Automate It: A Robotics Podcast

Oct 17 2024 49 ep. 34 mins 20
Automate It: A Robotics Podcast artwork

Each week, the co-founders of Polymath Robotics sit down to give you the inside scoop on the robotics industry. They'll share war stories, weird facts, and little-known approaches to working with robots (with a special focus on autonomous vehicles). About the hosts: Stefan Seltz-Axmacher is the CEO of Polymath Robotics, and is best known as the founder of Starsky Robotics, an early autonomous trucking pioneer. Ilia Baranov, CTO, was employee # 10 at Clearpath Robotics, has led teams at Amazon's home robot division, and owned the ROS repo after Willow Garage shut down.

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Ep 49 - Big Robots at MINEXPO and Tesla's Robot "Demo"

Oct 17 2024 34 mins  
In Episode 49 of Automate It, Stefan & Ilia reflect on whether MINEXPO is secretly the best robotics conference. Then, they break down Tesla's humanoid robot demo and whether fake demos are ever "okay." But first, the robot invention game results in a pyromaniac AI for data collection.

Ep 48 - What's Hard About AMRs

Sep 20 2024 35 mins  
In Ep 48 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia discuss why we don't work with AMRs. But first, they play the robot invention game and come up with quad rotors for smart cities.

Ep 47 - Robots for the Military

Sep 10 2024 34 mins  
In Episode 47 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia play the robot game and invent autonomous shopping carts that can return themselves. They also learn that Stefan is the type of person to abandon shopping carts (shocking!). Then, the main discussion of the day: why doesn't the military have better robots? The guys break down why the Defense Industrial Complex hasn't kept up wit

Ep 46 - How Do You Regulate Robots?

Aug 09 2024 48 mins  
On Episode 24 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia play the robot invention game and come up with a swarm of zeppelins that yeet pizza at you. Or as Ilia puts it, a robot version of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It's silly but turns into an in-depth discussion on the state of swarm technologies. Then, they're talking robotics regulation: will S

Ep 45 - Why Doesn't Starlink Solve All the Problems?

Aug 01 2024 33 mins  
In Ep 45 of Automate It, Stefan & Ilia try to play the robot game but mostly get sidetracked talking about movie magic. Then, they're debunking a popular myth in robotics: that Starlink will solve all your remote connectivity problems.

Ep 44 - Ahoy, Matey! There Be Robots on this Ship

Jul 14 2024 44 mins  
On ep 44 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia play the robot invention game and come up with a cheap nuclear reactor by dunking plutonium in a swamp. *In other news, we're now on several CIA lists. (Thanks Adam A for the topic suggestions!) Then, our main topic of the day: robots on a boat! What are the challenges of operating robots when your ground i

Ep 43 - The Tradeoffs of Vertical Robotics Companies

Jun 20 2024 47 mins  
On Episode 43 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia break down the hidden tradeoffs and challenges of building a vertical robotics company. But first, they play the robot invention game, which results in a humanoid robot for predictive maintenance around the home.

Ep 42 - That Radar is So Hot Right Now

May 28 2024 44 mins  
In Episode 42 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia are talking all about radar. What's it good for? What's it not? And most importantly, why's it so hot right now?

Ep 41 - The Dirt on Dirt

Apr 30 2024 34 mins  
In Episode 41, Stefan & Ilia play the robot invention game in response to Nat Friedman's tweet about a robot that quietly picks up leaves. Then, they're are rolling up their sleeves and tackling a dirty topic: DIRT! Why is dirt hard for robots? Can't they just, like, dig? The guys break down what makes dirt such a challenging problem.

Ep 40 - Ed Niedermeyer Talks Tesla

Apr 25 2024 43 mins  
Wow, it's the 40th episode of Automate It! This week we're joined by extra special guest, Ed Niedermeyer. Ed is the author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors and co-host of the popular Autonocast podcast. Ed joins Stefan and Ilia for the robot game, where they invent a six-figure electric smart truck for the everyman. Then, it's a free-ranging discussi