Building Deep Tech with Ilir Aliu

Tom Zhang, founder and CEO of Daxo Robotics: with over 100 actuators they challenge everything we thought we knew about dexterity.In this episode, we talk about his journey from growing up in a mountain village in China to launching one of the most talked-about robotics startups of 2025.Tom shares how early life on a family orchard shaped his fascination with building and problem-solving, what he learned during his years at Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab, and why he believes the robotics industry has been climbing the wrong mountain by chasing simplicity instead of embracing complexity.We explore the story behind Daxo’s “Muscle v0” hand, how it was built in days with 108 tiny motors and off-the-shelf materials, and why redundancy, not minimalism, might hold the key to human-level adaptability. Tom also talks about his earlier success in agricultural robotics, raising over a million dollars in pre-seed funding, and what it takes to pivot from apple orchards to general-purpose robot dexterity.If you’re interested in robotics, entrepreneurship, or the mindset of founders who challenge fundamental assumptions, you’ll want to hear this conversation with Tom.

Maximilian Schilling, co-founder and CEO of warmwind, is building a new kind of browser where AI works like a digital employee: clicking, typing, and navigating apps visually instead of through APIs. In this episode, we talk about his mission to make automation transparent, reliable, and accessible for every business, and how he’s building one of Europe’s most ambitious AI startups from Jena, Germany.We dive into Max’s story, from growing up in a family that both inspired and warned him against entrepreneurship, to starting his first business at 14, and selling his second before launching Warmwind. He shares how financial independence as a teenager shaped his drive, why failure never felt like a real risk, and how curiosity (not comfort) has guided every decision he’s made.Max also explains Warmwind’s approach to building Warmwind OS, a browser-based system where AI agents automate workflows for small and medium businesses by acting on the screen instead of behind closed APIs. We talk about building reliable software, hiring in Europe, retraining vision-first AI models, and why he believes European founders should channel their “rage to compete” into world-class products.If you’re interested in AI, automation, or the mindset behind building bold companies from scratch, you’ll love this conversation with Max.

Robots still need weeks of coding to learn one new task. Xavier (Tianhao) Chi is changing that with Mbodi AI:Mbodi helps industrial robots learn through language and demonstration. No coding, no engineers, just simple instruction. We talk about how his team is closing the gap between advanced AI research and real factory floors, and what that means for the future of automation.Xavier shares his path from growing up in Shenyang to leading Google Public DNS, one of the internet’s core services, and why he left to build Mbodi with his co-founder. He explains why the next wave of robotics will come from adaptable software, not humanoids.We also talk about risk, ambition, and what it takes to move from stable engineering to startup chaos. Xavier breaks down Mbodi’s hybrid AI approach, its sub-0.5 second response times, and how their partnership with ABB is turning it into real deployments.A must-listen for anyone building in robotics, AI, or industrial automation.

Ashish Kapoor is building General Robotics to solve the biggest deployment problem in robotics: Getting real robots to work in the real world. In this episode, he shares how he’s doing it, and why most robotics stacks aren’t built to scale.We talk about growing up in India, studying at IIT and MIT, and how his mindset shifted from solving hard problems to finding the right ones. Ashish shares why he left research to start General Robotics, the limits of today’s robotics stacks, and how Grid aims to solve the deployment bottleneck, especially for enterprises drowning in PoCs and fragmented software.He also opens up about his background in aviation, building his own airplane, and how he's betting on cloud-first skills infrastructure while others chase edge. This one’s packed with insight from someone who’s worked across every layer of the robotics stack... and is now trying to make it all work in the real world.

In this episode, I talk with Brian Walker, founder and CEO of REVEL, the company building the simulation backbone for humanoid robotics. Brian’s journey started far from Silicon Valley: growing up in the Czech Republic and working on Hollywood sets like Avatar and The Mandalorian, where he helped pioneer real-time XR production.We talk about what pulled him from filmmaking into robotics, and how sci-fi inspired him to stop watching the future and start building it. Brian shares why he founded REVEL to create a massive library of digital twins, turning real-world products into high-fidelity simulation assets so robots can train on them before ever touching them.His goal? To make every product “robot-ready” and compress a decade of physical experience into just hours of training.We also dive into his views on self-education, outsider thinking, and why he acquired a startup during a 20-hour hackathon, with a mic-drop and a €20K offer.If you’re into robotics, simulation, or stories of wild career pivots, don’t miss this one.

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.

🎙️ I talked with Bob van Luijt, co-founder and CEO of Weaviate, the open-source vector database that's become core infrastructure for AI-native applications.We talk about how Bob grew up in a small Dutch town, started coding in QBasic, and built his first software company while still in school. Then came the unexpected turn: jazz. He shares how studying music (from a conservatory in the Netherlands to Berklee in Boston) taught him grit, deep focus, and how to think in systems. For Bob, writing code and playing music happen in the same part of the brain.We talk about how Weaviate began as a side project fueled by curiosity about the distance between words, and how that simple idea turned into one of the most used vector databases in the world. Bob explains how the release of transformer models unlocked everything, and how he's stayed focused on helping real developers build, not just chasing hype.We also get into his philosophy on building companies, how he thinks about talent and education, and why he believes too much "academic thinking" blocks real potential. Bob’s not in it for the ego or the exit... he’s building tools for other builders.

In this episode, I talk with Vikash Kumar, Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon and founder of MyoLab.AI, where he’s building human-embodied AI systems:We talk about growing up in a small Indian town, the influence of his mother on his early learning, and how a robotics club at IIT Kharagpur set him on a 15-year path through the world’s top labs.From a PhD at the University of Washington, to OpenAI, Google Brain, Meta FAIR, and now his own company! Vikash shares how his curiosity evolved from tinkering with machines to uncovering the fundamentals of embodied intelligence, and why he believes the future of AI is physical, not just linguistic.He also explains the bold vision behind MyoLab: building “digital twins” that are physiologically and behaviorally lifelike; AI companions that understand not just what you say, but who you are. We talk about how this intersects with robotics, health, memory, and agency, and why the path to general intelligence may start in the body, not the cloud.

I talked with Brennand Pierce, founder and CEO ofKinisi Robotics, where he’s building one-armed mobile manipulators:Designed to automate warehouse tasks like picking, palletizing, and labeling and many more.After nearly two decades in robotics, Bren brings a rare mix of academic depth, startup experience, and hands-on engineering to the conversation.We talk about growing up fascinated by sci-fi and Japanese hobby robots, studying computer science at Exeter, earning a Master’s at the Bristol Robotics Lab, and completing his PhD in humanoid robotics at the Technical University of Munich. Bren shares what he learned building humanoids, founding three robotics companies; including co-founding Bear Robotics, which shipped over 25,000 service robots, and why he now believes the future belongs to practical, task-optimized robots rather than overpromised humanoids.We also look into Kinisi’s approach to solving real-world deployment challenges, lessons from past robotics booms, and what it takes to move from flashy demos to robots that actually work in production.

In this conversation, Aaron Tan, PhD, the founder of Syncere, delves into the world of home robotics, discussing his viral concept video for a robotic lamp, Lume. He shares his journey from Taiwan to Canada, sparked by a Lego Mindstorms kit that ignited his passion for robotics. Aaron explores the design inspiration from Beauty and the Beast, contrasts human-like robotics with practicality, and reveals customer insights gained from hands-on research. With a paid waitlist strategy, he validates consumer excitement for innovative home tech.