The next big problem in robotics may have nothing to do with whether a machine can clean, deliver or move something. It may be whether robots from different manufacturers can actually work together. MBody AI Ltd. (MBAI) CEO John Fowler says enterprises won't want a separate system for every machine, and that creates an opening for the software layer connecting them.

Robots Are Building Their Own Silos

Robotics has a compatibility problem.

As companies add autonomous machines for different jobs, they can also inherit separate control systems, software and workflows. Fowler sees that becoming increasingly difficult for large enterprises to manage.

"Enterprise operators do not want four different apps to manage four different machines from four different manufacturers," he told MarketDash in an exclusive email interview.

His comparison is unusually relatable for a robotics executive: "Imagine if Dell computer users couldn't work directly with HP users."

That is the problem MBody AI is trying to solve with its MBody AI Orchestrator. Rather than locking an enterprise into one robot manufacturer, the platform is designed to provide a centralized way to manage machines from different vendors.

The company says its Orchestrator is hardware-agnostic, meaning customers can use the software across different robotic systems rather than building their operations around a single supplier.

The Software Layer Is Getting More Important

This changes the robotics investment story. The obvious race is to build a better robot. But if enterprises eventually operate fleets containing different machines for different tasks, the more difficult challenge may be coordinating those machines efficiently.

MBody AI's July announcement added multi-robot fleet control to the Orchestrator, allowing the platform to monitor and direct mixed-brand fleets that previously required separate vendor systems.

Fowler describes the broader shift as moving toward "unified fleet intelligence," with Robotics-as-a-Service potentially giving enterprises a single software interface for managing diverse machines.

The distinction matters. A robot performs a task. An orchestration platform can potentially manage how an entire fleet performs those tasks.

That is also why Fowler doesn't see hardware or raw AI models as the ultimate bottleneck. "The ultimate bottleneck isn't hardware or raw AI models," he said, pointing instead to software orchestration and enterprise integration.

MBody AI Wants the Robot Market to Look Less Fragmented

There is already evidence that MBody AI is building around that thesis. The company says its Orchestrator has managed fleets across approximately 600 million square feet of hospitality environments, while its September filing describes the platform as an intelligence layer for autonomous systems operating in real-world environments.

The company also says it does not manufacture the robots itself. Instead, it combines third-party robotic equipment with its Orchestrator software, maintenance and support under enterprise arrangements.

For investors, that makes the key question less about which robot manufacturer wins and more about whether enterprises eventually need a common software layer across the winners. If robotic fleets become increasingly diverse, MBody AI's bet is that the company connecting those machines could become as important as the companies building them.