Clone: Musculoskeletal, super-intelligent androids — straight out of sci-fi

Robots built like humans.

On High Bit, Dhanush Radhakrishnan, cofounder & CEO of Clone, explains how they’re letting biology set the blueprint for musculoskeletal, super-intelligent androids — synthetic humans straight out of sci-fi.

Powered by artificial muscles instead of motors and attached to anatomically accurate skeletons, Clone is building robots designed for human-level motion, durability, and full-body control.

Dhanush explains the early engineering choices that helped them move fast, their data strategy (motion capture, teleoperation, egocentric video), and his excitement about a future untethered biped.

Hosted by Brett Gibson, managing partner at Initialized.

Content:

(00:00) From Fragile to Durable

(00:37) Musculoskeletal Androids

(02:03) Why Artificial Muscles

(04:10) Starting Clone in Poland

(06:29) Removing Early Sensors

(10:14) The Durability Challenge

(14:10) Anatomy as Blueprint

(16:22) Building Custom Valves

(18:17) Hand to Full Body

(24:40) Prototyping with Pneumatics

(29:26) Delaying Tactile Skin

(32:39) Data: MOCAP + Teleop

(45:20) Toward an Untethered Biped

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