A Stanford physicist leaves academia to build open-source software for humanoid robots? I talked to OpenMind founder Jan Liphardt: OpenMind a new robotics company building an open-source, AI-native operating system for humanoid robots.
We talk about being born in Germany, his upbringing in Michigan, early love for taking things apart, and how his path led from biochemistry at Reed to a PhD at Cambridge, then faculty roles at Berkeley and Stanford.
Jan shares why he made the leap from academia to entrepreneurship, how a Nature paper and a Christmas Eve email nudged him out of the lab, and what drives his belief in transparency, modularity, and decentralized control for intelligent machines.
We also discuss OpenMind’s strategy, where robots download their rulebooks from Ethereum, and why he thinks humanoids won't fold your laundry... but could teach your kids or assist in hospitals.
Building Deep Tech with Ilir Aliu