# REV-1

Manufacturer: [Refraction AI](/companies/refraction-ai)  
Category: sidewalk

## Media

- **Video (primary-source)**: [Refraction AI REV-1 delivery robot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47WNq9u4QsY). Refraction AI's introduction of its REV-1, a three-wheeled delivery robot. The REV-1 is a bike-lane and road-class vehicle, larger than a sidewalk robot, operated in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Historical: Refraction AI wound down its operations. Supervised autonomy with remote oversight. _(via Refraction AI)_

_Each clip and image on this page carries a provenance label. [About our media provenance](/consumer#media-provenance)._

## Summary

Refraction AI's REV-1 (Refraction AI, founded 2017 in Ann Arbor by University of Michigan professors) is a distinctive three-wheeled delivery vehicle sized between a sidewalk bot and a car: up to 15 mph with about a 280-pound payload, designed for winter and bicycle-courier-style operation, running primarily in the bike lane or road margin while able to use sidewalks where permitted, a regulatory regime between a sidewalk personal delivery device and a road autonomous vehicle. There is no consumer price: it runs a robots-as-a-service model where customers subscribe to dedicated, brand-customizable robots. Several verified-vs-claimed points matter. A reported wind-down or acquisition is refuted: Refraction is verified still operating through 2024 to 2026 (new CEO Luke Schneider, an Austin office, Chick-fil-A as a marquee client, an active 2026 profile); the 'Osage Venture Partners exited' label is a venture-portfolio markdown, not a confirmed acquisition or shutdown, so it is not tagged discontinued. It is recorded at pilot maturity: a roughly 21-person company with a named client and multi-city presence but no independently verified scale figures. Any lifetime delivery count, fleet size, revenue, or live-market count is unverified, and the claim that the REV-1 was discontinued in favor of a 'REF-1' is a likely misread of source language describing a second generation of the same design.

## Top line

> REV-1 is internal use only (not for retail), no capability claims are on file, the model has no verified field deployments in the registry, and no incidents are on record.

## Readiness

- **Availability** (internal-only): Internal use only (not for retail).
- **Price honesty** (no-price): No price points on file for REV-1.
- **Capability honesty** (no-claims): No reviewed capability claims on file for REV-1.
- **Real-world use** (pilot): Maturity: pilot. No verified deployments in the registry.
- **Safety record** (no-incidents): No incidents on record. No verified deployments either.

## What it claims to do

_No reviewed capability claims on file._

## Price

_No reviewed price points on file._

## Real-world use

_No verified deployments on file for REV-1._

## Safety record

_No incidents on record. No verified deployments either, so the absence is uninformative._

## Privacy

_No privacy practices disclosed or on file for REV-1._

## Specs

- **notes**: [{"label":"Verified","value":"Refraction AI (founded 2017, Ann Arbor; U-Michigan professor founders) makes the REV-1, a larger sidewalk/bike-lane delivery vehicle. CEO Luke Schneider (since ~2023); ~21 employees; Austin TX product-development office; Chick-fil-A marquee client. RaaS model (customers subscribe to dedicated, brand-customizable robots)."},{"label":"CORRECTION (shutdown REFUTED)","value":"The dispatch flagged a possible wind-down/acquisition. VERIFIED still operating (2024-2026): the Osage Venture Partners 'Exited' label is a VC-portfolio markdown, NOT a confirmed acquisition or shutdown (no acquirer/date/terms). Counter-evidence: new CEO, Austin office, Chick-fil-A, active 2026 profile. Do NOT tag discontinued. maturity=PILOT (lean)."},{"label":"Form-factor / regime note","value":"REV-1 operates PRIMARILY in the bike-lane / road-margin (can use sidewalks where permitted), a distinct regulatory regime between a sidewalk PDD and a road AV. Recorded under form_factor=sidewalk (the low-speed-PDD bucket) with this bike-lane regime noted, rather than creating a single-instance form_factor."},{"label":"Claimed but NOT verified (cap-flag)","value":"Any lifetime delivery count, current fleet size, revenue, or live-market count (none independently verified - a ~21-person company). The search-summary claim that REV-1 is 'discontinued in favor of REF-1' is a likely misread (the source says 'generation 2 of the initial design' = evolution, not discontinuation). The precise nature of the Osage 'exit' is unconfirmed."},{"label":"Source/methodology (Phase 1A, 2026-06-04)","value":"CAP-FLAG: Refraction AI's official site (refraction.ai) is DEFUNCT - all paths return HTTP 404, consistent with the company's exited status (Jan 2026). No live maker-official or operator-official source exists; the primary substrate is an archived Wayback snapshot of the official homepage. The REV-1 record's verified claims rest on secondary press + this archived official artifact."}]
- **specs**: REV-1: three-wheeled delivery vehicle sized between a sidewalk bot and a car; up to 15 mph, ~80 lb vehicle weight, ~280 lb / 127 kg payload (~16 cu ft, ~4-5 grocery bags), 5-ft stopping distance; designed for winter/snow + bicycle-courier-style operation. Founded 2017, Ann Arbor MI (U-Michigan professors Matthew Johnson-Roberson + Ram Vasudevan); $4.2M seed (2021); CEO Luke Schneider; Ann Arbor + Austin TX.
- **formFactor**: sidewalk (low-speed delivery PDD; REV-1 operates primarily in the BIKE-LANE / road-margin, a distinct regime between sidewalk bot and car)

## What's under the hood

_No brain on file for REV-1._

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the REV-1 actually available for purchase?

Not available to consumers. In internal use by Refraction AI.

_Source: [Refraction AI's Luke Schneider (CEO; still operating; ~21 employees; Chick-fil-A; gen-2 design)](https://www.ottomate.news/p/refraction-ais-luke-schneider-is)._

### What does the REV-1 cost?

Not announced.

### Where is the REV-1 being used?

No verified field deployments on record.

### Is the REV-1 safe?

No incidents on record, but with no verified field deployments either, the absence is uninformative.

### How does the REV-1 handle privacy?

No privacy practices disclosed or on file for REV-1.

### Who makes the REV-1?

REV-1 is made by Refraction AI, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

_Source: [Refraction AI's Luke Schneider (CEO; still operating; ~21 employees; Chick-fil-A; gen-2 design)](https://www.ottomate.news/p/refraction-ais-luke-schneider-is)._

## Manufacturer

- [Refraction AI (https://www.ottomate.news/p/refraction-ais-luke-schneider-is)](https://www.ottomate.news/p/refraction-ais-luke-schneider-is)

## Compared to

- [Cartken Courier](/consumer/models/cartken-courier)
- [Coco Bot](/consumer/models/coco-bot)

## Sources

1. [Refraction AI's Luke Schneider (CEO; still operating; ~21 employees; Chick-fil-A; gen-2 design)](https://www.ottomate.news/p/refraction-ais-luke-schneider-is)
2. [Refraction AI raises $4.2M seed (2021)](https://www.therobotreport.com/refraction-ai-raises-4-2m-for-delivery-robots/)
3. [Refraction REV-1: ~15 mph, ~280 lb payload, bike-lane / road-margin operation](https://newatlas.com/robotics/rev-1-delivery-robot/)
4. [Refraction founded 2017 by U-Michigan professors Johnson-Roberson + Vasudevan](https://pulse2.com/refraction-launches-rev-1-michigan/)
5. [Refraction AI official homepage (archived snapshot; live site now defunct/404)](http://web.archive.org/web/20240128151846/https://refraction.ai/)
6. [Refraction AI official YouTube (@refractionai1769), embedded under standard YouTube embed terms. oEmbed author_url verified 2026-06.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47WNq9u4QsY) · 2026-06-04

_Canonical: https://deploy.report/models/refraction-rev-1_