Photo courtesy of Motmot
Motmot, a Detroit-based startup founded by Michigan State University Broad College of Business MBA graduate Elliot Smith (’24), has been awarded a $1.555 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Fast Track Grant from the National Science Foundation. The award will accelerate development of the company’s Autonomous Underwater Robot (AUR), designed to inspect live, pressurized drinking water mains at scale without disrupting service.
The NSF-supported project, called PIPELINE – Precision Inspection of Pressurized Environments using Long-term, Intelligent Navigation and Evaluation, will advance a robotic system that can autonomously navigate water distribution networks, collect high-resolution data, and support predictive maintenance. With more than 2.7 million miles of aging water mains across the U.S. and Canada, the technology aims to reduce costly failures while helping cities improve infrastructure reliability, environmental sustainability, and public trust.
“We are honored to receive this Fast Track award from the National Science Foundation,” said Smith, Motmot’s co-founder and CEO. “This support accelerates our work to provide communities with a reliable way to understand the condition of their water mains before failures occur. Our team is excited to build on our research partnerships in Michigan and deliver technology that will give utilities the data they need to plan smarter, reduce costs, and protect public health.”
Elliot Smith, MBA ’24
The grant builds on momentum that has positioned Motmot among the nation’s most promising early-stage companies. The startup was recently selected as one of just 200 companies to exhibit at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in San Francisco and named a top robotics company in the event’s #StartupBattlefield competition.
Smith’s entrepreneurial journey has been deeply shaped by his time at MSU. A civil engineer by training, he spent seven years as a municipal engineering consultant before pursuing his MBA at Broad. It was there that he incubated Motmot, leveraging coursework to refine its business model and tapping support from the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Spartan Innovations, and the College of Engineering.
“MSU has been instrumental in Motmot’s development,” Smith wrote in an MSUToday Student View essay . “Through the NSF National I-Corps program and with support from the Burgess Institute, the MSU Engineering Department, and Spartan Innovations, the team and I have engaged with water management leaders across North America, validating our business model and ensuring we’re at the right place, at the right time, with the right technology.”
Smith’s leadership has been recognized beyond Motmot’s technical achievements. He was named to Poets&Quants’ 2024 MBAs to Watch list, praised for his ability to simultaneously scale a high-tech venture and excel academically. Wayne Hutchison, managing director of MSU’s Full-Time MBA program, described him as “a trailblazer” who not only pursued his own entrepreneurial path but also contributed to expanding entrepreneurship opportunities for fellow students.
With pilot projects already underway in Michigan and a waitlist of more than 40 communities, Motmot is now preparing for its first commercial deployments. The company is inviting additional utilities to join its pilot program, with the goal of moving cities from reactive repairs to predictive planning.
Photo courtesy of Motmot
Photo courtesy of Motmot
Photo courtesy of Motmot
Photo courtesy of Motmot
Photo courtesy of Motmot
