New Arc Podcast

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we examine novelty in the age of generative tools — what gets built quickly, what actually gets used, and why character robots are starting to leave the lab.

Stanford entrepreneurship classes now receive fully working products instead of slide decks, yet many of those products still miss real customers. Students ask AI what the market needs rather than talking to people. The result is impressive demos solving problems that do not exist. The same pattern appears in vibe-coded startups: sites that cannot scroll, features that look finished until someone tries to use them. Speed has replaced the last checks. Capable builders still run the full pipeline — simulation, functional tests, real-world safety — before anything leaves the bench. The difference is not the tool; it is whether anyone remains accountable for the outcome.

That tension sits next to Dynamic Creatures, the Boston Dynamics spin-out building character and creature robots for entertainment. The current market is narrow and premium — theme parks and studios with budgets for expensive, long-lived installations. Capex versus opex will decide how far it scales. Characterization and interaction are becoming necessary once robots leave warehouses and enter homes, parks, and sets. We walk through the near-term stack: functional safety around people, shared visual and physical space, then efficient on-board models. Unit economics still govern everything. Early consumer products already show the pattern — camera bots that follow you, open-source desktop companions that the community keeps extending. Expectations will be set by whoever ships first.

This episode grounds the New Arc vision in the gap between novel output and lasting product, and in the small teams that can close it.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner
https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we look at the attention and entertainment economy — live events, shared experience, and why people are leaving the house again.

Live events are projected to grow from a $736 billion industry to $2.5 trillion by 2035. That number is not just concerts. It is conventions, stage work, and immersive rooms you cannot stream from the couch. We call that active-engagement entertainment: you have to go somewhere, and you have to do something. That hunger for shared experience also shows up at the box office, which is having its strongest year since 2019, and in films like The Odyssey that sell craft — shot on film, light on CGI — as the point.

From there the conversation turns to IP, small teams, and slop. Established worlds like Spider-Man still work when they stay good. Independent work still breaks through when a small team has something to prove. What audiences and employees both reject is the middle: big machines asking talented people to make a forgettable product. Technology is lowering the barrier on both sides of New Arc’s work — story and physical AI — so a backyard team can build a robot the same way a small crew can build a world.

This episode grounds the New Arc vision in culture, live experience, and the teams with fire in the belly to make something worth returning to.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner
https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we go deeper on immersive experiences, story, and what physical AI has to understand about the world.

Most of today’s immersive rooms still work like modern art: you walk in, lights and projections happen around you, and nothing asks you to come back. Disney is the other model — stories first, then rides, then a universe people return to. We talk about stickiness, liminal space, the Backrooms as a kind of modern mythology, and why an experience has to exchange something with you if it wants to last.

From there the conversation turns to robotics. Do machines need a scan of every refrigerator door and every pair of sunglasses, or can they learn the way people do — from a few useful rules about what an object is? That leads into data, compute, house-scale intelligence, Rosie from The Jetsons, and why the useful future may look more like R2-D2 and C-3PO at once: a body that can act, and a presence that can talk.

This episode grounds the New Arc vision in story, return visits, and the practical questions of putting intelligent machines into real spaces.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner
https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we sit down with Kimate Richards — mechatronic engineer, former AWS strategic architect in spatial computing and embodied AI, university advisor, and founder of 10 Things.

Kimate shares how robotics is changing in real time: the steep technical on-ramp that still exists today, why inverse kinematics and low-level systems knowledge may soon recede for most builders, and how generative AI is turning more engineers into idea people while simulation and code generation take on the heavy lift. He talks about education, shifting job paths from computer science into robotics, and why human judgment — especially around testing, failure modes, and what a system is actually for — still matters.

We explore the human side of physical AI: how robots could reshape daily life, work, and even expectations of relationships; why consumer robotics needs more than engineering; and how immersive experiences might help people reconnect instead of drifting further into screens. The conversation also touches on responsibility — what we choose to build, and what those machines quietly teach us to expect from each other.

This episode grounds the New Arc vision in practical robotics and the human questions that come with putting intelligent machines into real spaces.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner
https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Recorded at: Audion in Austin, TX
https://audionllc.com/

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we sit down with Nate Strayer — writer, director, producer, and founder/CEO of Stray Vista Studios in Dripping Springs, Texas.

Nate shares his journey from shooting home movies in Michigan to film school, a COVID-era no-budget feature that launched his career, and building a virtual production studio that’s worked on Super Bowl commercials, major streaming series, and projects with talent like Matthew McConaughey and Dennis Quaid. We explore how virtual production has become a powerful storytelling tool, why Texas is emerging as a serious media hub, and the growing intersection of film, immersive experiences, and technology.

The conversation expands into theme parks, dark rides, and the future of physical storytelling — how robotics, virtual production, and intentional design can create experiences that go beyond thrill rides to truly immerse audiences. Nate and the New Arc team dig into the shared goal of making Texas a bigger player in entertainment while fighting for the cool version of the future.

A lively, wide-ranging discussion on story, technology, and building the next generation of immersive experiences.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner
https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Recorded at: Audion in Austin, TX
https://audionllc.com/

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we visit HICAM (Hayes Innovation Center for Advanced Manufacturing) in East Austin and sit down with founder & executive director Marcus Metzger and strategic partnerships lead Jamie Harkrider.

HICAM is a 501(c) nonprofit advanced manufacturing facility near Tesla’s Gigafactory with a clear mission: become the center of gravity for robotics and embodied AI in Central Texas. Marcus and Jamie walk us through their co-building model (not just co-working), workforce programs with ACC and Tesla, individual and builder memberships, and the growing community of hardware startups and makers already prototyping robots on site.

We dig into the flourishing of accessible robotics tools, the power of open-source platforms like Reachy, why naming robots dramatically improves human adoption, the importance of narrative and human-robot interaction, and how Austin is positioning itself as a real hub for physical AI. The conversation also explores the gap between digital and physical systems, first-principles thinking, and what it takes to build a true ecosystem where inventors, operators, and storytellers can collaborate.

A grounded, energetic discussion on community, manufacturing, and the people turning robotics ideas into real machines in Texas.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner

https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, Joel and Cory dig into one of the most important shifts happening in robotics right now: giving machines real understanding of the world.

They break down the recent acquisition of SceniX by World Labs and what it signals about the convergence of simulation, dexterous manipulation, and contextual world models. The conversation explores why navigation alone is no longer enough — robots now need rich environmental understanding, the kind of foundational “ground truth” humans develop in early childhood through play, trial, and physical interaction.

From grasping a grape versus a tennis ball, to shifting a robot’s intention from pure manipulation to purposeful action, Joel and Cory examine the gap between knowledge and embodied intelligence. They also touch on the broader implications for immersive experiences, storytelling, and the next generation of human-robot interaction.

A grounded, forward-looking discussion on the systems that will let robots not just move through the world — but actually understand it.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner

https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we sit down with Winsten Whaley — engineer, inventor, and self-described contrarian thinker with deep experience in manufacturing, automation, and high-stakes industrial environments.

What started as a casual debate about the limitations of humanoid robots led Winsten to file (and receive approval for) a patent on a dynamic robotic tail inspired by cheetah biomechanics. He breaks down why tails could solve critical stability and balance issues in real-world conditions — from rubble fields to pitching boat decks — and how biological inspiration can accelerate practical robotics.

The conversation explores the challenges of building humanoids for imperfect environments, the power of questioning assumptions, the importance of IP and creative problem-solving, and how engineers and storytellers can collaborate to create more capable, expressive machines. Winsten also shares reflections on persistence, invention, and the deeper meaning behind building technology that serves humanity.

A grounded, insightful discussion on the messy realities of robotics innovation and why the best ideas often come from unexpected places.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner

https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this fourth episode of the New Arc Podcast, we welcome Dr. Luis Sentis — renowned roboticist, founder of the Human Centered Robotics Laboratory, former DARPA and NASA collaborator, and a pioneer in humanoid robots with over 200 peer-reviewed publications.

Luis shares his journey from growing up in post-dictatorship Spain to building humanoids in the U.S., and why he believes robotics must be deeply human-centered. The conversation explores the explosive potential of humanoids in entertainment and branding — from Build-A-Bear style interactive characters to bringing beloved IPs into physical form, democratizing storytelling, and creating immersive, community-driven experiences.

We dive into the convergence of robotics, AI, and narrative: emotional connection beyond screens, extending human creativity, community-centered design, empathy training through embodied interaction, and how affordable, expressive humanoids could transform everything from malls and theaters to personal storytelling. Luis also reflects on societal readiness, the importance of clear robotic intent, and building technology that augments rather than replaces human connection.

This episode makes a powerful case for robotics as a tool for creativity, empathy, and community — not just capability.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner

https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Recorded at: Audion — Austin, TX

https://audionllc.com/

Produced by: New Arc Ventures

In this episode of the New Arc Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Javad Gatabi — entrepreneur, electrical engineer, PhD in materials science & commercialization, and inventor with 13 patents and 50+ technical publications.

Javad shares his incredible journey growing up in Iran, stories of hidden gold and cheetahs, and how his passion for measurement led him into the world of advanced sensors. We explore how sensors are the unsung foundation of modern robotics, AI, autonomous systems, electric vehicles, and manufacturing — from basic detection to cutting-edge precision at the nanometer level.

He dives into real-world innovation, including developing GPS collars for cheetahs with a custom non-invasive drop-off mechanism, working with Apple, oil & gas, and military applications, and the convergence of hardware, software, and AI that’s powering the next generation of robotics. The conversation also touches on creativity, human advantages, and building technology that serves meaningful, emotionally resonant experiences.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in robotics, sensor technology, AI, and the future of embodied intelligence.

Credits

Theme Music: Composed and produced by Aaron Wagner
https://aaronpwagner.com

Intro Narration Clip: Criswell from Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. (Public Domain)

Produced by: New Arc Ventures