Automate It: A Robotics Podcast
by Polymath Robotics
TechnologyE · Explicit
Latest episode
Ep 67 - The Ionosphere Is Not a Lifetime Movie - Point One Navigation
Ep 67 - The Ionosphere Is Not a Lifetime Movie - Point One Navigation
About this podcast
Each week, the co-founders of Polymath Robotics sit down to give you the inside scoop on the robotics industry. They'll share war stories, weird facts, and little-known approaches to working with robots (with a special focus on autonomous vehicles).
About the hosts:
Stefan Seltz-Axmacher is the CEO of Polymath Robotics, and is best known as the founder of Starsky Robotics, an early autonomous trucking pioneer. Ilia Baranov, CTO, was employee # 10 at Clearpath Robotics, has led teams at Amazon's home robot division, and owned the ROS repo after Willow Garage shut down.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 67 episodes
- Ep 67 - The Ionosphere Is Not a Lifetime Movie - Point One Navigation · 1 h 4 minPoint One is hosting FUSE, a localization conference, on November 19 in San Francisco. Register at fuse.pointonenav.com with code POLYMATH This week, Ilia and Stefan sit down…
- Ep 66 - Pulsar Localization & Digit's Digits · 57 minTwo episodes in two weeks! This week's robot invention: a cuttlefish-shaped maintenance drone that has to navigate around a featureless alien sphere at a good fraction of light…
- Ep 65 - Why Don’t Robots Have an Off Switch? · 51 min · Episode 65In Ep 65 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia ask a deceptively simple question: how hard can it be to put a big red stop button on a robot? But first, they play the Robot Invention…
- Ep 64 – We're Back, the HOA Called, and Claude Code Changed Everything · 56 minIn Ep 64 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia are back after seven months in the trenches closing and delivering Polymath's biggest deal yet — and oh boy do they have thoughts. But…
- Ep 63 – Robots, Cells, and the FDA with Fred Parietti of Multiply Labs · 44 minIn ep 62 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia sit down with Fred Parietti of Multiply Labs to talk about the wild intersection of robotics and biology – from personalized pills to…
- Ep 62 – The Billion-Dollar Blind Spot in Enterprise Robotics · 51 minIn Ep 62 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia imagine a fleet of LLM-powered “Robot Ranger 3000” dog bots to track and protect endangered deer, complete with battery swaps…
- Ep 61 - The Three Laws of Robotics · 49 minIn ep 61 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia dive headfirst into robot subversion hoodies, self-cleaning backyards, and the philosophical sinkholes of the Three Laws of Robotics…
- Ep 60 - Does Nobody Care About Driver-Out Anymore? · 38 minOn this episode of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia dive into Aurora’s recent announcement about running driver-out trucks on public highways—an undeniably huge technical feat, but…
- Ep 59 - David LaRose from Carnegie Robotics on the Reality of Robotics · 1 h 13 minThis week on Automate It, we're excited to have a special guest! Carnegie Robotics co-founder David LaRose joins the podcast to share his perspective on the evolution of robotics…
- Ep 58 - Why is Hardware So Expensive? · 31 minIn the 58th episode of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan Seltz-Axmacher and Ilia Baranov discuss why hardware for robots is so dang expensive. But first, they…
- Ep 57 - Vertical vs Horizontal Integration in Tech · 43 minOn Ep 57 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia get into Polymath Robotics' latest progress—scaling the team, launching new customer projects, and pushing forward despite the usual…
- Ep 56 - The Pitfalls of Traditional Collision Avoidance Systems · 42 minOn this episode of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia break down the surprisingly flawed state of collision avoidance systems in mining—where billion-dollar companies still rely on…
- Ep 55 - Adrian from Foxglove on the State of Robotics Today · 55 minOn Ep 55 of Automate It, we invite Adrian Macneil, CEO of Foxglove, to play the robot game -- which takes a turn into pest control, debating whether humanoid robots should stomp…
- Ep 54 - What Makes a Robot "Safe Enough"? · 31 minIn Ep 54 of Automate It, Polymath's co-founders tackle the tough topic of safety -- and what it means for a big heavy robot to be "safe enough." But first, they play the robot…
- Ep 53 - Takeaways from CES 2025 · 39 minOn Ep 53 of Automate It, the guys discuss their takeaways from CES 2025 - including Jensen Huang's big announcement on autonomous vehicles, how the Chinese auto industry is…
- Ep 52 - The Demise of Cruise (& What it Means for Your Autonomy Program) · 39 minOn Ep 52 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia discuss the demise of Cruise Automation and why it's representative of the hidden dangers in autonomy programs. But first, they play the…
- Ep 51 - Hype vs Reasonable Robots · 47 minThis week on Automate It, the guys invent a robot that spearfishes for shipping containers at the bottom of the ocean. Then, they're talking one of the mysteries of the universe…
- Ep 50 - Beneath the Surface: Robots Under Water · 30 minOn Episode 50 of Automate It (!!) the guys play the robot invention game and come up with a robot for assessing your cleanliness levels. Then, we're diving DEEP (pun intended)…
- Ep 49 - Big Robots at MINEXPO and Tesla's Robot "Demo" · 34 minIn Episode 49 of Automate It, Stefan & Ilia reflect on whether MINEXPO is secretly the best robotics conference. Then, they break down Tesla's humanoid robot demo and whether…
- Ep 48 - What's Hard About AMRs · 36 minIn Ep 48 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia discuss why we don't work with AMRs. But first, they play the robot invention game and come up with quad rotors for smart cities.
