Thank you for sharing this; I'm doing a Ph.D. in robotics right now and am contemplating moving back to my small hometown after. Remote working in robotics is always more tricky.

I've talked to a least one startup who was open to hiring remote workers, their justification being that remote access to robots was important to have setup correctly anyways to help supporting clients without traveling. Are you afraid of your employment opportunities if the consultancy doesn't work out (even though it seems to be doing very well now)?