Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

Latest Episodes:

567: The Future of Digital Health: Where Are We Headed with Steven Wardell Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

Sami talks with Steven Wardell, managing partner of Wardell Advisors LLC, about the lacking tech developments within the healthcare sector.

Together they assess why digital health products have failed to maintain the same pace as other consumer technology, the difficulties and regulations involved when develop technology for the health sector and whether AI could finally bridge the gap to play a larger role in medical assessments and data management.

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You can email Steven directly at steven@wardelladvisors.llc.com or connect with him over on LinkedIn. If you’ve enjoyed listening to Steven talk and would like more, check out his podcast here over on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
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566: Staying Grounded and Product Innovation with Tanu Chellam Mar 20, 2025

Show notes

Sami chats with Tanu Chellam, Senior Vice President of Product at Seldon and Chairperson of the Board at Atlas Rosetta, about her journey and career in the world of products.

Tanu covers her journey from start to finish, from building websites as a teenager and her dreams of travelling, all the way through to her time at AutoDesk where she was instrumental in scaling one of their largest product’s installation time from 8 hours, to 8 minutes.

Learn how Tanu learnt to balance her working life and downtime, and how her definition of success and relationship to work has changed over the course of her career.

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You can connect with Tanu over on LinkedIn, where she would be happy to discuss anything mentioned in this episode in greater detail.

Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky

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565: Coding Journeys with Will and Sami Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

Ever wondered how our Giant Robots hosts got into programming in the first place? In today’s episode Sami and Will take some time to dive into their coding journeys and the lessons they learnt along the way.

Hear about their ambitions growing up and where they thought they were headed, the motivation, drive and hurdles they overcame to get to where they are today and how impostor syndrome isn’t just a “new job” problem.

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Hear more about Sami and Will’s kids in their previous episode together!

Check out the Dunning-Kruger graph.

Your hosts for this episode have been Will Larry and Sami Birnbaum.

You can find Sami through his website, or you can connect with them both via their LinkedIn pages - Will - Sami.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky

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564: Making humans more valuable, not less with Andrei Oprisan Mar 06, 2025

Show notes

Chad talks with Andrei Oprisan, head of engineering at Agent.AI, about his new approach to making AI tools and agents accessible to everyone.

Hear how the community are helping to shape and build on Agent.AI in ways the team never thought of, the road blocks of developing such an accessible market place, and the desire to make every AI agent as easy to use for as many people as possible.

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Explore Agent.AI’s catalogue of tools to see if it can help enhance your workflow for free! If you find the resource useful, consider joining the AI builders community and get even more involved with AI tools!

You can email Andrei at andrei@mail.agent.ai, or connect with him via LinkedIn

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
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563: Next-Gen Aging: The Venture Capital Perspective with James Hueston Feb 27, 2025

Show notes

Sami is joined by James Hueston, venture investor at Primetime Partners, as they discuss technology’s failure to connect with the older generation.

James explains how technology aimed at older people is often not fit for purpose, how the investment process for new startups is currently swamped with the same AI ideas, and Sami explores the idea of how AI can help improve loneliness in our modern world.

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If you’d like to hear more about the importance of keeping accessibility at the forefront every project, check out Episode 559.

If you’re an entrepreneur in the early stages of developing something in age tech, why not reach out to James at Primetime Partners to see if he can help! james@primetimepartners.com

Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram

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562: The evolution of design sprints with Dawn Delatte and Elaina Natario Feb 20, 2025

Show notes

Chad talks with fellow thoughtboters Dawn Delatte and Elaina Natario about the evolution of design sprints within the company.

Listen to how design sprints helped shape and streamline the discovery stage of work with clients, how it helps route out what should and shouldn’t be done in a project, as well as the way thoughtbot has tweaked the formula over the years to build their own playbook.

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Check out thoughtbot’s Design Sprint Guide!

Read through thoughtbot’s AI ethics guide and ask yourself thoughtbot's six key questions when working with AI.

You can find both Dawn and Elaina on LinkedIn, or through their respective thoughtbot blogs - Dawn’s Blog - Elaina’s Blog

Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
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561: The One with Chad, Will, and Sami Feb 13, 2025

Show notes

thoughtbot hosts Chad, Will and Sami shoot the breeze in this laid back episode of Giant Robots as they discuss the ins and outs of being a parent and growing up with tech.

The trio discuss how they manage screen-time with their kids as well as themselves, Sami’s internal HTTP coding for his children’s temper tantrums, and other challenges of bringing up their kids in the digital age.

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Listen to the ‘Therapy Through Gaming’ episode for a deeper dive into some of the topics mentioned in today’s episode.

Your hosts for this episode have been Chad Pytel, Will Larry and Sami Birnbaum.

You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel and Sami through his website. You can also connect with the trio via their LinkedIn pages - Chad - Will - Sami.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

560: Simplifying the Immigration Journey with Matt Gale Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

Chad is joined by Matt Gale, Chief Strategy Officer for Lawfully, as they talk about the immigration process in the US and how Lawfully is helping both individuals and businesses track applications on the road to becoming US citizens.

Matt explains the challenges of having an app that sees users leave once their the immigration application is complete, how they’ve expanded to help more than just the individual, and why they chose to make Lawfully a benefit corporation.

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If you have an active immigration case that you are tracking or are an attorney acting on behalf of other, consider checking out Lawfully and their app!

If you’d like to connect with Matt directly, you can find him over on LinkedIn.

Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram

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559: The European Accessibility Act: Are You Ready for 2025? Jan 30, 2025

Show notes

Sami and Rémy are back as your hots as they talk with fellow thoughtbot colleague Caro Sotillo Silva about new EU accessibility laws coming into effect later this year.

Together they discuss the importance of keeping accessibility at the forefront of every project you work on, why you should be testing your code on a wide range of systems and not just the major OS, as well as a few tips and advice on how to prepare yourself for the new laws that come into effect as of June this year.

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Learn more about what thoughtbot has to say on accessibility by checking out their accessibility articles.

If you’d like to discuss accessibility within your projects, you can connect with Caro via LinkedIn.

Your hosts for this episode have been Sami Birnbaum and Rémy Hannequin. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn, and Rémy can also be found on LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

558: Using AI to Bring Transparency to City Government with Vikram Oberoi Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

Chad talks with NYC local Vikram Oberoi about how he used AI to breakdown local city meetings into accessible bitesize chunks.

Learn how Vikram tamed New York’s public records with AI, the lengthy review process involved to make it all and why his model is so well suited to NYC council proceedings in particular.

Vikram also discusses the project’s path to sustainability and the difficulties of expanding his passion project further afield.

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If you’re a NY resident wanting to learn more about your local community, or just curious about the inner workings of one the largest cities in the US, you can find Vikram’s work on citymeetings.nyc here!

To learn more about Vikram and his work, check out his website! Or, if you’re interested in helping expand citymeetings.nyc and support this project well into the future you can get in touch with Vikram via LinkedIn, or email him directly: vikram@citymeetings.nyc

Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.
Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram

Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

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