Join me, your host Tom Green, for our annual Holiday Special exploring how robotics transforms lives, rebuilds cities, and lifts nations. This year's theme showcases four extraordinary stories of social change through automation.

This year's theme is one close to my heart: "Robotics Driving Social Change."

We begin in India, where three startups—Genrobotics, Solinas Integrity, and Sakar Robotics—are using robots to end manual scavenging, one of the world's most dangerous jobs, giving 58,000 workers dignity and safety. Then we travel to Tokyo, where Silicon Valley legend Andy Rubin launches Genki Robotics, betting he can revive Japan's humanoid robotics industry. 

Next, we explore Pittsburgh's remarkable transformation from dying Steel City to global robotics hub, anchored by Carnegie Mellon's pioneering research. 

Finally, we examine Deng Xiaoping's 1978 reforms that lifted 300 million Chinese from poverty and positioned China as an automation superpower.

Read the full articles at Asian Robotics Review:

1. "Fatbergs", Excreta & Pipe-Cleaning Robots - 
2. Andy Rubin's Bold Bet on Japan's Humanoid Future - 
3. The Fall & Rise of Pittsburgh: From Dying Steel Town to Global Robotics Hub 
4. The Rise of Deng Xiaoping: China's Christmas Miracle & Best Gift Ever! - 

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Welcome to Our Halloween Program 2025

Yes, it’s Halloween, when people dress up like someone or something else, and when the dead come back to visit the living. Which, in a way is kind of apropos of today’s podcast.

ABB Sells to SoftBank

The recent sale of ABB’s robotics division to Japan’s SoftBank. Was that a normal sale of one company to another, or was it something else? Was it part of a disguise? Was it part of an elaborate plan for Japan’s moribund AI and smart robotics industry to return to the world of the living? Was the sale a disguise to get Japan back into competition with its neighbors China and Korea. 

In an age of conspiracy theories, maybe this is one of them. Strange that it all happened in October, and much of it very close to Halloween.

The Real Internet Origin Story 1966

As a program bonus, we look back at the Internet before the Internet as we know it, 1966. When two engineers pioneering the Internet resolved to democratize the technology for the rest of us. 

LINKS FOR FURTHER READING

ABB Bails on Robotics

SoftBank, Robotics/AI & Takaichi Converge

How the Internet Came to Be
The Untold Story of Everything Digital

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Welcome to This Is Robotics – Episode #40!
Where innovation meets imagination.

In this episode, we explore the thrilling fusion of robots and Generative AI—and where better to witness this convergence than inside the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical R&D labs?

First up: GenAI is already transforming the search for life-saving treatments—and today, we're going deep. How exactly are robots and AI teaming up to crack the toughest codes in drug discovery? You'll hear directly from the pioneers making it happen.

One such visionary is Alice Zhang, founder and CEO of Verge Genomics. Her mission? Nothing short of revolutionizing neuroscience research for the world’s most intractable diseases—Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Alice believes the current system is broken—and she’s raised $134 million to fix it. We catch up with her at Stanford, where she shares her bold new model for medical breakthroughs.

Then, we dive into the world of Pharma 4.0—where robots, GenAI, and brilliant human minds unite in a powerful alliance. What was once science fiction is now reality: rapid, intelligent drug discovery with astonishing success rates. You'll hear from the front-line researchers turning dreams into data—and data into cures.

Ever wonder how robots and AI actually work together in a lab setting to make these miracles happen? So do many of our listeners. That’s why we traveled to Liverpool, UK, to meet Andy Cooper, who’s redefining lab automation and will show you exactly how it's done.

And finally: Why make industrial robots smart? The answer could save your business millions. In fact, a staggering 82% of companies have suffered at least two major production line outages in just the last three years. With average downtime now costing $260,000 an hour, it’s a crisis that’s too expensive to ignore. Smart robots may just be the fix the industry desperately needs.

So buckle up—we’re about to take you inside the labs, the minds, and the machines shaping the future of health, science, and intelligent automation.

Let’s get into the news…

See also:
 Why Make Industrial Robots Smart?
https://asianroboticsreview.com/home399-html 

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Listening to Our Fans

We get lots of fan interest in our online news platform and podcast. To recognize and honor all that attention, June’s podcast is dedicated to replying to some of the email and queries that our fans sent to Asian Robotics Review, This Is Robotics, Robo AI News, and LinkedIn.

First off, thank you one and all for your interest in what we do. You are important to us, and we honor the time you take out of your busy day to send us what’s on your mind.

Here are three of the most frequent:

AI’s Red Queen Moment replies to the many who are worried to their cores over artificial intelligence, especially GenAI, and how it seems to be taking over everything everywhere, including the jobs of many or the imminent replacement to many careers and livelihoods. Email arrived in response to our article: A Primer to Combat GenAI Anxiety: We’re All in This Together.

Helping us out in this podcast is Nate Jones, a well-known AI guru, expert, educator, and AI podcast host.

Next up: Prompt vs Context Engineering. Are we abandoning the recently anointed code killer in prompt engineering for newcomer context engineering?. No, we are not. Rather, we are witnessing an evolution in using LLMs. Robotics is getting more with Context Engineering. Once again, we lean on the able services of Nate Jones. Physical AI: Robots Turn Data into Physical Action.

Followed by: Factories: Dark or AI? Unravel the confusion around “dark” factories and AI factories, smart factories, and Factory 4.0. What’s what? And is an AI factory really a factory that makes things? Did AI Just Free Humanity from Code?

 June’s podcast concludes with Meet Mark: New Age of AMR Sales! Go inside the changing landscape of AMR and AGV sales with the newly-appointed CEO of the Americas for ANSCER Robotics, Mark Messina: No-Nonsense Workhorses for the Americas

This Is Robotics

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Heartfelt Thanks for Making This Is Robotics the #1 Global Robotics News Podcast

THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT OVERARCHING ROBOT-BASED THEMES FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2025

DON’T MISS THIS PODCAST!

The one podcast that will catch you up, inform you, and get you ready for the future of manufacturing, jobs and careers, robotics, artificial intelligence, and Gen Z, the generation that is the most aware, well-adapted, and emotionally ready to create an out-sized impact on the future.

Any new technology that happens along that ends up amplifying industrial robotics is a benefit to the entire industry, every other industry, and its people. 

When it comes to robotics and its impact on our world and all of our futures, especially for the industrialized nations of the world, five critical issues seem to predominate and are currently settling in across America…and creating a lot of sparks as they do. 

Five issues that might well define our success or failure in automating our world. Each is moving into prominence, and each forms a news topic for this Episode #38 of This Is Robotics.

Here's how we at This Is Robotics see overarching themes or topics affecting the future:

1. Manufacturing vs. Big Trouble 

No country is ever successful in the long term without a really strong and vibrant manufacturing base. Why is America’s in decline? 

Why did America give up on these: Telegraph, telephone, TV, transistor, digital computer, robot, home refrigerator, air conditioning, kitchen stove, microwave oven, and even the ubiquitous pop-up toaster, the list goes on and on, ingenious and life-changing products, all, once upon a time, imprinted with Made in America, but “no longer” and haven’t been for decades. Trillions of dollars in annual GDP America gave away for a song, never to return.

 2. Layoffs vs. Jobs 

The most unnerving two words for nearly everyone on the planet

3. The Three Amigos of Artificial Intelligence: GenAI vs. Physical AI vs. Agentic AI 

4. Humanoids vs. Industrial Robots      

Don’t get overly bedazzled with humanoids just yet. And don’t overlook industrial robots. Remember the frenzy and billions spent on self-driving cars (still no Level 5) beginning in 2011?
 
  5. Gen Z vs. No One  

Gen Z, all 72 million of them, born between 1997 and 2012 are inheriting the nation…and already looking and acting like beneficial stewards of the nation’s future. 

Our age is at a fascinating juncture for these five overarching themes for 2025. 

Please join us to see how each fit into our robotic future. 

Welcome to This Is Robotics. “You’re Going to Love What You Hear!”

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Heartfelt Thanks for Making This Is Robotics the #1 Global Robotics News Podcast

Welcome to the April 2025, Edition #37of This Is Robotics. 

Today, BTW, is National Superheroes Day. Good time to give thanks of appreciation to a superhero in your life, comic book, cinema, TV, or real life, who has been important to you.

For April’s edition of This Is Robotics, we’ll look at the high-tech drama from Korea as it unfolds a nationwide plan for robot-driven automation for the entire country. Only the second industrialized nation to devise and execute such a massive plan; China, and it’s Made in China 2025, was the first.

We’ll also introduce you to our newest program sponsor, ANSCER Robotics, the small company with a big idea, and its plans following its arrival in the Americas in March for ProMat 2025 in Chicago.

We’ll also attend a white house ceremony for the Executive Order creating the country’s action plan for its very-first upskilling, training, and plans for one million apprenticeships, which could lead to a nationwide new age GI Bill for every citizen, something we’ve been writing about since 2015.

We’ll then take a look through the eyes of Ken Maken, CEO of Workr Labs with his article titled “Why Physical AI Is the Missing Link in Manufacturing Robotics.”

And then we’ll follow up with Yann LeCun’s ideas on physical AI, and why he thinks that today’s LLMs are trapped by Internet data, and offer far less of a future for all robots, including humanoid robots.

 K-Humanoid: Sink or Swim for Korean Robotics?

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INTRO:

Here at This Is Robotics, we have our very own March Madness championship series with teams vying for the GenAI Trophy. The brackets of contenders are set: ChatGPT, Claude, Llama, Gemini, Alibaba’s Qwen, Tencent’s T1, and of course the Cinderella team of the playoffs, DeepSeek, which has already crashed Wall Street for a trillion dollars. 

Our lead story for March is one that generated a ton of email both pro and con plus a pile of commentary.  It was a special report just last week in Asian Robotics Review called The Rise of China's Robotics Industry: Modernize or Perish!

It got a ton of reaction. Some bad, but most was overwhelmingly good. Even former naysayers were impressed saying things like “don’t like the form of government, but got to hand it to them: they are hard workers who came up with a great plan. 

We’ve been following this story for seven years. See the link in our show notes for How China Became a Robotics Powerhouse 2015-2025.

In fact, this month we are juxtaposing China’s rise in industrial robotics with America allowing 50 domestic industrial robot builders go bust. One of them, a wonderful Cincinnati Milacron vowed to become the world’s biggest and best. Our government watched them all die off one by one. America can’t ever let that happen again. The very last of the 50 was Adept Technologies, remember them? They hung on the longest but finally Adept Technologies was acquired by Omron in 2015.

That juxtaposition about the rise of one and the fall of the other is our final story for March. 

OUR FEATURE STORY: 

The Rise of China's Robotics Industry: Modernize or Perish!

Unlike most developed nations trying to automate themselves, China set out a bold plan (emphasis on “plan”), which it has stuck to for a decade of ever-rising success

How China Became a Robotics Powerhouse 2015-2025.

Busy hands

Every nation knows that big undertakings take big money that’s only available from big government, especially a nation the size of China.

 Although many industrialized nations have paid lip service to the critical importance of robot-driven automation, few have actually committed to it and taken action, and none have achieved success anywhere the equal of China’s.

 In addition to China, only two other of the world’s industrialized nations have developed distinct plans to automate their respective countries using robots and robotics technology.  Korea’s 4th Intelligent Robot Basic Plan (2024-2028) is up and running successfully and growing; Japan’s New Robot Strategy, announced in 2015 (running 2016-2020), is mostly a paper plan with limited national success to show for itself.

 China is no stranger to massive undertakings. It’s been regularly pulling off mind-boggling projects since the Yellow Emperor…millennia ago. In modern times, beginning in 1979, the rapid transformation of Shenzhen from a small fishing village to a global tech hub kicked off  a mega building spree. The Three Gorges Dam is another, along with the largest high-speed train system in the world, the Kela Power Station is yet another, then there’s the  South-North Water Transfer Project, plus ten thousand other engineering projects since the 1980s.

Former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping felt confident that as long as the Chinese people kept their hands busy and continued to work together on large development projects China would be just fine. He seems to have been correct.

Automating China may be the most ambitious undertaking yet. And it all begins with and depends on robots. In a 2014 speech, Xi Jinping called for a ‘r

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This Is Robotics: Radio News #35

The Wild, Wild World of Humanoid Robots 2025
The Rise of Humanoid Robots in 2021: How We Got to Now

Good fortune has befallen humanoid robotics in this fast-paced year for humanoids 2025.

Join us for the journey to Now! That journey arguably can be said to have begun in August of 2021 with the emergence of high-octane influencer, Elon Musk, and his introduction of Optimus to the heralded list of humanoid names.  

Surely, humanity has been at the chase for a humanoid likeness for centuries. Modernists may insist that WABOT-1, built in 1970 by Ichiro Kato at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, was the first humanoid robot. And they’d be correct. Since WABOT-1, the list of humanoids has been chock-full of exemplary technology and technologists. Not to diminish the robust efforts of any precursors, but all of it seemed to be progressing in slow motion and a bit of anonymity until the world’s richest man, with a half-dozen spectacular moonshots under his belt, suddenly jumped into humanoid prominence.

ChatGP-3 in 2022 breathed a new kind of life into humanoids as code capitulated to GenAI prompts. NVIDIA’s Jetson Thor in 2024, dubbed the “Universal Robotics Computer” offered up a humanoid compute force never seen prior to Thor. And then China’s DeepSeek created a platform for embodied AI that was a simple, cheap, and effective doorway for  humanoids to enter and learn from the physical world of humans.

Episode #35 of This Is Robotics takes a look at this wild, wild journey for humanoids that’s just beginning.

Please join us in this journey together as Elon Musk, Tom Dohmke, Jensen Huang, Peter Diamandis, Emad Mostaque, Yann LeCun, and Eric Jang build out the 2025 landscape of humanoid robotics.

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This Is Robotics: End-Of-Year Program, 30 December 2024
What Was the Most Important Story in Robotics for 2024?

Yes, there Was Only One.

And no, it wasn’t bipedal humanoids. Not by a long shot. Not as long as there’s gravity and Mother Nature to contend with.

The hype and investment millions going into bipedal humanoid robots these days feels a lot like the over-hyped, over-heated, craziness of the multi-billion-dollar market that was self-driving cars back in 2009-2017. Remember?

Google invested $1.1 billion, so say recent Waymo court documents. Yikes!

The single, most important news story for 2024 is now changing our lives and futures.

Please join us. 30 December 2024 for that news story’s reveal.

“You’re Going to Love What You Hear!

Heartfelt Thanks for Making This Is Robotics the #1 Global Robotics News Podcast