His academic background includes an M.S. and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA, with a focus in systems, control, and robotics. He brings six years of professional experience as a roboticist developing mobile and manipulator robots, and is a co-founder and advisor to geCKo Materials, a startup commercializing bio-inspired adhesive technologies. His interests span robotics, control theory, reinforcement learning, and game-theoretic methods.