The Robot Report Podcast

Amazon introduced its much-anticipated home robot this week, and it's underwhelmed the robotics industry. Mike and Steve share their thoughts on why Astro's future doesn't look bright. Listeners also call in to share their thoughts on the home robot. We also sit down with Adam Sachs, CEO and founder of Vicarious Surgical. Adam discusses the company's next-gen surgical robotics system, the challeng...

Steve and Mike talk to Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics and Jason Walker, CEO of Waypoint Robotics to discuss the big news of the day: the acquisition of Waypoint Robotics by Locus Robotics. The acquisition will pay immediate dividends for Locus customers who want a higher payload AMR for moving inventory within their warehouse. Rick and Jason share their stories about how the acquisition came to...

In episode 54, Steve and Mike discuss recent funding news for four robotics companies totally $531M; iRobot J7+ poop avoidance algorithms; cost of the recent Ocado ASRS fire. We also interview Photoneo CTO, Tomas Kovacovsky, about 3D vision, 3D cameras and what it takes to build a robust, industrial camera/vision solution.

In episode 53 of The Robot Report Podcast, Steve and Mike discuss the Carbon Robotics funding; an update on the Intel LiDAR EOL; Attabotics patent case; Agility Robotics, Digit video. We also talk to Realtime Robotics founder and CTO George Konidaris about robot perception, safety and control.

In episode 52 of The Robot Report podcast, hosts Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman discuss the recent news about Waymo expansion of driverless taxi service into San Francisco. Also featured in this episode is a conversation between Steve and Yaro Tenzer, CEO of RightHand Robotics. Steve and Yaro discuss the technology and capabilities of the RHR bin-picking and singulation solution for warehouse fulfil...

Steve and Mike discuss the breaking news this week about the end of life for Intel RealSense cameras. Tesla unveiled plans to build a humanoid robot. We talk to Stratom CEO Mark Gordon about the autonomous solutions that help US troops to accomplish their mission in the field.

John Deere recently acquired startup Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million. Founded in 2017, Bear Flag Robotics retrofits its autonomy stack onto existing tractors. Dan Leibfried, Director, Autonomy and Automation, John Deere, and Igino Cafiero, Co-founder & CEO, Bear Flag Robotics, join the show to discuss the future of autonomous tractors and agricultural robotics. Mike also updates us on his trip...

We talk to Jeff Chapman, the founder of The Chapman Group, about the current state of hiring within the North American robotics industry. Jeff is one of the "most connected" individual's within the robotics and automation industry and currently helps companies find talent and he helps individuals find the right opportunity. Tune into to learn what's Jeff's from his unique perspective on the indust...

We talk to Sami Atiya, CEO of ABB Robotics and Verónica Pascual, CEO of ASTI to get their insights on the recently announced acquisition of the Spanish mobile robotics company: ASTI Mobile Robots. The two companies have deployed their solutions to multiple, mutual customers in Europe in recent years. The combination of companies and products will establish the worldwide ABB mobile robotics develop...

Claus Risager, CEO and co-founder of Blue Ocean Robotics, discusses the evolution of the Danish company and its early entry into disinfection robots. He also tries to sell us on the benefits of telepresence robots. We also discuss the bigger stories in the robotics industry of late, including the future of Fetch Robotics after the Zebra acquisition, Aurora taking its self-driving tech public via S...

This week, Mike Demko, head of AutoStore’s MFC business line, joins the program to discuss the growth of e-commerce and the role automation is playing. We also hear from Jason dePreaux, a market analyst for Interact Analysis, who discusses the robotics industry services market. https://roboweeks.com/ https://www.therobotreport.com/softbank-robotics-europe-cutting-workforce-40-in-shake-up/ https://...

This week we break down the winners of the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards, which honor technology, business, and market innovations for the global robotics industry. We discuss how we picked the 50 winners, what we consider to be innovative, and share our personal favorite winners. https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/2021-rbr50-robotics-innovation-award-honorees/ https://www.roboticsbusinessr...

In this episode we sit down and learn about the Robot Operations Group with co-founders Florian Pestoni and Joe Wieciek. In the second half of the show we discuss one vendor's experience as part of the working committee for the recent R15.08 Safety Standard when we talk to Mike Bearman from Vecna Robotics.

Joel Johnson, the passenger inside the Waymo One robotaxi that was confused by construction cones, takes us inside what went wrong. He also talks about his overall experience with Waymo One, which includes 147 rides to date. We also catch up with Tom Ryden, executive director of MassRobotics, who takes us inside the develop of the group's new mobile robot interoperability standard.

A3 president Jeff Burnstein returns to discuss the growth of robot shipments in North America for the first quarter of 2021. He discusses the impact COVID-19 had on the growth, the surge in non-automotive orders, and much more. We also catch up with WiBotic to discuss the benefits of wireless charging for autonomous mobile robots. CEO Ben Waters shares some startup advice and the future of wireles...

Ken Goldberg and Jim Liefer from Ambi Robotics join the program to discuss the company's approach to piece-picking robots and how Sim2Real AI is playing a major role. We also break down WTWH Media's acquisition of Mobile Robot Guide and how it'll educate potential buyers about the benefits of mobile robotics systems. We also chat with Paul Mikesell, founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics, who takes us...

Jorgen Pedersen, president and CEO of RE2 Robotics, and Travis Schneider, business development manager of RE2 Robotics, discussed the evolution of the company, which was founded in 2001. RE2 was focused nearly 100% on defense work in 2016, but now the defense sector accounts for less than one-third of its business. We also discuss the company's new Sapien line of intelligent robotic arms and addin...

Kevin Blankespoor, VP of product engineering at Boston Dynamics, takes us inside the development of Stretch, the box-moving robot the company introduced this week. Blankespoor describes the evolution of the product design, the many system integration challenges, plans to improve the Pick vision system going forward, similarities between Atlas, Spot and Stretch, and much more.

Suma Reddy, CEO of agriculture robotics startup Future Acres, discusses the challenges farmers are facing today and how automation can help. I also discuss the most interesting stories of the week, including laser sounds from Mars, the truth about Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" beta software and rumors surrounding Amazon's secretive home robot Vesta.

Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot, discusses advancements in end of arm tooling and what's next for the industry. Juan Aparicio, VP of Product at READY Robotics, talks about simplifying programming interfaces to democratize the use of robotics.

Kevin Dunlap of Calibrate Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, joins the program to discuss the SPAC craze, recent robotics investments, and his thoughts about the state of the industry. I also hit on the robotics stories of the week, including Motional testing Level 4 robotaxis in Las Vegas, NASA's video of the Perseverance Rover landing and more.

Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics, discusses the company's $150 million Series E funding round and new unicorn status. He also explains why Locus should be a publicly-traded company. Will Wilder, CEO of Wilder Systems, joined the show to discuss the cobot system his team built that automates rapid COVID-19 testing results. He said the system is being adapted to help test for other viruses, such as...

Helen Greiner, CEO of Tertill, a Boston-based startup developing gardening robots, joined the show to talk about how she will help the startup scale. She also discussed the challenges of developing consumer robots and how her experience co-founding iRobot will help. We also talk drone delivery and what went wrong at her commercial drone company CyPhy Works.

Tom McCarthy joins the show to discuss how Motiv Space Systems is developing a robotic arm to survive the extreme cold of the Moon’s South Pole. The COLDarm can survive temperatures as environments as cold as –279°F. COLDarm could be headed to the Moon in 2024. I also talk to Ben Upcroft, VP of Technology at Oxbotica, a company developing autonomy software for all sorts of autonomous vehicle appli...

For the first time, yearly orders of robots from non-automotive sectors surpassed automotive robot orders, as sales of robotic units in North America increased 3.5% in 2020 from 2019. A3 president Jeff Burnstein takes us inside the numbers and what it means for the future of robotics. We also introduce you to Canvas, a startup that recently exited stealth mode. It's trying to automate drywall fini...