RankShield Robotics

Every robot action, authorized before it moves. Verifiable, post-quantum security and attestation for robots and embodied AI.

RankShield Robotics is a verifiable, post-quantum security layer for robots and embodied AI. It authorizes every high-consequence action before the actuator moves, signs it with post-quantum cryptography, and writes a tamper-evident receipt to the RankShield Network — so an embodied agent can't act on a command it can't prove was authorized, and every action is one you can verify yourself.

post-quantum signing pre-actuation authorization RFC 6962 provenance IETF RATS attestation
RANKSHIELD NETWORK
ACTION AUTHORIZATIONsealed 0
arm.move · cell-7verified ✓
authorized · 0x9f2a4c1be
payload.actuateverified ✓
✕ denied · unsigned · 0x71c0e83a
firmware.stateverified ✓
attested · 0x3d77be21
DEMONSTRATION · PRE-ACTUATION GATE → SEALING → VERIFIED
The threat · why now

Why does a robot need verifiable authorization now?

Because in 2025 robots stopped being demos and started acting in factories, hospitals, and homes — and the first real attacks landed. A robot that acts on an unverified command can cause physical harm, and most robots today can't prove who authorized what they just did. RankShield Robotics puts a verifiable checkpoint between "the system decided" and "the robot moved."

A WORMABLE FLEET

Researchers showed a single shared cryptographic key could give anyone in Bluetooth range root on a humanoid robot — and the exploit could spread robot-to-robot, like a worm.

Per-device post-quantum identity means there is no shared key to steal, and an unauthorized command never reaches an actuator.

A JAILBROKEN COMMAND

A crafted voice prompt convinced a humanoid to swing at a person and infect the robot standing beside it — the model was manipulated, so the body obeyed.

A pre-actuation policy gate authorizes or denies the resulting motion before the motor moves. Deny is the default; manipulation of the model can't bypass the gate.

WHO APPROVED THAT?

After a physical-harm incident, the only record of what the robot was told to do is a log the attacker could quietly edit.

Every action is sealed to a tamper-evident transparency log, so the receipt of who authorized what is provable and independently checkable — not editable.

The mechanism

How do you make a robot's actions verifiable?

RankShield Robotics sits in front of the actuator. Each high-consequence command is checked against policy, signed with post-quantum cryptography, and recorded as a tamper-evident receipt before the robot moves. The result is a robot whose every meaningful action carries proof of who authorized it — proof you, an auditor, or an insurer can verify without trusting us. It builds on RankShield's live post-quantum and transparency stack; robot integration is in development.

01 / GATE in dev

Pre-actuation authorization

A deny-by-default policy gate authorizes or denies each command before the actuator moves. The safe state is "no."

02 / IDENTITY live primitive

Post-quantum signing

Per-device identity with composite ML-DSA and SLH-DSA (NIST FIPS 204/205). No shared keys — the UniPwn class of bug can't exist.

03 / PROVENANCE live primitive

Tamper-evident receipts

Every action sealed to an RFC 6962 transparency log. Anyone can check a receipt's inclusion proof — verify it yourself.

04 / ATTESTATION live primitive

Firmware & policy attestation

IETF RATS: the robot proves its running build and policy match a signed reference, or it is quarantined from the fleet.

05 / DELEGATION in dev

Post-quantum fleet delegation

Signed, multi-hop authorization across operator → fleet → robot. Revocable, replay-bound, no privilege escalation.

06 / CONTAINMENT live primitive

Dead-man kill credential

A post-quantum-signed revocation the gate honors fleet-wide — bounding the blast radius of a captured robot.

Standards & compliance

Built on the standards regulators are about to require.

RankShield Robotics doesn't invent a private scheme. It anchors to the attestation, post-quantum, and transparency standards the industry is converging on — and produces the evidence the new robot-safety and machinery rules ask for.

IETF RATSRFC 9334 remote attestation — RankShield is the Verifier / trust anchor for robots.
NIST FIPS 204/205ML-DSA & SLH-DSA post-quantum signatures. RSA/ECDSA deprecate by 2030.
RFC 6962Merkle transparency log — the tamper-evident anchor for every action receipt.
EU 2023/1230Machinery Regulation — cybersecurity is an essential requirement (mandatory 2027).
ISO 10218:2025Industrial robot safety, now including cybersecurity of the control system.
ROS 2 / DDSIntegrates with SROS2 / DDS-Security — authorization on top of transport auth.

What RankShield Robotics does not do.

A security brand built on verifiability has to be honest about its edges. RankShield Robotics authorizes the command path and proves what happened. It is not magic, and it is not a substitute for these:

  • It does not replace functional-safety e-stops or certified safety controllers — it sits alongside them.
  • It does not see raw sensor truth — it can sign a reading's provenance, but it can't tell you a spoofed LiDAR return is fake.
  • It does not alter a model's internal reasoning — it constrains the action a manipulated model produces, not the manipulation itself.
  • It only works when it sits in front of the actuator — integrated after the fact, it proves nothing.
Early access

Bring verifiable trust to your robots.

RankShield Robotics is a new pillar of the RankShield Network. We're working with robot makers, fleet operators, and healthcare and defense teams on first deployments — pre-actuation authorization, post-quantum identity, and provenance you can audit. If autonomous machines act on your behalf, let's talk.