The Robot Report Podcast

Matt Casella from Richtech discusses the Adam bartending robot, and Chris Padwick from John Deere talks about creating vision models for spraying weeds. Both use NVIDIA technology. Topics include AI-powered robots in hospitality and advancements in robotic innovations in agriculture.

This week, the entire The Robot Report editorial staff is on the show to discuss the highlights of the 2024 RBR50 Innovation Awards that were announced earlier this week. Host Steve Crowe discusses the awards with Mike Oitzman, Eugene Demaitre, and Brianna Wessling. You can view all of the award winners and the writeups of their 2024 winning innovation on The Robot Report website: https://www.therobotreport.com/rbr50-2024/ All of this year's winners will be honored at the inaugural RBR50 Gala at the 2024 Robotics Summit and Expo, in Boston, on May 1. There's still time to register: https://www.roboticssummit.com/ Plus, you'll be able to see many of the innovations live at the RBR50 pavilion on the expo floor. Congrats to all of this years honorees.

Jamie Lee, Managing Partner at Tamarack Global, discusses the importance of strong leaders and teams in robotics investments. He shares insights on evaluating proposals and warning signs. The podcast also explores the impact of humanoids in robotics, upcoming industry events, and the potential of robotic labor revolution.

Recap of NVIDIA GTC24 event and R24 robotics event in Denmark. Highlights include AI advancements, demos, collaborations, and discussions on job displacement. Exploration of Danish robotics cluster, wind turbine manufacturing, and upcoming Robotics Summit in Boston. NVIDIA's new Blackwell chip and advancements in humanoid robots showcased at the event. Implications of new AI architecture on graphics, motion planning, and global impact discussed.

This week host Steve Crowe reviews what he saw and learned while attending MODEX in Atlanta GA earlier in the week. Steve highlights the new products and new features for the many automation providers at the show. He also shares some side conversations and checks the pulse of the warehousing and material handling industry. Don't miss this episode if you weren't able to attend the show yourself.

Nag Murty and Michael Laskey from Electric Sheep discuss AI-powered autonomous mowers revolutionizing commercial landscaping. They cover the company's unique business model, vertical integration strategy, and field workforce training. The podcast explores the challenges and potential of creating intelligent agents with common sense in the AI-powered landscaping industry, focusing on scalability, efficiency, and real-world simulation-based learning.

Eric Adamson, CEO and co-founder of Tortuga, joins us in this episode to discuss agricultural robotics. Tortuga is one of the agtech companies leading the charge to transform greenhouse farming with their autonomous harvesting robots. Eric discusses the difficulties and successes of developing robots for use in greenhouses, shedding light on the processes involved in harvesting strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes. This episode offers an intriguing look into how technology and agriculture are influencing the future of food production, from overcoming design limits to investigating creative alternatives. We also catch up on the news of the week, including the announcement of $675M in a Series B investment round taken by humanoid developer Figure.

On the show this week, we have a conversation with Thomas Tang, CEO and co-founder of Anyware Robotics. Anyware Robotics is launching an autonomous trailer unloading solution, that will make its debut at MODEX 2024. We also catch up with Matt Wicks, Sr Director and robotics automation business leader with Zebra Technology. Matt is responsible for the Fetch Robotics products at Zebra, and brings us up to speed on the AMR portfolio.

On the show today, we interview Dr Aaron Ames, Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering and Control and Dynamical Systems at CalTech. Dr Ames is also a cofounder and Chief Scientist of 3Laws - a company, providing safety-critical controls architecture for robotics companies. We talk about the last decade of development for bipedal locomotion and the recent evolution of humanoid robots since Dr Ames has been researching and investigating this interesting research area since his postdoc days. You'll also learn about the core technology that's driving robotic safety algorithms and why 3Laws came together to deliver a solution for any robotic system. You can learn more about 3Law on the web at:3lawsrobotics.io

Learn about Zipline's future with insights from the CTO and chief droid engineer. Discover the design of the innovative ZIP delivery 'Droid' and the advancements in drone technology for precision delivery. Explore the challenges and achievements of navigating regulatory standards and safety metrics in the delivery services industry.