Tyler, it sounds like you're quite passionate about robotics and the potential for addressing wildfire issues. Firstly, nothing wrong with continuing to fund yourself through a regular job while working on your passion. Folks love to glorify the all-or-nothing dynamic but frankly, there are plenty of folks who've done side hustles in order to get their startup up and running. Have you thought about consulting in an area where your potential customers are likely to be? This path lets you build expertise and network where your robotics solution could eventually be brought into. Best part is that you develop credibility and can adapt your solution to address exactly what the market needs and reduce your risk your failure.

In a similar position as yourself, I'm in deep tech and can share similar frustrations where funding is scarce and commercialization seems far away. Having attempted to fundraise, I can say that we've been blessed to be forced to bootstrap at this stage and are slowly identifying our commercial path. Happy to help you find a market.

The good news is that you are in a hot investment area and I can probably point you in the right direction with the right investors. Firstly, how far along are you? Do you have a prototype and have you spoken to potential customers?

One program that might be suitable for you is Creative Destruction Lab, who specialize in deep tech such as robotics (https://www.creativedestructionlab.com/program/). They don't take any equity and you'd have opportunities to be mentored and invested. I'd be happy to provide an introduction.