Robohub Podcast

#233: Geometric Methods in Computer Vision, with Kostas Daniilidis

Transcript Below. In this episode, Jack Rasiel speaks with Kostas Daniilidis, Professor of Computer and Information at the University of Pennsylvania, about new developments in computer vision and robotics. Daniilidis’ research team is pioneering new approaches to understanding the 3D structure of the world from simple and ubiquitous 2D images. They are also investigating how these techniques can be used to improve robots’ ability to understand and manipulate objects in their environment. Daniilidis puts this in the context of current trends in robot learning and perception, and speculates how it will help bring more robots from the lab to the “real world”.  How does bleeding edge research become a viable product? Daniilidis speaks to this from personal experience, as an advisor to startups spun out from the GRASP Lab and Penn’s Pennovation incubator.

#232: Kickstart Accelerator, with Roland Siegwart and Matthias Hüni

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks with Roland Siegwart and Matthias Hüni about Kickstart Accelerator, a Swiss Startup Accelerator. Siegwart leads the Autonomous Systems Lab at ETH Zürich and is one of the initiators of Kickstart Accelerator. Hüni is the vertical lead of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at Kickstart Accelerator and is involved in the program’s operations. Kickstart Accelerator seeks to provide international entrepreneurs with an inlet to the Swiss ecosystem, including connections to industry and academia.

#231: CUBE Tech Fair, with Torsten Oelke

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks with Torsten Oelkes, Executive Chairman of CUBE, about the CUBE Tech Fair. The CUBE Tech Fair is a conference that takes place in Berlin in May that seeks to facilitate connections between companies. The Tech Fair also features a start up competition where the winner will be awarded €1,000,000 without exchange of equity or debt. In this interview, Toresten talks about CUBE’s business model, the robotic companies they’re affiliated with, the CUBE Tech Fair, and the €1,000,000 prize.

#230: bots_alive, with Bradley Knox

In this episode, Audrow Nash interviews Bradley Knox, founder of bots_alive. Knox speaks about an add-on to a Hexbug, a six-legged robotic toy, that makes the bot behave more like a character. They discuss the novel way Knox uses machine learning to create a sense character. They also discuss the limitation of technology to emulate living creatures, and how the bots_alive robot was built within these limitations.

#229: IASP 2016: Skolkovo, Waterproof Drones, and Underwater Vehicles, with Albert Efimov, Anastasia Uryasheva and Borris Rozman

In this episode, Audrow Nash and Christina Brester conduct interviews at the 2016 International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation conference in Moscow, Russia. They speak with Albert Efimov, Chief Roboticist at Skolkovo, about creating an innovation cluster for robotics companies; Anastasia Uryasheva, CEO of Tsuru, about a waterproof unmanned aerial vehicle; and Borris Rozman, General Director of GNOM, about underwater vehicles. This is the first of three interviews from the conference.

In this episode, Abate De Mey interviews speakers from the Artificial Intelligence and Drone tracks at RoboUniverse San Diego and the Inside 3D Printing Conference. Dr. Douglas Stow from the Drones track discusses the use of drones in analyzing large scale changes over time in terrains, and its applications in determining the extent of damage after a natural disaster. From the Artificial Intelligence track, Dr. Eugene Izhikevich discusses how his company, Brain Corporation, converts manually driven industrial machines into autonomous robots. Wrapping it up, Cullen Hilkene from 3Diligent discusses how his company optimizes the work flow and communication layer between a diverse set of 3D print vendors and their customers.

In this episode, Abate De Mey interviews two speakers from the Agricultural track of the RoboUniverse 2016 conference in San Diego: Dan Harburg of Soft Robotics Inc. and Matthew Borzage of BioTac. Borzage and Harburg discuss their distinct approaches to advancing gripping technology in Agriculture. Borzage stresses the importance of tactile sensing while Harburg pushes for low cost, soft grippers with no on-board sensors.

#227: RoboUniverse 2016: Agricultural Robotics, with Dan Harburg and Matthew Borzage

In this episode, Ron Vanderkley spoke to Dr Moritz Tenorth, head of software development at Magazino, a Munich-based startup developing mobile pick-and-place robots for item-specific logistics. They discussed his work on the Toru robot and what it means to the warehouse industry today and in the future.

#226: Toru Robots, with Dr. Moritz Tenorth