Lex Fridman Podcast #97 – Sertac Karaman: Robots That Fly and Robots That Drive
May 20, 2020
Sertac Karaman, a professor at MIT and co-founder of Optimus Ride, shares his expertise in robotics and autonomous vehicles. He dives into the fascinating differences between flying and driving robots, including the potential for flying cars. The discussion touches on the crucial role of machine learning and simulation in enhancing robotic perception. Sertac also contrasts the strategies of major companies like Waymo and Tesla in the autonomous vehicle race and explores the ongoing debate between LiDAR and camera-based systems, shedding light on the future of urban transportation.
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Episode notes
Autonomous Flight vs. Driving
- Autonomous flying is currently easier for tasks like consumer drones.
- Large-scale autonomous flight for transportation or logistics is harder than autonomous driving.
Challenges of Scale in Robotics
- Deploying robots at scale in human environments presents significant challenges, from algorithms to societal issues.
- High-density autonomous vehicle deployment will likely happen with cars first due to easier safety management on the ground.
Flying Car Feasibility
- Utilizing underutilized agile airspace (above stone-throwing range but below large aircraft) presents significant opportunities.
- Key technical challenges include building safe, complex software and simulating human behavior.