# HAANs: Hardware-Activated Agent Networks

Published

July 20, 2026

HAANs: Hardware-Activated Agent Networks

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Jason Shuman

Partner, Physical AI

Adam Piasecki

Senior Associate, Physical AI

We've been using the term **HAANs** (Hardware-Activated Agent Networks) to describe a new category we see emerging. HAANs deploy hardware to capture real-world operational data, then use agents to reason on top of this data to automate downstream workflows.

We view HAANs as the AI-native successors to the hardware-enabled software companies of the last decade... but much bigger. HAANs are AI-native, more powerful, more scalable, and able to capture >10x more value by penetrating labor budgets.

In addition, an explosion of low-cost, high-powered sensors and cameras is unlocking the possibility for category creation in multiple new markets.

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> **Categories are created when massive swaths of information become digitized for the first time.**  
> **What is possible when the majority of the physical world becomes machine-readable?**  
> **And when AI agents can reason on this data in real time and take actions autonomously?**

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Check out the full presentation to learn more.

— Jason & Adam