VLC Creator Builds Kyber for Robot Control Infrastructure

The Problem Kyber Solves

Kempf anticipates a future with hundreds of millions of robots and drones operating globally. But managing them at scale requires more than just good hardware. When the operator, the computing power, and the physical action are separated by distance, latency becomes critical.

If you control things in the real world, every millisecond matters, Kempf emphasizes. Kyber’s core offering is an SDK designed to synchronize video, audio, sensor data, and control inputs with minimal delay. The company’s name itself reflects this focus on speed, referencing the lightsaber crystals from Star Wars.

From Cloud Gaming to Physical AI

Kempf developed the initial concept as a side project while serving as CTO at cloud gaming startup Shadow. The technical foundation builds on video-streaming technology, combined with significant IoT expertise for performance optimization across different devices and scales.

Lightspeed’s investment reflects where the industry is heading. In a LinkedIn post, the firm highlighted that physical AI is only as good as the underlying infrastructure. Lightspeed has also backed AI companies like Anthropic and Mistral.

Scaling Beyond Current Limits

While some companies have developed similar internal software for applications like remote driving, current fleet operations only manage around 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles. Kyber is designed to handle millions. This dramatic scale increase requires robust observability and efficient software update mechanisms that didn’t exist before.

The company provides the necessary infrastructure for applications spanning defense, telco, robotics, and AI sectors. Kempf notes that companies previously built costly, custom systems for remote operations. Kyber aims to replace that fragmented landscape with a universal solution.

The Open Source Approach

True to Kempf’s background, Kyber offers its core project as open source. The company also provides a productized enterprise version for customers who need it. What sets Kyber apart is its hands-on deployment strategy, with forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) working directly with customers on custom setups.

Building a Global Team

Kyber currently has 25 full-time staff members with offices in Paris, San Francisco, and Singapore. The company prioritizes three specific segments: robotics, drones, and remote IT access.

Early commercial deployments are already underway across multiple sectors. As the robotics and drone industries continue to mature, infrastructure plays like Kyber could become foundational to how physical systems operate at scale. Kempf’s track record with VLC suggests he understands how to build technology that people depend on. With this new venture, he’s betting that real-time control infrastructure will be just as essential to the physical AI era as video codecs were to the streaming age.