Sense Think Act Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Construction Robots and Working with Unions Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Maria Telleria, who is a co–founder and the CTO of Canvas. Canvas makes a drywall finishing robot and is based in the Bay Area. In this interview, Maria talks about Canvas’s drywall finishing robot, how Canvas works with unions, Canvas’s business model, and about her career path.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– Canvas’s website: https://www.canvas.build/}
– Maria’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariatelleria/}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:57) Introducing Maria and Canvas
– (0:08:00) How the robot works with tapers
– (0:12:57) Becoming drywall experts
– (0:20:24) Challenges of spraying
– (0:27:52) Labor shortages
– (0:33:15) Challenges of sanding
– (0:39:07) Mapping the construction site
– (0:41:08) Picking your hard challenge
– (0:43:12) How Canvas is funded
– (0:52:55) Building for IPO
– (0:58:15) Working with Unions
– (1:07:25) Addressing misconceptions about robotics
– (1:09:19) Future of Canvas
– (1:11:34) Getting the robot to the construction site
– (1:14:42) Reporting the work done
– (1:17:38) Maria’s career path
– (1:23:21) Challenges coming from academia to starting a startup
– (1:29:04) Leadership experience
– (1:31:22) Advice to a 20 year old
– (1:33:21) Future of robotics
– (1:35:18) Links and contact info
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

Turning Robotics Education on its Head May 17, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Dan O’Mara, who is the founder and COO of Circuit Launch and Mechlabs. Circuit Launch is a space for hardware entrepreneurs to work in Oakland, California, and Mechlabs is a project–based course to learn robotics. This interview is mostly about Mechlabs, but talks about the origins of Circuit Launch, including how it is not a maker or coworking space and its business model. For Mechlabs, we talk about several of its aspects that make it different than a university education in robotics, including how there are mentors not instructors, how projects are scoped, and how people are invited to work on what is most interesting to them. We also talk about the future of Mechlabs and how it fits with current universities.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– Mechlabs’ website: https://mechlabs.ai/}
– Circuit Launch’s website: https://circuitlaunch.com/}
– Dan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omaradan/}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:27) Introducing Dan and Circuit Launch
– (0:06:59) Not coworking or a makerspace
– (0:15:10) Coming to current business model
– (0:20:44) Mentors not instructors
– (0:28:28) Introducing Reachy
– (0:36:00) Scoping projects
– (0:44:48) Scaling their education program
– (0:59:27) If companies paid people to learn
– (1:06:14) Marker 30
– (1:10:14) Importance of having students write documentation
– (1:13:16) Requirements
– (1:21:27) Comparing to today’s universities
– (1:25:35) Role of education
– (1:29:30) Expansion plans
– (1:30:41) Getting in touch
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

Open Source Robot Dog, Kickstarter, and Home Robots May 03, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Afreez Gan, who is the founder and CEO of MangDang; MangDang is a Chinese startup that makes Minipupper, an open source robot dog that uses the Robot Operating System (ROS). Minipupper was inspired by and built with lessons learned from the Stanford Pupper, an open source robot dog. In this interview, Afreez speaks about Minipupper’s hardware, software, and documentation, about manufacturing Minipupper, and about his eventual goal of building a home robot dog.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– Afreez’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afreez–gan–b606615/}
– MangDang’s website: https://www.mangdang.net/}
– Minipupper’s Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/336477435/mini–pupper–open–sourceros–robot–dog–kit}
– MangDang’s Github: https://github.com/mangdangroboticsclub}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:07) Introduction
– (0:04:21) Origin of Mini Pupper
– (0:11:27) Mini Pupper’s hardware
– (0:22:59) Minipupper’s software
– (0:29:08) Minipupper for education
– (0:35:19) Making high quality documentation
– (0:39:03) Using ROS 1
– (0:41:57) Assembling Minipupper
– (0:44:17) The challenges of scaling up manufacturing
– (0:54:24) Kickstarter campaign
– (1:05:22) Future of Minipupper
– (1:10:41) Consumer robot dog
– (1:16:17) Manufacturing in China
– (1:20:18) Funding
– (1:24:38) Future of robotics
– (1:26:23) Links
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

A Robot Mixologist to Spark Wellness Talks Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Dayo McIntosh, who is the founder of Yateou; Yateou is an early–stage startup that makes wellness products and has a customer facing robot, ADE, that personalizes customer orders. Dayo speaks about what motivated her to start Yateou, how she uses the robot arm, ADE, and about her plans for Yateou’s future.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– Dayo’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dayomcintosh/}
– Yateou’s website: https://www.yateou.com/}
– More information on Yateou’s ADE robot: https://www.yateou.com/pages/meet–ade}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:24) Introducing Dayo, Yateou, and the ADE robot
– (0:04:35) How does ADE work
– (0:10:09) Putting ADE in a truck
– (0:14:08) Keeping it simple
– (0:17:02) Having ADE stolen!
– (0:19:34) Customer experiences so far
– (0:21:53) ADE and the novelty effect
– (0:24:04) Deciding to use a Kuka arm
– (0:26:40) Dayo’s background
– (0:28:18) Getting into beauty products
– (0:32:07) Finding a place for ADE
– (0:34:26) Focusing on the customer experience
– (0:36:11) The value of self–care products
– (0:44:41) Yateou team
– (0:51:39) Yateou’s direction
– (0:56:54) First hires
– (0:58:05) Yateou’s funding so far
– (1:04:11) Lessons learned
– (1:10:54) Contact info
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

Solar Powered Robotic Weeding Mar 22, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Helen Greiner, who is the CEO at Tertill; Tertill makes a small solar powered weeding robot for vegetable gardens. The conversation begins with an overview of Helen’s previous robotics experience, including at as a student at MIT, co–founder at iRobot, founder and CEO at CyPhyWorks, and in advising government research in robotics, AI, and machine learning. From there, Helen explains the design of the Tertill robot, how it works, and her high hopes for this simple robot: to help reduce the environmental impact of the agriculture industry by helping people to grow their own food. In the last part of the conversation, Helen speaks broadly about her experience in robotics startups, the robotics industry, and the future of robotics.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– Tertill’s Website: https://tertill.com/}
– Helen’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen–greiner–382295/}
– Tertill’s on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/franklin–robotics/}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:41) Introducing Helen
– (0:06:09) Roomba’s backstory
– (0:12:13) CyPhyWorks
– (0:17:29) Helping special forces with your robots
– (0:20:13) Advising robotics and AI research investments
– (0:24:24) Introducing Tertill
– (0:35:39) Lessons learned from the Roomba
– (0:42:42) Challenges in making Tertill
– (0:48:34) Why make a weeding robot?
– (0:54:07) On gardening
– (1:00:22) Helen’s path
– (1:02:24) Matching the market and technology
– (1:09:21) Where and how to get information on opportunities
– (1:11:26) Advice for starting a robotics company
– (1:21:00) Different types of investment
– (1:23:09) B–to–B or B–to–C (Business to business or business to consumer) markets
– (1:24:51) Robotics consumer space
– (1:25:52) Future of robotics
– (1:28:38) Importance of robotics in the big picture
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

Full-stack Robotics and Growing an App Marketplace Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Christian Fritz, CEO and founder of Transitive Robotics. Transitive Robotics makes software for building full stack robotics applications. In this conversation, they talk about how Transitive Robotic’s software works, their business model, sandboxing for security, creating a marketplace for robotics applications, and web tools, in general.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– Christian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianfritz/}
– Transitive Robotics’ Website: https://transitiverobotics.com/}
– Transitive Robotics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transitive–robotics/}
– Transitive Robotics’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/transitiverob}
– Sign up for Transitive Robotics’ Beta: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSctAX9NI6IlZ10e7n408NSxULLKbbSyx8rrQSsLVECtlpHbeg/viewform}
– Contact Transitive Robotics: mailto:support@transitiverobotics.com}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Episode introduction
– (0:01:09) Introducing Christian and Transitive Robotics
– (0:06:52) Fleet management + networking challenges
– (0:17:15) Problems in fleet management
– (0:21:23) Business model
– (0:26:21) Using MQQT for message passing
– (0:30:28) Developing your own capabilities
– (0:35:35) Testing capabilities
– (0:36:44) Sending data: authentication and authorization
– (0:43:32) Sandboxing for safety
– (0:56:10) Discussing web technologies
– (1:01:03) Open source business models
– (1:05:38) Scaling, finding market fit, and taking investment
– (1:15:57) Plans in starting a marketplace
– (1:20:01) Plans to grow the team + remote work
– (1:29:36) Web and robotics
– (1:33:08) Web technologies on the backend
– (1:34:59) Future of robotics
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

DARPA Subterranean Challenge Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Tim Chung, Program Manager in the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), on the DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge. The SubT Challenge is a robotics challenge that aims to develop innovative technologies that would augment operations underground. In this conversation, they talk about the motivation of the SubT Challenge, its systems (hardware) and virtual (simulation) challenges, how the resulting technology has been shared with the world, on benchmarking the robotics behaviors in simulation, on the challenge of scoping the SubT Challenge, and on building the final environment for the systems challenge.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– The SubT Challenge’s Website: https://www.subtchallenge.com/}
– Tim’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy–h–chung/}
– DARPAtv’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/DARPAtv}
– SubT’s Repository on OSRF: https://github.com/osrf/subt}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:07) Introducing Tim and the SubT Challenge
– (0:09:51) Systems and Virtual competitions
– (0:13:32) Team makeup
– (0:20:39) Challenges of networking
– (0:24:37) Motivation for this challenge
– (0:29:40) Four tech areas of focus
– (0:34:47) Sharing the results
– (0:38:47) Virtual challenge
– (0:51:37) Applying benchmarking setup elsewhere
– (0:54:53) Final course for SubT System’s challenge
– (1:06:03) Scoping the SubT challenge
– (1:17:50) Role of DARPA in technology
– (1:21:01) What’s next for DARPA?
– (1:23:19) Links to share
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

Open Source Robot Navigation Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Steve Macenski, who is the Open Source Robotics Engineering Lead at Samsung Research America. Steve leads the Nav2 project, which is an open source robot navigation framework. In this conversation, they talk about the problem and challenges of robot navigation, how Nav2 works at a high level, hybrid planners, and about Steve’s experience working with the Nav2 community.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– Nav2’s Website: https://navigation.ros.org/}
– Steve’s Website: https://www.steve.macenski.com/}
– Steve’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve–macenski–41a985101/}
– Samsung Research’s Website: https://research.samsung.com/}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:00:39) Introducing Steve and Nav2
– (0:01:07) History of the navigation stack and Nav2
– (0:06:10) What problems does Nav2 solve?
– (0:08:05) How Nav2, MoveIt, and ROS Control relate
– (0:10:59) Challenges in navigation
– (0:14:22) Working in a grid world
– (0:24:36) Motion primitives
– (0:40:26) Potential fields
– (0:46:12) Unknown maps
– (0:48:03) Relating paths to wheel velocities
– (0:50:55) When is Pathplanning used?
– (0:52:57) Hybrid planners
– (0:54:59) Changing environments
– (0:57:11) Behavior trees
– (1:01:42) Behavior tree example
– (1:06:16) Behavior trees versus alternatives
– (1:08:19) Nav2 and SLAM
– (1:10:41) Nav2 for different types of surface environments
– (1:13:27) Experience with the Nav2 community
– (1:18:02) Open Source as a business model
– (1:19:09) Getting involved
– (1:22:29) Career advice
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

Accelerating Industrial Workflows with Open Source Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Matt Robinson, Program Manager for ROS–Industrial Americas at the Southwest Research Institute. ROS Industrial is a group that seeks to help industrial users, for example factories, leverage ROS and its ecosystem. In this conversation, they talk about Matt’s background, the need for the ROS–Industrial group and what problems they’re working to solve, ROS–Industrial’s consortium, and ROS–Industrial’s new working group.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– ROS–Industrial: https://rosindustrial.org/}
– ROS–Industrial’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosindustrial}
– ROS–Industrial’s Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/ros–industrial/39}
– Southwest Research Institute: https://www.swri.org/}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:00:56) Introducing Matt and ROS–Industrial
– (0:05:17) Motivation in forming ROS–Industrial
– (0:11:06) Matt’s background
– (0:19:10) Getting introduced to ROS
– (0:24:33) Collaboration before Git
– (0:32:21) Getting to the Southwest Research Institute
– (0:35:37) Lowering the barrier to entry
– (0:45:41) Overview of SWRI
– (0:51:09) ROS–Industrial’s consortium
– (1:02:23) Just in time manufacturing
– (1:06:37) ROS–Industrial’s new working group
– (1:17:03) ROS–Industrial’s conferences
– (1:25:08) Links to share
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

Commercial-grade Autonomous Mowers, Safety, and Dogfooding Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Charles Brian Quinn (aka, CBQ), CEO and a Co–Founder of Greenzie. Greenzie make an autonomous driving system for commercial lawn mowers. We talk about Greenzie’s autonomous mowing system, how Greenzie has worked with manufacturers to up–fit their system into comercial mowers, how Greenzie does dog–fooding, safety and standards, and about CBQ’s experiences bootstrapping and with venture capital.
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please consider donating to help us keep it going:
https://donorbox.org/sense–think–act–podcast
EPISODE LINKS:
– CBQ’s website: https://www.seebq.com/}
– Greenzie’s website: https://www.greenzie.com/}
– Greenzie’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Greenzie}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:00:51) Introducing CBQ and Greenzie
– (0:02:40) Why go by initials?
– (0:03:22) Describing the Greenzie autonomous system
– (0:08:51) Working with mower manufacturers to up–fit their system
– (0:15:22) Software on autonomous system
– (0:21:21) Mapping the lawn
– (0:28:03) Handling poor GPS signal
– (0:33:28) Perception pipeline
– (0:38:58) Having a human use their mowers
– (0:45:15) Standards in the off–road space
– (0:50:18) The value of standards bodies
– (0:55:00) Depth cameras in the autonomous system
– (0:58:37) LIDAR and being venture backed
– (1:02:24) Replacing depth cameras with LIDAR? + Tesla and computer vision
– (1:03:50) Ruggedized computer
– (1:06:36) Microcontrollers, testing, and visualizing data
– (1:12:03) Deploying software updates
– (1:17:33) Safety
– (1:20:57) Testing for deployment + dogfooding
– (1:24:54) Training people to work with their autonomous system
– (1:29:54) Greenzie’s business model
– (1:35:13) Bootstrapping a startup versus venture capital
– (1:39:23) What CBQ learned from bootstrapping
– (1:47:38) Future of Greenzie
– (1:51:09) Advice to someone starting their career
– (1:54:02) Links and social media
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}

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