The UAE's expertise in the energy sector and embrace of technology is helping to make it a major player in robotics, Gecko Robotics founder Jake Loosararian has said.
Mr Loosararian said the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, with which Gecko has several partnerships, is making the most of robots and artificial intelligence to help drive GDP growth.
"They're a technology company that happens to make oil and gas," he said. He said Adnoc has used Gecko robots and other products to perform various tasks while also providing data to enhance workflow.
"That's where the UAE is leading in this application of robots to drive GDP growth," Mr Loosararian said.
He said that in his view, the UAE is among the top five countries in the world in terms of robotics, and that companies such as Adnoc have embraced technology and refined how it is used at an incredibly fast pace.
Gecko, a US-based company founded in 2013, combines advanced robotic technology with AI software to help organisations operate and maintain critical infrastructure.
The company also lists Mitsubishi, Siemens Energy, Marathon Petroleum, Georgia Pacific, the US Navy, US Air Force and HF Sinclair among its customers.
In 2025, Adnoc and Gecko Robotics signed three deals to use robotics and AI across the oil company's operations to boost efficiency, and to train Emiratis.
Several years earlier, Gecko established an international base in the UAE under the Ministry of Economy’s NextGen FDI programme.
It is a significant player for robotics in the oil, gas and power sector.
Robotics is attracting an enormous amount of attention. Videos online from the recent World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing showed robots sprinting, doing backflips and lifting weights.
But Mr Loosararian said his company believes the robotics sector will flourish through the less glamorous tasks robots can perform, such as energy infrastructure inspection and data recording.
"If you're really going to have a revolution in technology, particularly the robotics sector, you have to go from theatre to impact," he said. "I don't mind the appeal of robots that are doing backflips, but at the end of the day we're going to be the ones saving lives."
He said that Gecko Robotics is focused on how to scale up its robotic hardware and software, which works well with Adnoc's approach.
"That's where the UAE and Dr Sultan are different," he said, referring to Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and managing director and group chief executive of Adnoc.
"There aren't a lot of proof-of-value meetings; there's very much a 'let's scale it' type of thinking," Mr Loosararian said.
He also reflected on how the UAE government remained focused during attacks from Iran shortly after the US and Israel launched strikes at the end of February.
"We as a company stepped into our relationship with the UAE during those times," Mr Loosararian said.
He said the UAE government's leadership and dedication to safety during the Iranian attacks justified Gecko's decision to have a presence in the country.
"Show me who you are in tough times and I'll show you character."
