The Robotics Stack

We sit down with Xara, founder of Somnia, to discuss the engineering behind intimacy robots and AI companions. Learn how mechanical design and robotics integration shape the future of human interaction.

This conversation covers the technical challenges of building physical ecosystems for AI. We examine anatomical diagrams, muscle mechanics, and facial expression systems that allow these machines to operate in daily life.

Zara shares his vision for Somnia and the practical application of intimacy robots. We explore the intersection of hardware development and artificial intelligence, providing a clear look at the current state of this specialized engineering field.

Subscribe for weekly robotics breakdowns, and let us know your thoughts on the future of AI companions in the comments.

#ai #girlfriend #robot

Guest https://x.com/xarathustrax
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack


0:00 Podcast Overview
0:52 Robot Companionship
1:48 Recent Breakthroughs
2:48 Emotionally Intelligent Robots
3:35 Xaras Journey
4:14 Doll Industry
5:21 Unitree Experiment
6:32 Realistic Movement Sequences
7:28 Limitations of Dolls
8:04 Limitations of Unitree G1
8:55 Motion Capture
9:12 Reinforcement Learning
9:30 Voice Control & Navigation
10:15 Edge Device
10:55 Somnia Hardware
13:52 Teleoperation
14:18 Humanoid Robot Business
16:11 Realbotix
17:00 Full Body Control
17:44 3d Printed Muscles
18:02 Body Parts
18:52 Design
19:56 Customization
20:55 Manufacturing
21:14 Lessons from Human Anatomy
22:50 Skin Technology
25:50 Somnia Versions
27:25 Company
28:15 Building the Face
29:32 Hiring for Somnia Lab
31:10 Societal Implications
32:08 Testing
32:50 Public Image & Mission
34:40 The Need for Companionship
37:00 Customer Experience & Maintenance
40:20 Technological Development Cycles
42:40 Expanding Use Cases
44:00 Market Adoption & Roadmap
47:30 Funding
48:20 Supply Chain
49:50 Research & Development
52:00 Safety
55:25 Vision
58:30 Outro

We sit down with AK Schultz to discuss the realities of warehouse automation, assembly lines and the current state of robotics integration. SVT Robotics and their Softbots help bridge the gap between complex software systems and physical hardware in modern logistics centers & more.

A.K. Schultz, co-founder and CEO of SVT, shares his perspective on the friction points between legacy infrastructure and new automation technology. We examine the specific challenges of scaling deployments in demanding environment and cover the strategic approach required for successful industrial application.

#robots #technology #podcast

Guest https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-k-schultz-9b5b899
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:35 Getting into Robotics
1:42 Assembly Line Experience
2:45 Building for Industrial Automation
3:20 The Problem with Custom Code Interfaces
3:58 Fixing Integration
6:48 Core Principles
7:17 Softbots
8:50 Advantages
10:10 Learnings from Communication Technology
11:49 Software Robots
14:10 Robotics & Software in Production
17:05 Productizing Integration Code
20:22 Onboarding & Implementation
23:00 DHL Case Study
24:38 Expansion & Trends
27:32 AI
28:52 Local vs. Cloud
31:35 Usage & Data
33:30 1 Billion Transactions a Month in Peak Season
34:12 Customer Size
35:22 Pricing & Connectivity
36:23 Vibecoding & Tokens
37:58 Humanoids
40:27 Automation Bottlenecks
43:45 Starting from Zero
47:05 The need for a business case
49:03 Outro

We sit down with Parsa, co-founder of Feather Robotics, to discuss their new modular hardware platform for real-world tasks. Feather Robotics recently emerged from stealth mode, bringing a fresh approach to how teams build and deploy systems. Parsa explains the philosophy behind their modular hardware platform and why they believe this specific architecture is the key to moving beyond prototypes into actual industrial application.
This Podcast covers the practicalities of robotics deployment in real-world environments. We explore how their technology is already being used to solve complex automation challenges and what sets their robot hardware apart in a crowded market.

#robots #technology #podcast

Guest https://www.linkedin.com/in/parsa-bakhtiari-19a220113
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

We sit down with Parsa, co-founder of Feather Robotics, to discuss their new modular hardware platform for real-world tasks. Feather Robotics recently emerged from stealth mode, bringing a fresh approach to how teams build and deploy systems. Parsa explains the philosophy behind their modular hardware platform and why they believe this specific architecture is the key to moving beyond prototypes into actual industrial application.
This Podcast covers the practicalities of robotics deployment in real-world environments. We explore how their technology is already being used to solve complex automation challenges and what sets their robot hardware apart in a crowded market.

#robots #technology #podcast

Guest https://www.linkedin.com/in/parsa-bakhtiari-19a220113
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/033M6IhFyhnY6dEWtoBZ1i

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-robotics-stack/id6788885312

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:34 Building a hardware platform
1:48 Working at Tesla
2:36 Car Industry vs. Robotics Industry
4:00 Founding Feather Robotics
7:20 What was missing in Humanoids
9:40 Robot Development
10:17 Modularity
12:15 Achieving Competitive Pricing
13:12 Deployment & Use Cases
15:15 Robotics Software
16:21 Measuring Deployment Success
17:23 Trends & Form Factors
19:03 Grippers & Hands
19:33 Sourcing Parts & Manufacturing
21:22 Sales
21:48 Safety Measures
22:12 Funding & Revenue
23:41 Team
24:14 Safety Layer
25:48 Future Outlook
27:00 Humanoids
28:15 The Nvidia of Robotics
29:30 Data Capture Market
30:45 Foundation Models in Robotics
31:30 Adapting
32:28 Finding Talent
33:22 Outro

In this conversation, we sit down with Matt Trossen, founder of Trossen Robotics. We speak about the history of his company and what it takes to scale Physical AI with Teleoperation and AI Models. He shares his unique perspective on the robot market and presents the new product lineup which includes reworked Robotic Arms but also UMI Grippers and software like Trossen Cloud. His journey is one of a kind: Coming from USB controlled hardware for sensing and automation to working close with researchers on the ALOHA Project. The recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence opened a completely new world to robots for him and his company. Enjoy!

#robotics #ai #teleoperation

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:40 Getting the word out
1:40 Starting a robotics company
2:50 ALOHA Project
3:16 Early Stages
6:35 Moving towards Robotics
6:57 ALOHA Kit
7:31 Adapting Products
8:35 Listening to the Market
9:50 New Product Lineup
10:25 WidowX Pro
10:47 Core
11:01 Heavy
11:30 Workbench
12:10 Glide
14:55 Rivet
15:30 IP & Design
19:00 Form factor convergence
19:50 Production & Manufacturing
20:48 SDK & Trossen Cloud
22:00 The Next Wave of Automation
23:10 Going Full Stack
24:50 Investment & Scaling
25:58 CEO Anish Shah
29:25 Partnerships & Clients
32:20 Team & Product Development
34:25 Data Collection
38:31 Humanoids
42:51 The Art of Reverse Engineering Nature
45:00 UMI Data
46:10 Data Mix
46:46 Deployment Success
48:14 Robot Foundation Models
50:00 Market Outlook
51:10 Opportunities & Challenges
54:45 Revenue & Raising Money
58:00 The Value of a Platform Based Company

Guest : https://x.com/trossenrobotics
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

In this conversation, we sit down with Varun Nair to dig into the high-stakes world of data for robotics and physical AI. We talk about what actually matters for training robot intelligence. From egocentric video to UMI over teleop, simulation and the gaps between them. You will also learn why the field is still figuring out which data scales and the limits of human-operated data, evaluation challenges, and what it will take to move from demos to real deployment. If you’re building, investing in, or just obsessed with robotics and embodied AI, this one’s for you.

#robot #data #ai

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:30 Data Market
1:30 Varun's Background
3:01 Robotics & Crypto
6:27 Physical AI Definition
8:32 Simulation for Deployments
10:45 World Models
11:45 What is good data ?
12:42 GPT 6 Astra Evaluation
13:50 Data Life Cycle
17:01 Modalities & Pseudo Labeling
19:40 Depth for LLMs
20:19 How labs use data
21:38 Deployment Data = Post Training Data
22:17 Teleoperation
24:00 Patient Capital vs Impatient Capital
24:47 Benchmarks
26:35 UMI Data for Mid Training
27:35 Has Openai been training on robot data?
30:59 Humanoid vs other Embodiments
31:36 Hard vs Easy Tasks for Robots
32:51 Simulation
33:59 Niantic Spatial
34:42 Is robotics data broken?
36:17 Model Companies
37:38 Robot Everest
38:11 Avea
38:47 What Varun looks for
40:17 Outro

Guest https://x.com/_varunnair
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

Asimov is an Open Source Humanoid Robot and today we have the CPO of the company behind it on the podcast. His name is Matthew Moore and he shares unique insights from Menlo Research. You learn what it really takes to build a robot from scratch, what you can do with Asimov and what the future holds for open robotics. #humanoid #robot #asimov

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:38 Why we need Open Robotics
1:28 Matthew's Journey
5:16 Cooking Robots
6:35 Arriving at Menlo Research
7:34 Asimov Development
10:13 Team Building & Supply Chain
11:40 Actuators
12:50 Asimov 1
14:40 Actuator Simulation
16:35 Component Sourcing
18:58 International Operation
21:22 Compute & Model Training
23:49 Software & Team Ressources
25:10 Design
25:56 Business & Data Center
28:06 Customers & Applications
31:06 Data Collection & Market Reality
33:22 Hands & Grippers
35:28 Product Ambitions
36:12 Asimov 2
37:32 Pre-Assembled Version
38:18 Future of Robotics
40:24 Industry Observations
42:02 Hiring & Partnerships
42:52 Scaling Production
43:35 Outro

Guest https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewpaulmoore
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

GPT 6 Astra is OpenAI's most powerful model. So can it be used for robotics? In this episode we look at various demos that show people implementing GPT 6 Astra to control robotic arms and more. Some work in simulation, some work in real environments. And the results are actually surprising. The LLM even starts showing up on various benchmarks and sometimes outperforms SOTA Physical AI models. Of course, there are caveats to this but the performance is seriously impressive. #chatgpt #astra #gpt #podcast

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:32 GPT 6 Astra
3:35 Demo 1 - Painting Robot Arm
5:43 Demo 2 - In Context Learning
8:30 Demo 3 - Robocurve Office Tasks
11:29 Demo 4 - Hand Simulation
15:16 Demo 5 - Drone Flying
17:38 How to use Astra with Robots
18:07 Policy-like
18:51 Agent
19:32 Teacher-like
19:58 Is Astra a VLA ?
21:20 Was it trained on Robot Data?
22:38 Task Annotation Experiment
24:09 Demo 6 - Safety Testing
26:44 Limitations
29:40 Comparison & Outlook
33:52 Outro

Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

In this episode of the robotics stack podcast, we explore tactile data capture hardware with Matt Wulff from 6thSense. He is one of the co-founders and joins us to discuss the specialized robotics hardware required to give robots a realistic sense of touch. We examine how current systems struggle with physical dexterity and why new hardware approaches are essential for advancement. We break down the entire data capture pipeline from deployments to engineering the gloves & camera involved and how to turn this into useful robotics training data. We also speak about what the future holds for hands, humanoids & more!

#robot #data #podcast

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:39 The Future of Robotics & 6thSense
1:44 Background
2:20 Egocentric Video & Tactile Data
3:15 Stereo vs. Monocular Video
4:43 6thSense Products & Services
5:28 Hardware
5:33 Cameras
6:06 Gloves
6:50 Product Development
8:18 Team
9:19 Funding
9:50 Deployments I
10:14 Data Capture Methods
11:06 Deployments II
12:38 Competitive Edge
16:50 Tactile Sensors
19:26 UMI Data
21:40 Data Management & Processing
23:10 Data Quality
24:25 Strategy & Partnerships
26:38 More Cameras
28:20 Hand to Gripper Data
29:07 UMI / Teleoperation
31:54 Robot Model Training
33:45 Capture Rig Implementation
35:28 Robotic Hands
36:30 Who will win Humanoids?
38:19 GPT Astra
40:00 Future
41:35 AI
42:55 Stock Picks
45:32 Robot Skin
47:30 Is Video Enough?
49:14 Outro

Guest: https://x.com/makeitmatto
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

In this episode of the robotics stack podcast we have our second interview. The guest is Randall Briggs who is working on Steel Bot, an open-source robot platform that is made in America. We are discussing the product, the history and alternatives like the Unitree G1 or Asimov. Randall also shares some interesting historical insights and explains why he has such strong conviction for the project.

#opensource #robot #podcast

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:38 Background
2:22 Returning to MIT
6:47 Backdrivability
9:19 Steel Bot
9:40 Inspiration
11:19 The Need for an Alternative
14:01 Steel Bot Progress
14:48 FCC Ban
16:24 Permanent Magnets
18:00 Steel Bot Specs
20:49 Modularity
22:08 Hands
23:14 Funding & Team
24:19 Unitree G1 Limitations
28:02 Steel Bot Software
31:30 Open Source Importance
33:39 Apple History & Applications for Robots
39:05 Use Cases & Job Market
43:42 Mass Production & Demand
47:07 Market Dynamics
48:43 Steel Bot Customers
49:38 Contact
50:30 Conviction & Vision
51:34 Business Opportunities
53:35 Selling Actuators
54:32 Outro

Guest: https://x.com/randallmbriggs
Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack

In this episode of the robotics stack podcast we look at XPENG and their new humanoid robot called Iron. Before that we also talk about 3 models for one-shot robot learning & in-context learning: Generalist AI and their new model Gen 1.5, Skild AI & Rhoda AI. We also cover the Chinese version of SpaceX called Landspace and their new achievements on the rocket side.

#xpeng #iron #robot #podcast

0:00 Podcast Overview
0:36 One Shot Robot Learning Models
0:49 Rhoda AI
2:00 Generalist AI
2:39 Skild AI
3:10 The GPT Moment for Robotics
4:02 Generalist Part 2
7:24 Skild Part 2
11:30 Generalist Part 3
14:40 Skild Part 3
15:17 More Stats
15:59 Founders & Funding
17:28 Exotec
21:39 Skypod
23:32 Skypath
24:03 Deepsky
24:45 Deployments
25:05 Decathlon
25:50 Renault
26:17 DSV
26:30 Trusco Nakayama
26:49 Mujin
27:46 Limitations
28:55 Further Insights
30:53 Landspace & China Space Program
36:30 Landspace Financials
37:00 SpaceX Comparison
43:37 XPENG
44:53 Company
47:13 Products
48:37 Robotics Business
50:00 Iron Humanoid
55:21 Outro


Léo https://x.com/LeoKharon
Oskar https://x.com/hundreddaysx
Podcast https://x.com/roboticsstack