Automated with Brian Heater

What if the biggest bottleneck in robotics is the way robots are taught? Jagdeep Singh believes the industry needs a much larger and more diverse source of training data to build robots that can handle the unpredictability of real work. At Rhoda AI, that starts with internet video. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Jagdeep, co-founder and CEO of Rhoda AI, about the company’s a...

Humanoid robots are receiving more attention than almost any other form of physical AI. But Andie Zhang says factory buyers still care more about speed, precision, reliability, safety, and ROI than a human shape. In this episode of Automated, recorded at the inaugural Davos Tech Summit, Brian Heater speaks with Andie, Global Portfolio and Technology Manager for Collaborative Robots at ABB, about w...

AI should not be judged only by how advanced it is. It should also be judged by who it helps and who its designers remembered to include. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Karen Panetta, Distinguished Professor and Dean for Graduate Education at Tufts University and founder of Nerd Girls, about using engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence to solve problems with rea...

AI and robotics may look like software revolutions. But every breakthrough depends on the semiconductors underneath them. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Dr. Ahmad Bahai, chief technology officer at Texas Instruments, about the chips, power systems, sensors, and edge-processing technologies enabling the next generation of AI and robotics. Ahmad explains why companies cannot...

A robot does not need another robot to learn how to work in a home. That idea is at the center of Sunday Robotics. The company is building Memo, a general-purpose home robot trained with human data collected through its custom Skill Capture Glove. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Sunday Robotics co-founder and CEO Tony Zhao about physical AI, robot learning, and why he left S...

Ten years ago, Google DeepMind’s robotics team wanted to build a single model that could go from pixels to motor control. People thought the idea was crazy. Today, much of general-purpose robotics is moving in that direction. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Carolina Parada, VP and head of robotics at Google DeepMind, about the ideas behind Gemini Robotics and the company’s p...

Humanoid robots are attracting enormous investment and dominating the conversation around physical AI. But Clara Vu believes the form factor is a trap. The more a robot is expected to look and work like a person, the more people assume it has human-level capabilities. In reality, forcing spinning motors into a body designed around tendons can add unnecessary constraints before engineers even begin...

AI can speak fluently, reason through problems, and describe the world. Getting it to do something in the world is a much harder problem. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Dhruv Batra, co-founder and chief scientist at Yutori, about the gap between language models that generate answers and intelligent systems that can take action. Dhruv explains why many post-ChatGPT robot dem...

The future of robotics may not belong to one machine that can do everything. It may belong to teams of specialized robots that learn how to work together. In this special episode of Automated, recorded at the Davos Tech Summit in Switzerland, Brian Heater speaks with Amanda Prorok, professor of collective intelligence and robotics at the University of Cambridge and founder of the Prorok Lab. Amand...

Get a direct line to the biggest names and brightest minds in robotics, Physical AI, and automation. Automated with Brian Heater brings you long-form conversations and unfiltered insights into how we got here, where we’re going, and what’s behind the technologies impacting how we live and work.  The show features conversations with visionaries from AWS, NVIDIA, Universal Robots, and beyond. From g...

Humanoid robots can walk, gesture, and look astonishingly capable in a polished demo. Then Jan Liphardt bought one for his house, along with three quadruped robots, and discovered how quickly the illusion breaks. After charging the batteries and getting the humanoid to stand, it simply stood there. It could not become the R2-D2-like helper, companion, teacher, or coworker he had imagined. In this...

Chef Robotics had millions of dollars in contracted revenue from fast-casual restaurant chains. Rajat Bhageria still chose to walk away. The demand was real. The model was not viable. Restaurants only operate at peak production for a few hours a day, while a useful robot may need to handle as many as 90 different ingredients. The economics and technical reality did not support the company Rajat wa...

Humans know robots are machines. That does not stop us from naming them, caring about them, or feeling uncomfortable when someone hurts one. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Kate Darling, Research Lead for Robotics, Ethics & Society at RAI Institute, about why social robots may be far more valuable than their current capabilities suggest. Kate believes every social robot...

Humanoid robots can walk, fold laundry, and even do backflips. Nic Radford wants to know whether anyone will pay them to work. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Nic Radford, co-founder and CEO of Persona AI and a former NASA roboticist who helped lead the development of Robonaut 2 and Valkyrie, about what it takes to turn a humanoid robot into a durable business. Nic explains...

The ability to move is about far more than getting from one place to another. It can shape independence, confidence, social connection, and quality of life. In this special episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Kathryn Zealand, founder and CEO of Skip, the Google X spinout behind MO/GO, and Jessica Bath, DPT, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy at UCSF. Kathryn explains how a per...

The market does not want more robots. It wants real-time answers about what is actually happening inside the warehouse. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater visits Dexory’s new Nashville facility for a conversation with CEO and co-founder Andrei Danescu about his path from Formula 1 engineering to building one of the most distinctive systems in warehouse automation. Andrei explains why motor...

Physical AI is moving into the real world. But once a robot leaves the lab, Ali Agha says edge cases become the environment. In this episode of Automated, recorded live at Automate in Chicago, Brian Heater speaks with Ali Agha, founder and CEO of FieldAI, about building autonomous robots that can operate safely in unpredictable, unstructured places. Ali’s path to FieldAI runs through MIT, Qualcomm...

Robotics is often judged by how quickly, powerfully, or autonomously a machine can move. Samantha Johnson built a robot to solve a much more human problem: helping DeafBlind people access information and communicate with the people they love. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Samantha Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Tatum Robotics, about how a chance meeting with a DeafBlind wo...

Robotics and AI are moving fast. But Dr. Ayanna Howard says the real test is not just whether machines become more capable. It is whether those systems are built with people, safety, accessibility, and real-world impact at the center. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Dr. Ayanna Howard, Dean of The Ohio State University College of Engineering, about human-centered robotics, ag...

The best ideas are not always hidden in the future. Sometimes they are sitting right in front of us, waiting for someone to ask a better question. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Yoel Fink, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, about education, invention, advanced fibers, and why so much of technology follows the same obvious tracks. This is not a typical co...

Physical AI is moving fast. But Russ Tedrake says the biggest shift may not just be better robots. It may be the way robotics itself is changing. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Russ Tedrake, Toyota Professor at MIT and founder of a stealth physical AI startup, about why this moment in robotics feels different from past hype cycles. Russ explains how machine learning has mov...

Warehouse automation is not about building the flashiest robot. It is about solving the right problem at scale. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics, about what it really takes to deploy robots inside working warehouses and why the future of physical AI may look very different from the humanoid hype cycle. Rick explains how Locus grew out of a ma...

Humanoid robots are everywhere in the headlines. But Aya Durbin says the real test is not whether a robot can impress people in a demo. It is whether that robot can deliver real value, positive ROI, and reliable performance inside industrial environments. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Aya Durbin, Director of Product for Atlas at Boston Dynamics, about what it will actually...

Physical AI is moving quickly. But Andrew Barry says one of the biggest unlocks in robotics is not just getting robots to move through the world. It is getting them to touch, grasp, adjust, and manipulate the world with real dexterity. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Andrew Barry, co-founder and CTO of Generalist, about how the company is building general intelligence for th...

Alexa is entering a very different era. For years, voice assistants were built around rules, scripted responses, and carefully designed commands. But with the rise of large language models and generative AI, Amazon had to rethink what Alexa could be and how people might use it. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s Vice President of Alexa and Echo, about Al...