For years, the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence has been framed as a threat to blue-collar workers. As machines become capable of performing more physical and repetitive tasks, the conventional fear is that automation will eliminate jobs and leave working people behind.
Dallas-based technology company SkyPSI is making a very different bet: robots can give blue-collar workers a path to business ownership.
Launching today in Dallas-Fort Worth, SkyPSI has committed $5 million in founder capital to build a business around that idea. Founded by entrepreneur Vic Pellicano, the company is creating an infrastructure platform designed to put professional cleaning drones, training and commercial contracts into the hands of independent operators.
The model is straightforward. SkyPSI sells commercial exterior-cleaning contracts, trains and certifies independent operators, provides access to professional cleaning drones and supports them in completing the work. Rather than becoming employees of a large cleaning company, operators can build their own businesses, with their own crews, vehicles and brands.
The drone, meanwhile, handles some of the most dangerous parts of the job. “For working-class people the tradeoff was always the same: you traded your body for a paycheck,” Pellicano said. “Not anymore. The robot takes the risk. You take the contract. And this time your name is on the company.”
The opportunity SkyPSI is targeting is substantial. The global commercial cleaning market is expected to approach $860 billion by 2034, while robotic technology remains a small part of the industry. Exterior building cleaning can also involve significant safety risks, particularly when workers are required to operate at height.
SkyPSI’s thesis is that drones can change both the economics and frequency of the service. A building that might previously have been cleaned once a year because conventional rope-access work was expensive and hazardous could potentially be serviced more frequently using drones operated from the ground. In this model, automation does not necessarily reduce demand for labor. Instead, it changes the nature of the work, moving workers away from the most dangerous physical tasks and toward operating, managing and growing the business.
Pellicano’s own background is central to the company’s pitch. The son of a truck driver, Pellicano grew up in a trailer park outside Chicago and became interested in computers at an early age. After losing both parents and experiencing homelessness, he rebuilt his career through technology, eventually earning degrees in computer science and mathematics.
He later founded Verenia, which was acquired by Oracle in 2022. Pellicano subsequently founded AI drone company Avianna, which he sold in 2024. Now, he is putting $5 million of his own capital behind SkyPSI.
“Tech turned a homeless kid from a trailer park into a multimillionaire,” Pellicano said. “I’m putting $5 million of my own money into making sure working people get the same shot. Machines should take the strain. People should take the profit.”
The company is initially focused on Dallas-Fort Worth, with plans to expand throughout the Texas Triangle before moving into other U.S. cities. SkyPSI is targeting commercial properties including hotels, senior living communities, office buildings, multifamily and HOA communities, medical facilities, parking structures and retail and mixed-use developments.
For SkyPSI, the broader ambition goes beyond cleaning buildings. The company is betting that the next generation of robotics businesses will not simply sell machines to large corporations. Instead, robots could become tools that enable individuals to start and scale service businesses of their own.
If that model works, automation could create a different kind of blue-collar economy, one where workers are not competing against robots for jobs, but using robots to build companies.
