Join us as we speak with Product Manager Ken Yesh about his work on advanced automotive technologies.  Ken's work with Ford, Uber ATG, and more recently, Root, have endowed him with a valuable set of skills and experiences. In this episode, Ken and Spencer talk politics, philosophy, and reflect on the pandemic. This is a low key episode, but still pensive. 

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You can additionally check out full videos of the episodes on YouTube at video.spencerkrause.com

Join us as we speak with talented and experienced Mechanical Engineer, Corey Rasmussen about experiences designing aerial lift trucks for the power electronics industry, educating the next generation of engineers by releasing videos and course material, and how his backyard roller coaster stacks up against some of the most thrilling production roller coasters in existence. Corey is an all around great guy with an excellent sense of humor. His experience, humility, and insight are a treat.   

Check out Corey's courses here https://mentoredengineer.com/  

and engineering works here https://www.rasmussendesigns.net/   Please subscribe for more awesome content!

Practically everyone in the robotics industry has either worked with or heard of Jorgen Pedersen. For those not-yet-familiar, Jorgen has been contributing to robotics for over 20 years on some of the most advanced projects ever undertaken.  

Jorgen Pedersen is the President and CEO of Pittsburgh Robotics company RE2 - one of the most advanced robotic innovation firms in the world.  

In this episode, Jorgen and Spencer discuss RE2's history, trajectory, inspiration for new systems, and more. We also discuss the increased need for roboticized jobs during the pandemic, and some of the many markets RE2 has served, including solar farms, aviation, construction, defense, energy, and medicine.  

For as long as Spencer has known him, Jorgen's vision has been to create a safer world through robotics. RE2 Robotics helps companies in numerous industries create safer work environments. If you are interested in technology at all, then you won't want to miss this exclusive look inside one of the greatest minds in robotics today.  

Learn more about RE2 and what they are working on here https://www.resquared.com/  

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Join us as we speak with Modal AI's director of hardware, Vinny Kemler. This one gets pretty raw as we discuss security, motivations of getting into engineering, music, cooking, and what it takes to send flight hardware to the planet Mars. Vinny is an all around great guy. 

Modal is one of the few companies still making things in America and you can learn more about their work at https://www.modalai.com/  

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Join us as we talk with Paragonix Tek LLC CEO, Stephen Antolich about how he got started making hazardous environment robots, and what it means to take pride in one's work.   

In this episode, Stephen and Spencer joke about the best way to prevent massive explosions when you're inspecting multi-hundred ton tanks of explosive material. Misuse of equipment and poorly designed or inspected gear can result in devastation. It is Stephen's mission is to help prevent these accidents while providing value in the inspection robot space. We also chat about regulations, some of their purposes, and how they vary in different parts of the world.  Stephen truly cares about simplifying robotics enough to be cost-effective and user friendly, but also about the balance of being complex enough to make their missions more flexible to complete multiple tasks while maintaining safety. It is a privilege to have him on the pod.  

For more of Stephen's work, check out http://www.paragonixtek.com/home.html 

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Join us as we speak with Professional Engineer and all around goon Stephen Sywak about some of his work building man-moving machines for the entertainment sector.  

In addition to his work in the aerospace and manufacturing sectors, Stephen is a serious threat in the entertainment industry. He has played a major role on Cirque Du Soleil Ca and Zumanity, The Who's Broadway production of Tommy, Pink Floyd's The Wall, and much more.   

This is an exciting episode folks, so please don't miss it and subscribe today if you want to see more.

Join us as we dig into an excellent conversation with a woman who wears many hats. Jennifer Apicella is the founder and president of Build412Tech, the president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of getWITit, and a Program Director for the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.   

In a past life, Jenn was a technical salesperson for IBM and she carries that acumen with her in her work today.   

This conversation spans, professional, educational, philosophical, and comedic, so please listen and subscribe.   

Build 412 Tech: https://www.build412.org/

Pittsburgh Robotics Network: robopgh.org 

getWITit: https://getwitit.org/

Join us as we speak with Ricardo Olivares about his 17-year journey at NASA where he has climbed the ranks through various engineering and management positions.  

In this episode, Ricardo talks about his biological work at NASA, what's it's like to load cargo into a rocket waiting to take off, and some of the process that goes into performing research and development at the highest echelon. Additionally, Ricardo talks about what it was like to take part in highly selective (and individually customized) leadership programs at NASA.   

This is Ricardo's second appearance on CWSK and we are glad to have him back. 

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Join us as we speak with Kenny Chen, who ran Pittsburgh's Thrival festival for many years, founded AI for Good, ran the accelerator known as Ascender, and has generally been a staple of Pittsburgh's tech community. In this episode, Kenny talks about studying public policy at Harvard and some questionable uses of AI that are going on right now that you may or may not know about, such as China's social credit system. 

As China swallows up its neighbors, is there a way to protect the rights of Taiwan and Hong Kong's citizens? It's dubious, but some things are worth fighting for. This is a long episode with a lot of drinking and first-principle explanations since Spencer is not well versed in Politics and Kenny is an excellent teacher. 

Pull up a chair. This is fascinating stuff.

Dimitry Krivochenitser is the CFO and COO of Xena Workware. His wife, Ana, is the CEO. For those of you who do not know, the COO typically does a lot of non-glamourous, but almost ballet-like, work to make things happen on time. It is their job to make the CEO's promises come to fruition. The CEO's job is equally important in that they sell the product and represent the company's image to the world. Marriage aside, this is a symbiotic relationship in any company and one could not succeed without the other. 

Xena was the first company to bring a stylish safety-rated workboot for women to market. This offering is long-overdue and it took a lot of grit and hard work to bring it to fruition. You can find out more about Xena's stylish workboots here: https://xenaworkwear.com/

Join us as we speak with Dmitry Krivochenitser about the challenges of starting a medium-scale product company with a fairly novel mission. In this episode, Spencer drinks way more than Dmitry. Dmitry gives his perspective on the challenges of bringing a product that has never existed before to market in an international ecosystem. Dmitry and Spencer talk about industrial safety and the importance of paving new ground. 

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In light of the federal holiday, we are releasing this episode on a Thursday. Our normal schedule will resume next week.