Audrow Nash Podcast

Hosted by Audrow Nash

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Oct 2025

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In-depth, unscripted conversations with CEOs, CTOs, and thought leaders in the robotics industry, covering cutting-edge technology, business strategies, and the future of automation.

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24 recent

August 6, 2024Episode 31 hr 34 min

Can Data-Driven Insurance Make Robots Safer and More Affordable?

Dive into the fascinating world of robotics insurance with Sergey Litvinenko, co-founder and CEO of Koop AI. Discover how data-driven insurance is revolutionizing the robotics industry, making robots safer and more affordable. This episode is perfect for tech enthusiasts, robotics professionals, and anyone curious about the future of AI and automation. Links: - Koop AI Website: https://www.koop.ai/ - Sergey Litvinenko LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergey-from-koop - Koop AI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/koop-ai - Audrow Nash Podcast: https://www.audrownashpodcast.com/ - Transcript: https://audrownashpodcast.com/posts/11-koop Outline: - (0:00) - Start - (1:46) - Introduction and Background - (2:37) - Understanding Insurance and Underwriting - (4:07) - Koop's Focus on Robotics - (6:41) - The Journey to Koop Insurance - (11:38) - Risk Assessment and Data Collection - (18:00) - Challenges in New Robotics Domains - (32:56) - Training and Methodology for Underwriters - (47:12) - Insurance Validity and Performance Guarantees - (48:34) - Handling Erroneous Data and Misrepresentation - (50:44) - Human vs. Robot Behavior in Insurance - (52:20) - Robotics Insurance Metrics and Losses - (54:26) - Evaluating AI and Edge Cases in Robotics - (1:04:22) - Data Collection and Utilization in Robotics - (1:29:41) - Future Vision and Expansion of Koop

February 26, 2025Episode 1958 min

What Happens When Robotics Experts Gather in Secret?

Ever wonder what happens when robotics experts gather in a secret location to share their cutting-edge work? In this special episode, I bring you live interviews from a stealth robotics event between Austin and San Antonio. I talk with - Kyle Morgenstein, PhD student at UT Austin working on making legged robots safe in human environments; - David Venegas, Head of Operations at Durin, who's automating critical tasks in mining exploration; and - Barrett Ames, co-founder of BotBuilt, whose robots are revolutionizing home construction. You'll like this interview if you're interested in the future of robotics across different industries, from research to startups, and how automation is solving real-world problems in safety, mining, and construction. TRANSCRIPT - https://audrownashpodcast.com/posts/19-texas-secret/transcript EPISODE LINKS - March 8th event invite: https://lu.ma/vqi7e7xe?tk=CpLKNx - Kyle Morgenstein's website: https://www.kylemorgenstein.com/ - Human Centered Robotics Lab: https://sites.utexas.edu/hcrl/ - Durin's website: https://www.durin.com/ - BotBuilt's website: https://www.botbuilt.com/ PODCAST LINKS - Podcast Website: https://audrownashpodcast.com/ - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I?si=6c92796bf9554162 TIMECODES (0:00) Start (1:21) Kyle: Legged Robot Safety (3:55) Improving Robot Safety for Humans (7:25) Humanoid Robots: Progress & Future (10:39) Boston Dynamics vs. Unitree (12:29) Reward Models for Safer Robots (15:12) Foundation Models: Impact on Data & Timelines (17:18) Teleoperation Efficiency (19:25) Training Robots Using YouTube Data (20:48) David: Mining Basics (29:10) Automating Mining Tasks (34:49) Access Challenges in Excavation (36:58) Use of Simulation (38:03) Barrett: Construction Robots (41:42) Custom Home Focus (43:07) Botbuilt’s Approach (44:16) Botbuilt’s Data Sourcing (49:48) Working With Robots (50:09) Perception Stack (52:21) Handling Lumber Challenges (53:39) Margins vs. Pre-Fab Homes (53:58) Transport Costs (56:03) Botbuilt’s Lifecycle (58:18) Outro

January 7, 20251 hr 15 min

ROSCon 2024 Highlights: Conversations with Dexory, Asimovo, and ZettaScale

In this episode, I share several conversations from ROSCon 2024 in Denmark with leaders building the future of robotics. First, I talk with Marcus Scheunemann, Head of Autonomy at Dexory, about their rapid growth in warehouse robotics. Dexory has scaled from 0 to 90+ robots in just 2 years by focusing heavily on testing infrastructure and getting robots to customers quickly. Next, I speak with Christine Fraser, CEO and founder of Asimovo, about their developer platform that makes it easier for robotics teams to collaborate. Built on Kubernetes, their platform lets teams work together seamlessly whether developing locally or in the cloud. Finally, I chat with Angelo Corsaro, CEO and CTO of ZettaScale Technologies, about Zenoh - the future middleware for ROS 2. We discuss how Zenoh solves key limitations of DDS and enables true end-to-end communication from microcontrollers to the cloud. You'll like these interviews if you're interested in: - Scaling robotics companies and testing infrastructure - Developer tools for robotics teams - The future of ROS 2 middleware - Building successful robotics companies TRANSCRIPT - https://audrownashpodcast.com/posts/16-roscon/transcript EPISODE LINKS - ROSCon 2024 site: https://roscon.ros.org/2024/ - Dexory: https://www.dexory.com/ - Asimovo: https://asimovo.com/ - ZettaScale: https://www.zettascale.tech/ TIMECODES (0:00) Start (2:12) Introduction to Dexory (3:26) How Dexory Landed Series B (7:12) The Problem and the Robot’s Solution (11:12) The Software Behind Dexory (14:03) Advocating for More Testing When Management Prioritizes New Features (17:20) Where Dexory Is Heading in the Next 2 to 5 Years (19:25) Introduction to Asimovo (21:20) Creating Solutions for Every Need (23:59) Supporting Diverse Workflows Across Platforms (29:42) How Clusters Run Across Platforms (34:11) Company Progress and Adoption (40:09) One Year Projections and Goals (43:09) Where To Learn More (44:37) Introduction to ZettaScale (49:56) How Distributed Queries Work (53:15) Breaking Down Routing and Synchronization (1:01:23) Solving DDS Challenges and ROS 2 Impact (1:05:34) The Story Behind the Company Name (1:07:56) Why ROS and How It’s Integrated (1:13:16) Future Plans for the Next 1 to 3 Years

July 11, 2024Episode 102 hr 5 min

Hungry for Innovation: Is AI the Key to Fixing Food Industry Labor Issues?

Discover how AI is revolutionizing the food industry, from tackling labor shortages to enhancing efficiency and innovation. You'll like this if you're interested in the future of food production, AI applications in business, or solving complex industry challenges through technology. With Chef Robotic's Founder and CEO, Rajat Bhageria. EPISODE LINKS - Full transcript: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts/10-hungry-for-innovation-is-ai-the-key-to-fixing-food-industry-labor-issues.html - Chef Robotic's Website: https://www.chefrobotics.ai/ - Chef Robotic's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chef-robotics/ - Rajat Bhageria's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajatbhageria/ PODCAST LINKS - Watch and discuss on 𝕏: https://www.x.com/audrow - Watch or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I - Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Main podcast site: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/audrow1 - RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/e2666f60/podcast/rss - Full transcripts: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts - Podcast Github: https://github.com/audrow-nash-podcast OUTLINE (0:00) - Start (1:36) - Introduction to Rajat and Chef Robotics (3:03) - Early Ventures and the Power of AI (5:51) - Identifying the Market Opportunity (8:15) - Challenges in Food Industry Automation (13:13) - Pivoting to High Mix Manufacturing (42:33) - Bootstrapping AI for Real-World Robotics (45:23) - Expanding to New Markets and Applications (48:46) - Challenges in Food Manipulation (1:02:06) - Leveraging Learning from Demonstration (1:23:12) - Field Replaceable Units and Service Strategy (1:24:05) - Scaling and Global Deployment (1:25:25) - Hardware Upgrades and Modularity (1:29:45) - AI and Robotics Industry Trends (1:36:58) - Challenges in Robotics Production (1:53:45) - Hiring the Best People

June 18, 2024Episode 91 hr 48 min

How to Accelerate Robotics Startups? A Better Data Visualization Story

Robotics is hard. One way to make it less hard is good tooling for visualization. You'll like this interview if you want to understand the data from your robot or are interested in opportunities around robotics developer tooling. With Adrian Macneil from Foxglove. EPISODE LINKS - Full transcript: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts/9-how-to-accelerate-robotics-startups-a-better-data-visualization-story.html - Actuate's Website: https://actuate.foxglove.dev/ - Foxglove's Website: https://foxglove.dev/ - Foxglove's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foxglovedev/ - Adrian's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianmacneil/ PODCAST LINKS - Watch and discuss on 𝕏: https://www.x.com/audrow - Watch or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I - Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Main podcast site: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/audrow1 - RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/e2666f60/podcast/rss - Full transcripts: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts - Podcast Github: https://github.com/audrow-nash-podcast OUTLINE (0:00) - Start (1:28) - Introduction to Adrian Macneil and Foxglove (1:43) - The Genesis of Foxglove (4:55) - Challenges in Robotics Data Logging (7:20) - MCAP: A New Standard for Robotics Logging (18:35) - Data Upload and Ingestion in Robotics (30:46) - Cloud Indexing and Data Management (35:53) - Visualization in Robotics (39:05) - Performance and Platform Considerations (51:54) - Extensibility and Customization (56:50) - The Evolution of Foxglove Visualizer (58:17) - Customizing Visualizations with Plugins and Extensions (1:00:23) - Advanced Visualization Techniques and Extensions (1:06:57) - WebAssembly and Performance Enhancements (1:08:36) - Foxglove's Role in Robotics Simulation (1:12:30) - Challenges and Future Directions in Robotics (1:18:48) - Opportunities in Robotics Tooling (1:24:55) - The Shift from Open Source to Closed Source and Foxglove 2.0 (1:41:59) - Actuate Conference: Bringing Robotics Developers Together

March 19, 2024Episode 61 hr 58 min

OSRA: Pioneering a Sustainable Open Source Ecosystem for Robotics

What is the Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA) and how is it pioneering a sustainable open source ecosystem for robotics? You'll like this interview if you're interested in the open source robotics ecosystem and how it's evolving. With Geoff Biggs from Open Robotics and Tully Foote from Open Robotics and Intrinsic. EPISODE LINKS - Full transcript: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts/6-osra-pioneering-a-sustainable-open-source-ecosystem-for-robotics.html - OSRA's website: TODO - Open Robotics' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-source-robotics-foundation/ - Open Robotics' website: https://www.openrobotics.org/ PODCAST LINKS - Watch and discuss on 𝕏: https://www.x.com/audrow - Watch or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I - Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Main podcast site: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/audrow1 - RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/e2666f60/podcast/rss - Full transcripts: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts - Podcast Github: https://github.com/audrow-nash-podcast OUTLINE (0:00) - Episode intro (2:47) - Willow Garage and Open Robotics Lore (5:38) - Player and ROS lore (9:06) - Willow Garage and the Birth of Open Robotics (13:17) - Tully and Geoff's roles in Open Robotics (22:13) - Why make ROS 2 (24:39) - Player and ROS 2 (25:42) - Towards a robot revolution (29:16) - Gazebo for robot simulation (34:39) - OpenRMF project at Open Rob (38:22) - Important, but often forgotten: Open Robotics' infrastructure (44:42) - Open Robotics before the Intrinsic Acquisition (47:38) - Big steps for the ROS community we can take because of Intrinsic (Zenoh) (51:41) - Rust for robotics (53:27) - Intrinsic's acquisition of Open Robotics (58:31) - OSRF since the Intrinsic acquisition of OSRC (1:01:33) - How former OSRC folks contribute to OSRF now (1:04:28) - Announcing OSRA! (1:07:27) - Motivation for OSRA (1:15:20) - Merit-based contributors (1:18:06) - OSRA Consortium (1:20:23) - Why companies might want to join the OSRA consortium (1:23:55) - OSRA membership types (1:29:18) - Meritocratic contributors + how to mentor and get involved (1:32:26) - Mentorship process (1:34:25) - The value of contributing to open source software (1:39:19) - OSRA's badging system for contributors (1:42:52) - Educating more people to be roboticists (1:47:26) - Robotics in the next 5 years (1:52:10) - Why open source? (1:55:36) - Final thoughts

March 18, 2024Episode 51 hr 43 min

The State of Robotics report in 2024: Early Days, but Great Potential

What are trends in robotics investment? You'll like this interview if you're interested in the macro trends in robotics and how investors see the space. With Sanjay Aggarwal from F-Prime Capital. EPISODE LINKS - Full transcript: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts/5-the-state-of-robotics-report-in-2024-early-days-but-great-potential.html - 2024 State of Robotics report: https://fprimecapital.com/robotics - Sanjay Aggarwal's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaykaggarwal/ - F-Prime Capital's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/f-prime-capital-partners/ - F-Prime Capital's Website: https://fprimecapital.com/ PODCAST LINKS - Watch and discuss on 𝕏: https://www.x.com/audrow - Watch or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I - Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Main podcast site: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/audrow1 - RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/e2666f60/podcast/rss - Full transcripts: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts - Podcast Github: https://github.com/audrow-nash-podcast OUTLINE (0:00) - Episode intro (2:13) - Introducing Sanjay and F-Prime (4:40) - Sanjay's background (11:31) - Investing in Autonomous Vehicles then industrial robots (15:29) - F-Primes portfolio of robotics companies (26:55) - A new type of robotics founder (28:21) - Humanoids (35:04) - F-Prime's State of Robotics report (39:29) - Macro forces for declining investment cash (46:32) - Why are companies not IPO'ing lately? (48:51) - High interest rates and how that effects the VC business model (55:02) - Challenges in raising B & C investment rounds (1:04:31) - Why we're in the early days in robotics (1:09:23) - Will labor shortages affect robotics investments? (1:12:00) - How reliable should systems be? + Human-in-the-loop (1:17:20) - Common pitfalls to avoid for your robotics company (1:20:27) - How to make your company VERY attractive to investors (1:23:36) - Biggest challenges in robotics (1:25:44) - Opportunities for new robotics companies (1:27:53) - How would you start a new robotics company? (1:32:12) - How to pick a good investor for your series A? (1:34:39) - Trends in the robotics industry (1:40:28) - Future of robotics

June 4, 2024Episode 81 hr 18 min

Can You Ship a Factory? A Bold Vision to Make Homes More Affordable

Can robots help fix the housing crisis? Cuby thinks so. You'll like this interview if you're interested in automation in construction, the idea of a factory to make factories, and doing more engineering with less capital. With Oleg Kandrashou and Aleks Gampel from Cuby. EPISODE LINKS - Full transcript: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts/8-can-you-ship-a-factory-a-bold-vision-to-make-homes-more-affordable.html - Cuby's Website: https://www.cubytechnologies.com/ - Cuby's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/buildwithcuby/ - Oleg's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olegkondrashov/ - Aleks' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamaleksandrgampel/ PODCAST LINKS - Watch and discuss on 𝕏: https://www.x.com/audrow - Watch or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I - Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Main podcast site: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/audrow1 - RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/e2666f60/podcast/rss - Full transcripts: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts - Podcast Github: https://github.com/audrow-nash-podcast OUTLINE (0:00) - Episode Intro (1:27) - Meet the Founders: Oleg and Aleks Introduce Themselves (2:23) - What is Cuby? An Overview of Mobile Microfactories (7:07) - Aleks' Journey: From Real Estate to PropTech to Cuby (13:37) - Inside the R&D Center: A Tour of Cuby's Innovations (19:28) - The Vector Theory: Oleg's Unique Management Philosophy (23:42) - Addressing the Housing Crisis: The Need for Innovation (31:30) - The Construction Process: Challenges and Solutions (34:30) - Foundation to Finish: Building with Cuby's Technology (38:02) - Why Shipping Containers? The Efficiency of Factory in a Box (39:54) - Challenges and Competitors (40:44) - Customizing Shipping Containers (41:11) - Engineering and Production Innovations (45:42) - Cost Efficiency and Global Talent (47:47) - Comparing Engineering Schools (55:15) - Productizing Factories (1:00:56) - Should You Invest? Expected Cashflow from a Mobile Micro Factory (1:04:05) - Assembling Houses with Humanoids (1:09:13) - Cuby's Software Setup (1:13:48) - Scaling and Future Plans

November 14, 2023Episode 11 hr 45 min

Rethinking Robotics: Electric Sheep's Journey to Safer, Smarter Machines

How would you make ChatGPT but for the physical world? That's what Electric Sheep Robotics is working on. It's an audacious goal, and to accomplish it, they're doing many things fundamentally different than most robotics companies. You'll enjoy this interview if you're interested in how AI and robotics fit together in a real application and if you want to see a new robotics business model that will probably become very popular. Nag Murty is the Founder and CEO of Electric Sheep, and Mike Laskey is the VP of Autonomy at Electric Sheep. EPISODE LINKS - Full transcript: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts/1-rethinking-robotics-electric-sheep-s-journey-to-safer-smarter-machines.html - Electric Sheep's Website: https://sheeprobotics.ai/ - Electric Sheep's X: https://twitter.com/sheeprobotics - Electric Sheep's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/electric-sheep-robotics/ PODCAST LINKS - Watch and discuss on X: https://www.x.com/audrow - Watch or listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I - Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Main podcast site: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/audrow1 - RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/e2666f60/podcast/rss - Full transcripts: https://audrow-nash-podcast.github.io/transcripts OUTLINE (00:00:00) - Start (00:01:32) - Introducing Nag + Mike + Electric Sheep (00:02:51) - Large world models (00:06:24) - Learning physics (00:10:08) - Robot sensors (00:17:57) - Introducing ES1 as CatGPT (00:20:17) - ES1’s input / output (00:21:52) - End-to-end learning for robots (00:26:51) - Getting data (00:27:47) - Electric Sheep’s background (00:30:49) - Business philosophy at Electric Sheep (00:33:19) - Sim-to-real + long tail events (00:36:38) - ChatGPT (00:42:01) - Building for safety (00:49:25) - Safety with AI (00:54:23) - Apple’s surprise new features (00:58:06) - Generalizing learnings for other tasks, like snowplowing (01:03:35) - AI architecture (01:07:09) - Training to mow straight lines (01:11:19) - Why not Robot-as-a-Service? (01:17:08) - Boring businesses + robots + AI (01:24:34) - How do we build the data model? (01:29:07) - Getting into dexterous tasks (01:30:28) - Building a monopoly (01:31:23) - Advice for our new world of AI (01:40:37) - Links and contact info (01:41:33) - Hanging out

October 7, 2025Episode 251 hr 29 min

What If Robots Actually Did the Most Important Jobs in the World?

What if robots stopped doing just the simple, repetitive work and instead took on the most important, life-changing jobs in the world? I talk with Fred Parietti, Co-founder and CEO of Multiply Labs, about how advanced robotics can transform pharmaceutical manufacturing by automating the complex and high-value tasks that save lives. You'll like this interview if you're interested in robotics, automation in healthcare, and how technology can tackle some of the toughest challenges in next-generation medicine. TRANSCRIPT - https://audrownashpodcast.com/episodes/25-multiplylabs EPISODE LINKS - Fred Parietti's website: http://federicoparietti.com - Fred Parietti's X: https://x.com/FredParietti - Fred Parietti's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-parietti - Multiply Labs website: https://multiplylabs.com - Multiply Labs X: https://x.com/multiplylabs - Multiply Labs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/multiply-labs PODCAST LINKS - Podcast Website: https://audrownashpodcast.com/ - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@audrow - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/audrow-nash-podcast/id1716486786 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74jWpWiLwsasY2QHtDcl8I?si=6c92796bf9554162 TIMECODES (0:00) Start (0:53) Multiply Labs Overview (7:17) Pharma Robotics Gap (16:18) Next-Gen Pharma (34:04) Multiply Labs Automation (43:58) Deployment Size (1:00:06) Thoughts on Humanoids (1:10:02) Training Process (1:21:45) High-Value Problems (1:24:58) Key Takeaways