Collaborative With Spencer Krause

Forbes 30 under 30 honoree Uriel Eisen and SKA Custom Robots and Machines Director of Product Development Spencer Krause have known each other for over a decade. In this time, Uriel has consistently impressed Spencer with his industriousness, intelligence, and admirable ability to follow through on most tasks he sets his mind to. Uriel has worked to bring several products though production- includ...

Join us as we talk to Constantine Greenias about his business, the Magnet Baron. The Magnet Barron sells thousands of products into the hobby sector every year. This is a bit different from our usual features so please don't miss it if you want a perspective into how a highly organized entrepreneur makes a living on high-volume sales of consumer product. https://themagnetbaron.com/

Xena Workwear was the first company to market with an attractive and comfortable safety shoe for women. As Xena's CEO, Ana is responsible for being the face of the company and driving many of the high level decisions which dictate the company's operations and product mix.  In this fun conversation between Ana and Spencer, Ana explains some of the entrepreneurial journey Xena has gone through...

Join us as we speak with Product Manager Ken Yesh about his work on advanced automotive technologies.  Ken's work with Ford, Uber ATG, and more recently, Root, have endowed him with a valuable set of skills and experiences. In this episode, Ken and Spencer talk politics, philosophy, and reflect on the pandemic. This is a low key episode, but still pensive.  If you like this and want more...

Join us as we speak with talented and experienced Mechanical Engineer, Corey Rasmussen about experiences designing aerial lift trucks for the power electronics industry, educating the next generation of engineers by releasing videos and course material, and how his backyard roller coaster stacks up against some of the most thrilling production roller coasters in existence. Corey is an all around g...

Practically everyone in the robotics industry has either worked with or heard of Jorgen Pedersen. For those not-yet-familiar, Jorgen has been contributing to robotics for over 20 years on some of the most advanced projects ever undertaken.   Jorgen Pedersen is the President and CEO of Pittsburgh Robotics company RE2 - one of the most advanced robotic innovation firms in the world.   In t...

Join us as we speak with Modal AI's director of hardware, Vinny Kemler. This one gets pretty raw as we discuss security, motivations of getting into engineering, music, cooking, and what it takes to send flight hardware to the planet Mars. Vinny is an all around great guy.  Modal is one of the few companies still making things in America and you can learn more about their work at https://www....

Join us as we talk with Paragonix Tek LLC CEO, Stephen Antolich about how he got started making hazardous environment robots, and what it means to take pride in one's work.    In this episode, Stephen and Spencer joke about the best way to prevent massive explosions when you're inspecting multi-hundred ton tanks of explosive material. Misuse of equipment and poorly designed or inspected...

Join us as we speak with Professional Engineer and all around goon Stephen Sywak about some of his work building man-moving machines for the entertainment sector.   In addition to his work in the aerospace and manufacturing sectors, Stephen is a serious threat in the entertainment industry. He has played a major role on Cirque Du Soleil Ca and Zumanity, The Who's Broadway production of Tommy,...

Join us as we dig into an excellent conversation with a woman who wears many hats. Jennifer Apicella is the founder and president of Build412Tech, the president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of getWITit, and a Program Director for the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.    In a past life, Jenn was a technical salesperson for IBM and she carries that acumen with her in her work today.    T...

Join us as we speak with Ricardo Olivares about his 17-year journey at NASA where he has climbed the ranks through various engineering and management positions.   In this episode, Ricardo talks about his biological work at NASA, what's it's like to load cargo into a rocket waiting to take off, and some of the process that goes into performing research and development at the highest echelon. A...

Join us as we speak with Kenny Chen, who ran Pittsburgh's Thrival festival for many years, founded AI for Good, ran the accelerator known as Ascender, and has generally been a staple of Pittsburgh's tech community. In this episode, Kenny talks about studying public policy at Harvard and some questionable uses of AI that are going on right now that you may or may not know about, such as China's soc...

Dimitry Krivochenitser is the CFO and COO of Xena Workware. His wife, Ana, is the CEO. For those of you who do not know, the COO typically does a lot of non-glamourous, but almost ballet-like, work to make things happen on time. It is their job to make the CEO's promises come to fruition. The CEO's job is equally important in that they sell the product and represent the company's image to the worl...

Join us as we speak with Pittsburgh Robotics Network Executive Director Joel Reed. In this episode, Spencer and Joel sip Scotch. Joel talks about his career from high-powered (top 3) consultant, to startup CEO, to running the Pittsburgh robotics network, with a lot of stories in between. Joel and Spencer also talk about alternate careers they once considered as doctors and what made them decide to...

Join us as we speak with Vecna Robotics' Director of Business Development, Matthew Cherewka, about Vecna Robotics, aspiring to work with technology from an early age, speculations about the past, present, and future of robotics, and ethical business practices that simultaneously generate profit and good-will.

Join us as we speak with the multitalented Stephen Hawes about his interests in electronics manufacturing, various ways to motivate teams of engineers, open source vs closed source, bringing products to market, and the pros and cons of listening to critics on the internet. Check out Stephen's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/StephenTheRobot And his Patreon here: https://www.patreon....

Join us as we share a cup of coffee with high volume knee and hip replacement surgeon and research engineer, Ken Urish. In this episode, Ken describes what it takes to get an MD / Ph. D., Ken and Spencer discuss the history and significance of Machine learning in medicine, we debate the efficacy of surgical robots, and Ken discusses the (delayed) joys of improving patient outcomes. Finally, Ken an...

Join us as we speak with Innovation Works Communications Director, Terri Glueck. In this episode, we talk about the realities of entrepreneurship and what it looks like to support the entrepreneurial community, as well as how many entrepreneurs are wired. We also explore cynicism, motivational structure, and the beauty of the biomedical and life sciences sectors. This episode dives deep so be sure...

Join us as we speak with Deeplocal's Director of Software, Oscar Prom about what it takes to build high-tech interactive exhibits for big brands on a regular basis. In this episode we discuss how Oscar and his team have been applying the lessons they've learned to create a universal framework for commissioning exhibits more effectively. The product, gumband, encompasses a unique set of tools and i...

Join us as we speak with Greek Gadget Guru about his approach to making superhero gadgets for fun and profit. In this episode, we discuss Greek Gadget Guru's journey into his current role and offer a sneak-peek into an unpublished project that Greek Gadget Guru and SKA have been teaming up on. Please subscribe for more inside perspectives into the bleeding edge of science, technology, and entrepre...

Join us as we speak with Ricardo Olivares about his 17-year journey at NASA where he has climbed the ranks through various engineering and management positions. In this episode, Ricardo talks about some of the many different groups he has worked for at NASA and their relative subcultures, what's it's like to load cargo into a SpaceX rocket, and some of the process that goes into performing researc...

Join us as we speak with robotics engineer and entrepreneur, Brad Kriel. In this episode Brad and Spencer trade stories about what it's like to work in an advanced Research and Development group within a large corporation vs working in smaller companies and startups.   This is made more interesting by the fact that Brad and Spencer worked at Caterpillar and Joy Mining simultaneously as roboti...

Join us as we speak with veteran technologist and all-around great guy, Caz Mostowy. In this episode, Caz tells us about coming up with several now-legendary figures at Maya Design and what it was like to run Bossa Nova Robotics' hardware division. We also discuss what it takes to be a technologist now vs. what it took in the past. The episode really goes downhill when, after several glasses of st...

Join us as we discuss the intricacies of product development, industrial automation, horrific shop injuries, and more.