Rhythm Exclusive Interview with OpenMind: From x402 Payment to Creating the "Android of Robots"

Title: Rhythm Exclusive Interview with OpenMind: From x402 Payments to Building the “Android of Robots”

Author: Rhythm BlockBeats

Source: In recent years, humanoid robots have transitioned from science fiction into reality. From Tesla’s Optimus to Figure AI’s Figure 01, the capabilities of general-purpose humanoid robots have rapidly expanded with the support of large language models. Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2035, the humanoid robot market could reach $154 billion. This trillion-dollar market is attracting the world’s top tech companies and brightest minds to invest.

However, as the “limbs” of robots become increasingly advanced, a more core question emerges: how to build a sufficiently intelligent, open, and safe “brain”? As thousands of robots enter homes, hospitals, and cities, how will they collaborate, exchange value, and seamlessly integrate into human society?

Jan Liphardt, a Stanford University professor and founder of OpenMind, provides his answer. Since securing $20 million in funding led by Pantera Capital in August 2025, OpenMind has accelerated, releasing a series of products from the underlying operating system to upper-layer payment protocols, gradually outlining its complete blueprint for the “robot brain.”

OpenMind’s core business is providing SaaS-based cloud cognitive services for enterprises. But they keenly recognize that as robots become independent economic participants, blockchain will play a crucial role in payment systems, identity verification, data privacy, and collaborative governance.

Recently, OpenMind’s collaboration with stablecoin issuer Circle and the deployment of robot charging stations on the streets of San Francisco are initial implementations of this vision. Robots can independently complete charging payments via USDC, perhaps marking the dawn of the “Machine Economy.”

Meanwhile, OpenMind is also building an exclusive app store for robots, allowing users to download applications and skills to their robots in one place, similar to how they customize apps on the Apple App Store or Google Play. This application was launched last week in the OpenMind app store.

In this exclusive interview, we delve into OpenMind’s philosophy of building the “robot brain,” the design concept of the modular operating system OM1, and how the FABRIC protocol and blockchain technology can create a future of efficient collaboration between machines and between machines and humans. The founder shares OpenMind’s technical roadmap and offers deep insights into developer ecosystems, remote operation, data privacy, and other key issues.

Below is the interview content:

Building a “Bank Account” for Robots

In December 2025, OpenMind and stablecoin issuer Circle jointly announced the launch of an autonomous robot payment system based on the x402 protocol. As robot capabilities improve, they will no longer be mere task executors but will begin to act as autonomous economic entities. They will need to purchase computing power, data, skills, and even hire other robots or humans to complete complex tasks.

To achieve this, a financial system designed specifically for robots, requiring no human intervention, has become indispensable. Traditional banking systems are clearly unprepared for this, and cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, with their native digital and decentralized features, have become the most natural choice.