The Future of Robotics: Hype, Breakthroughs, and Challenges with Professor Russ Tedrake

Host Kara Miller sits down with MIT Professor Russ Tedrake, a leading researcher in robotics and AI at CSAIL to explore the rapidly accelerating world of humanoid and intelligent robots. Tedrake takes us behind the scenes of the robotics revolution—from the cultural resistance and skepticism, to the moment everything shifted. Today, major tech leaders are declaring humanoid robots “the biggest product in human history.” But is that true? Is it hype, or are we on the edge of a real technological turning point? Topics Include: 01:00 - The Ramp Up of Robots 03:00 - Where Will We See Robots? 07:44 - Will Robots Replace Humans Soon? 13:02 - Robots Entering the Workforce 15:32 - Robots and Low Birth Rates 20:06 - Robots and Humans Working in the Same Space 24:57 - AI Changed the Trajectory of Robots 26:42 - The Barriers of a Personal Robot 31:37 - The Relationship between Academia and Companies 35:37 - Will You Have a Robot in the Home in Five Years? They explore why COVID fundamentally changed how the world views automation and robotics, and dive into the hardest technical challenges in robotics, revealing why the real world is nothing like chess or chatbots. We talk about how AI, control theory, and physical dynamics must work together to create true intelligence, and discuss why humanoid robots may soon become as common and transformative as smartphones. Finally, we examine the growing gap between digital intelligence and embodied intelligence in the physical world, and what it will take to bridge it. Episodes, listener discounts, meet the host, and more can be found here: https://csail.mit.edu/podcast Connect with CSAIL Alliances: On our site: cap.csail.mit.edu/about-us/meet-our-team On LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/mit-csail #Robotics #ArtificialIntelligence #HumanoidRobots #FutureOfWork #AIInnovation #TechPodcast #MachineLearning #Automatio