22Astronauts

In today's 51st episode, I talk to Adrian Macneil , Co-Founder and CEO of Foxglove : Adrian Macneil is the Co-Founder & CEO of Foxglove, a purpose-built robotics development platform to increase the GDP of robotics. Coming from New Zealand with a degree in Computer Science, Adrian knew early on that his home country wasn’t big enough for his ambitions. He moved to San Francisco, the center...

I sit down with the Founder and CEO of Synapticon , Nikolai Ensslen : Nikolai Ensslen and Andrija Feher are the founders of Synapticon, a company reshaping motion control for robotics and industrial automation. He shares his journey from studying Engineering Science at the University of Bayreuth to building and leading a global company that seamlessly integrates servo drives, sensors, brakes, and...

In this episode, I sit down with Sanjeev Sharma, the visionary Founder and CEO of Swaayatt Robots. Sanjeev shares his journey from academia to building autonomous driving technology that thrives in India's uniquely chaotic and adversarial traffic conditions. We discuss his decision to forego a PhD opportunity at UMass Amherst to bootstrap Swaayatt Robots, how he demonstrated autonomous navigat...

In my latest episode, I talk to the Progressive Robotics Co-Founder & CEO Fotis Dimeas : In this episode of Kinematic Conversations, I speak with Fotis Dimeas, who moved from an academic career to co-founding Progressive Robotics, a deep-tech spin-off making robotics better for manufacturing and logistics. Fotis shares his journey from earning a Ph. D. in Robotics at the University of Patras t...

Ep 47: Robert MacKenzie former CTO and Chief Product Officer of ANYbotics : Robert is originally from Canada but has spent more than half of his life in Europe. He completed his bachelor's degree in Canada before moving to Germany, where he earned his master’s at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) . His journey eventually led him to Zurich, where he completed his PhD at ETH Zurich. Over t...

In episode #46 I sit down with Christian Piechnick , Co-Founder and CEO of Wandelbots : We are going back in time and Christian is telling me how he started to program while he was still a kid, with his parent's first computer, helping out the company his mother was working for by writing a program. Wandelbots, a TU Dresden spin-off founded in 2017 by Christian Piechnick and a team of five, enable...

Back from the holidays with a brand-new episode! #45 features Miika Satori , founder of Cambrian Robotics Miika Satori, originally from Finland, has a long background in startups and innovation. With Cambrian Robotics, he focuses on advancing robot capabilities to tackle complex tasks. In this episode, Miika reflects on his upbringing in rural Finland, where he learned the value of fixing and buil...

In this episode, I sit down with Mehul Nariyawala , Co-founder of Matic Robots : Matic is a company on a mission to simplify home cleaning with autonomous robots powered by cutting-edge AI and vision-based technologies. Mehul shares his journey from moving to the U.S. from India at a young age, pursuing studies in bioinformatics and earning an MBA, to co-founding Flutter—acquired by Google in 2013...

In this episode, I speak with Kelsey Pool , a mechanical engineer, roboticist, and open-source advocate based in San Francisco: Kelsey shares her journey from studying mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder to working on groundbreaking projects in robotics and healthcare. We dive into her latest project, Zeroth-01 Bot—the world's smallest open-source end-to-end humanoid robot...

Episode #42 : with Brandon King , Mechanical Engineer and Robotics Enthusiast: In this episode, I speak with Brandon King, a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Alabama, preparing to graduate in December 2024. Brandon brings experience from internships at Michelin and BLOX , as well as his leadership role on the Controls Team for the EcoCAR program. We explore his work in manufactu...

Episode #41 , with Christian Löchte , Co-Founder of FORMHAND Automation GmbH , to explore the story behind their universal gripping technology: Christian shares his journey in robotics and mechanical engineering, spanning over 20 years, and how his passion for mechanics led to the creation of FORMHAND's flexible gripping modules. We talk about his upbringing, the challenges of building a high-tech...

Episode #39 : Revolutionizing Sensors for Robotics, with Klajd Lika , CEO of Bota Systems AG : Klajd shares how his family immigrated from Albania to Greece and the support and love that shaped his journey. He also talks about his education in Athens and his early work in robotics, including hydraulic systems and quadruped robots. At Bota Systems, based in Zurich, Switzerland, Klajd and his team d...

In this episode, I sit down with ⁠Rutav Shah⁠ ⁠, a first-year PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin. Rutav’s journey in robotics and machine learning started at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, where he earned his Bachelor’s in Computer Science. Now at UT Austin, he’s diving into advanced research in machine learning and robotics. Rutav shares his experiences f...

In Episode #38 , I talk with Nima Gard , Director of AI at Path Robotics , which just closed its Series D with a $100M raise: We recorded this episode on Halloween—you’ll spot him in Spock ears, while I stayed costume-free. Nima shares his journey from Iran to the U.S., starting with a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering, and his move to Ohio, where he completed his Ph. D. in Geodetic Engineering at O...

Episode #37: The Future of Open-Source Robotic Arms, with Petar Crnjak, founder of Source Robotics: Today’s guest, is a Mechatronics Engineer from Zagreb University of Applied Sciences with a focus on robotics and electric vehicles. Petar’s work has led him to create useful, award-winning open-source robotic arms, which are widely used in schools and universities for learning. In robotics, Petar h...

Robotics Software Engineer ⁠ Aryan Jagushte ⁠ is my guest in today's 36th episode: Aryan has been focused on robotics, working as a Robotics Software Engineer, gaining experience in the Robot Operating System (ROS) in his academic education and working on projects using ROS1 and ROS2. He has hands-on knowledge of mobile robots and applies techniques like Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM...

In today's episode ( #35 ), I speak with Haoru Xue , a PhD student at University of California, Berkeley , specializing in humanoid whole-body control: Haoru has had an exciting journey in robotics, working alongside top researchers at Carnegie Mellon and UC Berkeley. He’s been involved in projects like autonomous racing, where his team earned top spots in the Indy Autonomous Challenge. Beyond his...

My guest today is Klas Nilsson , Founder and CTO of Cognibotics , with over 40 years in robotics! Coming from a non-academic background and always interested in math, his curiosity about machines led him to spend time first at ABB, and then many years in research at Lund University. Always striving to fill the blind spots, he transitioned from mechanical engineering to computer science. Eventually...

My guest today is Vladimir Baranov , founder of 🤖 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹, whose mission is to inspire a love of engineering in children worldwide: While there are many robotics classes for high school students, options for younger children are limited. Vladimir's project proves that kids are far more capable than we often think. With over two decades of experience across various industries, Vladimir’s pass...

⁠Jacopo Tani⁠ , CEO of ⁠Duckietown⁠ , an open-source robotics and AI platform that began as an MIT project in 2016, joins me today: Originally from Rome, Jacopo is a trained space engineer with a PhD, having worked at MIT and ETH Zurich on dynamic systems and control before transitioning into entrepreneurship. In this episode, he shares invaluable lessons on hard work, perseverance, mentorship, fr...

A legend in the tech world - Robert Scoble . Siri, Tesla, Instagram and others launched on his blog/show, today - he is my guest: Sitting down with him was nothing short of a wild ride! Robert's journey began in the late 70s, back when Silicon Valley was still a small community, not the tech powerhouse it is today. Always in tune with the pulse of innovation, Robert embodies the zeitgeist. He laun...

This episode holds a special place for me as I sit down with founder & former CEO of Micropsi Industries : Ronnie Vuine , my former boss, and I have had countless private discussions over the years, and now we’ve finally recorded an episode for my podcast. In this episode, we dive into his journey as a computer science student, where he studied under the renowned cognitive scientist Joscha Bac...

Remi Cadene was at Tesla working on Optimus, and now builds robots at Hugging Face : Remi's academic journey took him from Paris, where he earned his PhD at Sorbonne, to postdoctoral studies at Brown University. He later joined Tesla in California, starting as an intern and eventually becoming a permanent research scientist. In this episode, we discuss his time overseas, his unique experience work...

Today we talk to Robomart Co-founder & CEO Ali Ahmed about their self-driving shops and his early passion for entrepreneurship. We discuss his non-technical background, why he stepped away from a PhD position, and how he followed his passion for building. Follow Ali through his journey of fast-growing startups and various entrepreneurial adventures that ultimately led him to the world of robot...

Mathias Mantelli is a Robotics Software Developer from Brazil working on Embodied AI: Coming from a non-technical background, we discuss his journey in academia, culminating in a PhD in Mobile Robotics with a focus on localization and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). Today, he helps robots move on their own by creating smart ways for them to navigate and avoid obstacles. He is particu...