Join us each week as we explore the exciting world of robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous machines. Each episode, Dr Claire Asher — science communicator and robot enthusiast — chats with roboticists from around the world to find out how their cutting-edge research is influencing the future of every aspect of science, technology, and engineering, from the mundane to the extraordinary.
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October 2, 2026Episode 16429 min
Episode 164: Accelerating robot learning - Michelle Lu
Claire chatted to Michelle Lu from Vsim Technology about using simulation and artificial intelligence to teach robots new skills. Michelle Lu is co-founder and CEO of Vsim Technology . She was previously a Director of Simulation Technology at NVIDIA, where she and her co-founder created the world's first end-to-end GPU-accelerated reinforcement learning (RL) framework, Isaac Gym, which set the template for how modern GPU-accelerated simulation-based RL is performed in robotics. In 2022, Michelle and her co-founder left NVIDIA to create Vsim, driven to solve the limitations that plague simulation-based robotics AI: efficiency, scalability and the sim-to-real gap. This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency 's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity. Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/
September 25, 2026Episode 16326 min
Episode 163: Robots helping people - Aaron Edsinger
Claire chatted to Aaron Edsinger from Hello Robot about their Stretch robots that can help people with mobility issues live more independently. Aaron Edsinger is CEO and Co-Founder of Hello Robot , a robotics company dedicated to developing practical, safe, and accessible robots for people. With a passion for building robots and robot companies, Aaron has founded four companies focused on bringing human collaborative robots to the consumer, manufacturing, healthcare and research markets. As Robotics Director at Google, he led the business, product and technical development of two of Google's central investments in robotics, and helped to define the overall robotics strategy. This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency 's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity. Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/
September 21, 202618 min
Bonus Episode: Revolutionising agriculture with 'grain-swimming' robots
During my recent visit to The National Robotarium in Edinburgh, I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak to some of the Robotarium's resident companies. In this interview, I spoke to Lorenzo Conti, Founder and CEO of Crover , a company developing robots for autonomous grain storage management. This episode was made possible by UK RAS STEPS , a programme supporting Research Technical Professionals in robotics and autonomous systems in the UK.
September 21, 202620 min
Bonus Episode: Giving robots the power of human touch
During my recent visit to The National Robotarium in Edinburgh, I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak to some of the Robotarium's resident companies. In this interview, I chatted to Vladimir Ivan, Vice President of Robotics at Touchlab , a company developing e-skins to give robots the power of human touch. This episode was made possible by UK RAS STEPS , a programme supporting Research Technical Professionals in robotics and autonomous systems in the UK.
September 17, 20261 hr 9 min
Bonus Episode: Behind the scenes at the UK's leading robotics centre
Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to get a behind the scenes tour of The National Robotarium , a global robotics research institute based at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Thomas McGravie, Senior Technician at the National Robotarium, showed me around their ground-breaking facilities. I also spoke to Steve Maclaren, Chief Operating Officer at The National Robotarium about the centre's history, goals and successes so far, and I had a brief chat with a humanoid robot called Ameca . During my visit, I also had the opportunity to interview three of the Robotarium's resident companies: Touchlab , Robocean and Crover . Watch this space for those interviews publishing soon! This episode was made possible by UK RAS STEPS , a programme supporting Research Technical Professionals in robotics and autonomous systems in the UK. Find out more about The National Robotarium and their upcoming events: https://thenationalrobotarium.com/
August 13, 202632 min
Bonus Episode: Robotics for Sustainability (ERF 2026)
This bonus episode features interviews from academic and industry experts at this year's European Robotics Forum in Stavanger, Norway. During the conference, there were several workshops on sustainability, conservation, and environmental issues and I spoke to some of the presenters and attendees to find out about their reflections on the workshops. This bonus episode was produced in collaboration with euRobotics — an international non-profit association that aims to boost European robotics research, development, and innovation.
August 13, 202617 min
Bonus Episode: Drones in Challenging Environments (ERF 2026)
This bonus episode features interviews from academic and industry experts at this year's European Robotics Forum in Stavanger, Norway. During the conference, I attended a workshop on ' Drones for Difficult and Challenging Applications ', which focussed on recent successes and outstanding challenges for aerial robots in a range of fields including healthcare, inspection, and maintenance. This bonus episode was produced in collaboration with euRobotics — an international non-profit association that aims to boost European robotics research, development, and innovation.
June 26, 2026Episode 16250 min
Episode 162: The robot doctor will see you now - Robot Talk Live
Since the first robot-assisted surgery was performed, over 40 years ago, major advances in robotics, computer vision and artificial intelligence have fundamentally changed medicine and healthcare. Innovative new technologies are already aiding skilled medical professionals in diagnosis, surgery, rehabilitation and beyond. But many questions remain: What ethical issues arise as medical tools become increasingly autonomous? How do we regulate technologies that can learn and change over time? And how can we ensure that cutting-edge medical devices are accessible to all? In this special live recording at Imperial College London as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, Claire chatted to George Mylonas (Imperial College London), Antonia Tzemanaki (University of Bristol) and Tom Vercauteren (King's College London) about robotics and AI in medicine and healthcare. George Mylonas is an Associate Professor in Robotics and Technology in Cancer at Imperial College London, and the director of the Human-centred Automation, Robotics and Monitoring in Surgery lab at The Hamlyn Centre, Institute of Global Health Innovation and the Department of Surgery & Cancer, Faculty of Medicine. He is leading research in the areas of surgical robotics, soft robotics, minimal access surgical technology, perceptual human-robot and human-computer interfaces, and smart data-driven operating theatres. He is a member of the European Association of Endoscopic Surgery Technology Committee. Antonia Tzemanaki is a Senior Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Bristol and a core member of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. She leads the Dexterous Manipulation and Wearable Robotics group which develops robotic simulators and interventions, including robotic needle steering, abdominal, urology, skull and hand models, for surgical and physical therapy treatments of disease including cancers, neurological, prostate and urinary disorders. The group provides wide expertise in precision manipulation, robot hands, hand exoskeletons, kinematics, haptics and wearable robotics, especially with applications in surgery, preventative medicine, rehabilitation, physiotherapy and dexterous tele-operation. Tom Vercauteren is a Professor of Interventional Image Computing at King's College London, where he leads the Contextual Artificial Intelligence for Computer Assisted Interventions research group. His research focuses on medical image computing, machine learning and imaging for surgery and interventional sciences. He is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Hypervision Surgical, a spin-out company developing safe, non-invasive optical imaging for use during surgery. His work is now used in hundreds of hospitals worldwide. Tom is also a supporter of open-source software and patient involvement. Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher Sign up to the newsletter: https://www.robottalk.org/newsletter/
June 19, 2026Episode 16139 min
Episode 161: Collaborative haptic systems - Allison Okamura
Claire chatted to Allison Okamura from Stanford University about developing advanced robotic systems for haptic (touch) interaction. Allison Okamura is the Richard W. Weiland Professor of Engineering at Stanford University. Her academic interests include haptics, teleoperation, virtual reality, medical robotics, soft robotics, rehabilitation, and education. Allison is Director of Graduate Studies for Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, a deputy director of the Wu Tsai Stanford Neurosciences Institute, a Science Fellow of the Hoover Institution and a founding faculty member and executive committee member of the Stanford Robotics Center. This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency 's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity. Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/ Support Robot Talk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
June 12, 2026Episode 16031 min
Episode 160: Robotic blacksmiths - Edward Mehr
Claire chatted to Edward Mehr from Machina Labs about their RoboCraftsman that shapes complex metal parts for the aerospace, defence, and automotive industries. Edward Mehr is an entrepreneur and engineer specializing in advanced manufacturing, robotics, and artificial intelligence. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Machina Labs , he leads efforts to integrate AI-driven robotics into flexible, on-demand production systems. Under his leadership, Machina Labs is reshaping how industries such as aerospace, defence, and automotive approach metal forming and modern manufacturing. Before founding Machina Labs, Ed worked at leading technology companies, including Relativity Space, Averon, SpaceX, Google, and Microsoft. Support Robot Talk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
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