Ali Tocher

What Do Robots Sound Like?

Interviews with professionals and experts discussing audio design for robotics. Ali Tocher is an audio designer working in video games. He also looks at real world applications for sound in hospitals and schools. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author

Ali Tocher

Category

Technology

Podcast website

shows.acast.com

Latest episode

Apr 26, 2026

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Episodes

Prof Michael Schutz - Hospitals, Alarms, History of the beep, Triangles 26.04.2026

Professor of Music Cognition and Percussion, McMaster University Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. Contact: whatdorobotssoundlike@gmail.com Any comments or guest suggestions are welcome. _______ Show notes/links: This month's guest is Professor Michael Schutz from McMaster Univer...

Adam Elman - Voice assistants, Automotive, Utilitarian design 09.04.2026

20 year veteran voice designer, Amazon, Microsoft, Ford etc Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. Contact: whatdorobotssoundlike@gmail.com Any comments or guest suggestions are welcome. _______ Show notes: This month's guest is Adam Elman, a veteran voice designer with 20 years exper...

Chelsea Titus - Linguistics, Quirks, Backstory, Human interaction 03.12.2025

Principal Conversation Design | Amazon Lab 126, Emerging Products and Consumer Robotics - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. Contact: whatdorobotssoundlike@gmail.com Any comments or guest suggestions are welcome. _______ Show notes: This month's guest is Chelsea Titus, Principal C...

Vasundhara Gupta - UX Sound design, Customisation vs adaption, Personality in devices 13.09.2025

Amazon Device Design Group - UX Sound Designer - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. Contact: whatdorobotssoundlike@gmail.com Any comments or guest suggestions are welcome. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Vasundhara Gupta, is a Senior UX Sound Designer at the Amazon Device...

Paul Bremner - Nuclear decommissioning robots, Affordance vs expectation, IORT 21.07.2025

Associate Professor - HRI - Bristol Robotics Lab - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. Contact: whatdorobotssoundlike@gmail.com I welcome any comments or guest suggestions. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Paul Bremner, is Associate Professor in Human-Robot Interaction at Br...

ChatGPT4o & my friend Matt - Experiment: human robot interview 11.05.2025

Human Robot Interview - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's episode was experimental. With the help of my friend Matt I attempted something I've been thinking about for a while. A human robot interaction - with ChatGPT as the robot. Extra links: And...

Kenny Young - AURA, Humanoid robots, Jankiness, Singing 07.03.2025

Composer and sound designer for games - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Kenny Young, is a 9x academy nominated composer and sound designer for games (he got one more since I recorded the intro!!) Kenny's website - https://www.audbod.com/...

Prof Kerstin Fischer - Depiction, Expectation, Interaction research with robots 23.01.2025

Director of the Human-Robot Interaction Lab Sønderborg - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Professor Kerstin Fischer from University of Southern Denmark, she is Director of the Human-Robot Interaction Lab Sønderborg and Professor (MSO)...

Evan Ratliff - Shell Game, Voice Agents, AI, Human Robot Interactions 20.12.2024

Writer/Host Shell Game Podcast - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Evan Ratliff, is the writer and host of the 2024 smash hit podcast Shell Game. He is also an award winning investigative journalist and author, having written about tec...

Prof Roger Moore - Uncanny Valley, Interaction, Speech, History of Speech Synthesis 22.11.2024

Professor of Spoken Language Processing at the University of Sheffield - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Professor Roger Moore, is Professor of Spoken Language Processing at the University of Sheffield. He was head of the UK Govt’s Speech...

Gabriel Skantze - Furhat, Speech, Persona, LLMs, Gaze, Hospitals/Schools 18.10.2024

Chief Scientist at Furhat Robotics - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Gabriel Skantze, is the Chief Scientist at Furhat Robotics - a robotics company based in Sweden. He is also Professor in Speech Communication and Technology, with a spec...

Calle Stenqvist - Audio branding, physical installations, biometric sensors 20.09.2024

Creative Director at Plan8 - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest, Calle Stenqvist, is the Creative Director for Plan8 - a design agency for sound. Plan8 Website - https://plan8.se/ Calle's LinkedIn - https://se.linkedin.com/in/calle-stenqvist-...

Harrison Zafrin - UX, Devices, 8ms sounds, Delightful design 22.08.2024

UX Sound Designer - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest is UX sound designer Harrison Zafrin who, in his words, "nobody cares more about 8ms sound effects." Harrison works to design sound for multi-sensory interactions on technological devices...

Mike Forst - Amazon Astro, Character, Collaborative creation, 3 channels of communication 19.07.2024

Amazon Astro - Audio Lead & Character Lead - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest is composer and sound designer Mike Forst who released Amazon's home companion robot Astro. Mike worked as Audio Lead and then became Character Lead on that p...

Tracy Bush - R2D2, Toys, Technical audio implementation 14.06.2024

Audio Lead for Sphero - R2D2, BB8, Lightning McQueen - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This month's guest is composer and sound designer Tracy Bush who worked at robotics company Sphero on several licensed robots from film - R2D2, BB8, Lightning McQueen. Tra...

Ben Gabaldon - Robot companions, Education, Small speakers 17.05.2024

Lead Audio for Anki - Vector / Cozmo - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This episode’s guest is Ben Gabaldon, formerly Audio Lead for robotics company Anki, where he shipped audio for robots Cozmo and Vector. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-gabaldon...

Dr Iain McGregor - HRI, Uncanny valley, Dynamic communication 12.04.2024

Associate Professor of Sound Design - Centre for Interaction Design - Napier Edinburgh University - Interviews on the topic of sound for human-robot interactions. Game audio designer Ali Tocher enjoys long form conversations with a wide range of guests. _______ Show notes: This episode’s guest is Dr Iain McGregor, an Associate Professor of sound design at Edinburgh’s Napier University. Linkedin: h...

Series Introduction 11.04.2024

Introducing What Do Robots Sound Like? - An interview podcast about sound for human robot interactions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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