The Robot Report Podcast

On the show today we recap the October funding stories and other robotics news stories of the last week, and then talk to Joyce Sidopoulis and Marita McGinn from MassRobotics about the upcoming 2024 MassRobotics Accelerator program (applications close Nov 30). For our featured interview, we talked to Brightpick CEO Jan Zizka about the capabilities and application of the new Brightpick mobile manip...

In this episode, we recap the recent RoboBusiness 2023 event and the recent news of Agility Robotics humanoid testing at Amazon. Our featured interview on this episode is with Dr. Kate Darling, who is joining Marc Raibert in her dream job at the Boston Dynamics AI Institute to head up their AI and ethics research group. We talk to Kate about everything from AI and humanoid robots to her kids' love...

On the show this week, we check in with RGO Robotics cofounder and CEO Amir Bousani and Simon Jensen-Fellows from Verizon for an in-depth conversation about how AI is quickly evolving and how this will impact the perception and autonomy capabilities of mobile robots. Simon informs us on how Verizon's 5G network can support the edge computing and communication needs of the mobile robotics industry...

On this episode, we sit down with Vecna Robotics Founder and Chairman Daniel Theobald and talk about the perils of funding early-stage robotics startups and the experience that Daniel will bring to the Robotics Startup Workshop on October 18 at RoboBusiness 2023. Daniel also takes us behind the scenes at his latest venture at Twisted Fields on the California coast, his personal farm and ag-robotic...

This week's podcast focuses heavily on the agricultural robotics industry. Mike shares his insights from FIRA USA and we sit down with Brandon Contino, CEO and co-founder of Four Growers, a startup building robots to harvest foods grown in greenhouses. Brandon talks about the technical and business challenges related to the robot and how focusing on greenhouses helps product evolution, We also rec...

Our guest this week is a long-time friend of the show and industry innovator Melonee Wise. Melonee was a co-founder of Fetch Robotics (acquired by Zebra in 2021), and an early pioneer of mobile robotics at Willow Garage. Melonee recently joined Agility Robotics in the role of CTO, where she is leading the technical roadmap. She brings a breadth of experience in commercializing mobile robotic solut...

Andrew Smith, CEO and co-founder of Outrider, takes us inside the company's efforts to commercialize yard automation. Outrider turns electric yard trucks into autonomous vehicles that couple tractor to trailer using its patented robotic arm and precisely maneuver between dock doors and parking spots. We also recap the tops stories of the week, including new GPT-based cobot arms, declining robot sa...

The humanoid robot market is quickly maturing. Our guest this week is Apptronik CEO and cofounder Jeff Cardenas. He tells the in-depth story about the development of legged robotics and humanoids at Apptronik and the launch of the company's first commercial humanoid robot, Apollo. With the launch of Apollo, Apptronik became one of the early innovators in the race to create a general-purpose humano...

In this episode, cohost Mike Oitzman sits down with ANYbotics Chief Commercial Officer Enzo Wälchli to learn all about the swiss designed quadruped robot. The ANYmal is designed to be explosion-proof and operate in extreme environments including inspection tasks for oil and gas processing facilities, offshore oil rigs, processing plants, manufacturing facilities and anywhere else that require a ni...

This week, cohost Mike Oitzman catches up with a longtime friend and fellow podcaster Kevin Lawton, host of The New Warehouse Podcast. We talk about the state of automation in the warehouse and how the market is evolving. Be sure to check out The New Warehouse Podcast for everything related to warehouse operations and technology.

On the show this week we review the robotics industry news, including a story about the Ocado acquisition of 6 River Systems and the fire sale price that Ocado paid for the assets of 6 River Systems from Shopify earlier this year. The featured interview is a conversation with Aerobotix VP of Sales, Chris Kolb. Aerobotix builds and integrates robotic inspection, sanding, and painting systems for US...

This week we feature the Robotics Summit 2023 keynote fireside chat between Steve Crowe and Marc Raibert. Marc founded Boston Dynamics and led the company as CEO for 30 years until he left last year to found the AI Institute. Steve and Marc talk about the amazing innovation at Boston Dynamics and why Marc decided to switch gears and move to the AI institute. It's a memorable conversation that we w...

On the show this week, we talk to Marc Segura, President of the ABB Robotics Division. Marc is an industry veteran with 25+ years at ABB. On the show, he gives us his perspective on the current state of the robotics market, the roadmap for ABB products and the future of mobile robots. Marc introduces us to the new lineup of ABB industrial robots with changeable link sizes, enabling 22 variants of...

In this episode, we recap the recent LogiMat tradeshow in Europe with Waku Robotics founder and CEO Victor SplittGerber. Victor also brings us up to speed on the European AMR market and the evolution of the Lotsofbots online mobile robot database that Waku Robotics developed and maintains.

In this episode, we talk to Relay Robotics CEO Michael O'Donnell and CTO Steve Cousins about the features of the newly launched Relay2 delivery robot. O'Donnell discusses how the hotel foodservice market has changed during the pandemic and why third-party food delivery apps like Doordash have upended the room service market for hotels. The result is a renewed opportunity for a larger payload Relay...

This week we have the pleasure of interviewing Roberta Nelson Shea who was the 2023 Joseph F Engelberger Robotics Application Award winner. Roberta tells us some great stories from her career leading the development of worldwide robotics safety standards.

In this episode, we talk to Figure CEO and cofounder Brett Adcock about his vision for building general-purpose humanoid robots. The company recently closed its series A for $70M and is a year into the design and development of its first humanoid robot. This episode is sponsored by Cloud Ground Control.

In this episode, we go into detail about cloud-based control of remote fleets of outdoor robotics with an interview with Xavier Orr, CEO, of Advanced Navigation along with one of its customers: Michael Arens, co-founder and CEO of Clean Earth Rovers. Advanced Navigation has a portfolio of guidance sensors, a plug-and-play cellular modem, and the new Cloud Ground Control software.

This week, we recap the 2023 Robotics Summit event that took place last week in Boston. On the show, Mike Oitzman interviews Fox Robotics' new CEO Marin Tchakarov during a recent visit to Austin TX, and Mike also interviews Canvas Robotics' CEO and co-founder Kevin Albert about the innovation of using robots to help to finish dry wall at construction sites. This episode is sponsored by Cloud Groun...

Our guest this week is Christine Boles, Vice President in the Network & Edge Group (NEX) and General Manager of Intel’s Federal and Industrial Solutions. Robotics at Intel falls under Federal and Industrial Solutions, so Christine plays a pivotal role in developing Intel’s solutions roadmap for robotics developers. We talk to her about the key technologies available today from Intel, including sof...

In this episode, co-hosts Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman review some of their favorite 2023 RBR50 Innovation Award honorees, discussing innovation trends in robotics and what stands out as the state of the art in robotics development across the entire industry, from space robotics to your local grocery aisle.

In this episode, we review John Deere AgTech presented at the 2023 John Deere Technology Summit, and interview Jorge Heraud, VP of Autonomy at John Deere. Later in the episode we discuss the sensor and perception stack being developed to operate the Zoox autonomous vehicle with two of Zoox's technology leaders: RJ He and Ryan McMichael. If you love autonomous vehicles, this episode looks at the cu...

This week, Steve and Mike recap all of the robotics-related technology on display at the 2023 ProMat tradeshow. Steve went to the show and shares his discoveries and some of the conversations with industry leaders. Mike reviews news from the NVIDIA GTC keynote and robotics-related news from NVIDIA.

In the news today, we talk about the breaking story about the impact of Silicon Valley Bank being closed and put into receivership by the FDIC and the impact that this is likely to have on technology startups and the VCs that support their growth. This rapidly evolving situation is likely to have repercussions for the tech industry the remainder of the year. Unrelated to the SVB story, we also int...

Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman discuss the uncloaking of Figure. AI, a new humanoid robot. They also discuss the latest with ChatGPT and what the latest release brings for roboticists. Our guest on the show today is Dejan Pangercic, co-founder and CTO of APEX.ai, an autonomous vehicle software company that has built a hardned OS around ROS 2. Dejan takes us through the features of the software and w...