The Robot Bureau

Physical AI and humanoid robots, decoded for European business leaders by two founders who spent 15 years on the other side. The Robot Bureau is a monthly podcast on physical AI, humanoid robots and the Chinese companies building them, made for business leaders in Europe who need to understand what is coming before it arrives. It is hosted by two people who have spent their careers as mirror images of each other. Rogier is a European founder who built and sold companies in China over 15 years. Lei is a Chinese founder who has spent 15 years building businesses in Europe. Between them they read the Chinese sources, sit in the Shenzhen showrooms and the European boardrooms, and translate what each side gets wrong about the other. Every episode follows the same format. We pick the biggest headlines of the month, from Unitree and AgiBot to Bosch and Schaeffler, from a $6 billion funding round to a robot factory opening in Serbia, and then go beyond the headline to find the real story. We pitch those stories to each other, argue about what they mean, and end every episode with a verdict: which story makes the front page, which one is a nothing burger, and which one gets spiked. We have all seen the demo videos, the kung fu moves and the robot Olympics. This show is about what is actually happening behind them: who is shipping, who is buying, who is on the bill of materials, and what it means if you run a business in Europe. Reporting from Europe and China. New episodes every month.