The Robot Report Podcast

The Robot Report Podcast
  • 4.9 (39)
  • Technology
  • Biweekly

Join Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community.

  1. 1d ago

    What AgTech founders get wrong about ROI

    Farmhand Ventures founding general partner Connie Bowen explains why agricultural automation must address farm workers’ needs, farm economics, and the realities of field operations. The conversation draws on Bowen’s experience in venture capital and farm management to explore where robotics can help - and what it takes to earn growers’ trust. Bowen’s time managing blueberry, hazelnut, and hemp properties showed her how labor is both a major farm expense and a central challenge in adopting new technology. Farm work is skilled, yet farm workers are often excluded from technology design. Bowen argues that ignoring their experience can lead to products that don’t fit the work. Farmhand Ventures invests in solutions that improve agricultural work, using both venture capital and redeemable equity to fit the realities of the market. Bowen looks for founders who understand growers’ needs, involve customers early, and listen to farm workers. If technology disrupts workers’ jobs without considering their perspective, adoption can fail. Harvest robots may only be used for a few weeks each year. Bowen sees potential in lower-cost systems and in addressing earlier tasks, such as thinning, that can support better harvest automation and field data collection. Learn more: https://www.farmhandventures.com/ ### Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot. WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems. This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet. AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable. Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

    What AgTech founders get wrong about ROI

  2. 3d ago

    RoboBusiness 2026 recap

    Join the editorial team from The Robot Report as they recap the 2026 RoboBusiness event which took place last week in Santa Clara CA. Steve Crowe, Gene Demaitre, Mike Oitzman, and Brianna Wessling share their favorite memories from the event. Learn more about Open RobOps project: https://openrobops.org/ ### Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot. WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems. This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet. AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable. Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

    RoboBusiness 2026 recap

  3. Oct 16

    Why Opportunity Charging Is Winning as Robot Fleets Scale

    Ben Waters, CEO of Wibotic, joins Mike Oitzman and Gene Demaitre to discuss how wireless charging is evolving for larger, more autonomous robotics fleets. The conversation explores why opportunity charging—charging robots during natural idle moments—is becoming essential for maintaining uptime at scale. Ben explains the trade-offs between charging speed, battery size, infrastructure costs, safety, and maintenance. They also discuss Wibotic’s expansion into outdoor robotics, medical carts, drones, humanoids, defense, and other markets; the company’s IP65-rated 1-kilowatt charger; development toward 3-kilowatt systems; and software that helps customers model ROI and predict battery degradation. The episode offers a practical look at why charging infrastructure, battery strategy, certification, and fleet data will shape the next generation of robotics. ### Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot. WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems. This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet. AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable. Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

    Why Opportunity Charging Is Winning as Robot Fleets Scale

  4. Oct 9

    Why humanoid robot demos still fail the generalization test

    Janine Sinanan-Singh, Director of Gen AI Research at Appen, joins Mike Oitzman and Gene Demaitre to discuss the data, evaluation, and human oversight needed to advance robotics and agentic AI. They explore how video and egocentric data can support robot training, why latency and generalization remain difficult, and where human judgment still matters. Janine describes Appen’s evolution from speech and linguistics into supporting generative AI, multimodal systems, agents, and robotics with expert data. The conversation examines what humanoid robot demos do—and don’t—show, how synthetic data can help teams scale, and what it takes to evaluate systems beyond the lab. ### Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot. WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems. This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet. AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable. Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

    Why humanoid robot demos still fail the generalization test

  5. Oct 2

    Inside Omron’s Next-Generation LD Mobile Robots

    The interview this week explores the European robotics market with OMRON’s Miguel Garces Moreno, covering growth in collaborative robots and AMRs, shifting demand toward sectors such as pharma, and the impact of labor shortages and supply-chain pressures. Miguel discusses how OMRON aims to stand out through software, navigation, safety, and fleet management—not hardware alone. He previews the LD150 and LD300 mobile robots, including faster wireless charging, expanded safety features, and improved serviceability. The conversation also looks at AI’s potential in path planning and predictive maintenance, mobile manipulators and their applications, and why system integrators remain essential to OMRON’s strategy. The interview closes with OMRON’s product roadmap and the growing importance of interoperability across multi-brand fleets. ### Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot. WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems. This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet. AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable. Learn more at WiBotic.com/robotreport

    Inside Omron’s Next-Generation LD Mobile Robots

  6. Sep 25

    General Robotics Is Betting on Modular Intelligence, Not One Robot Brain

    Sai Vemprala, CTO of General Robotics, talks about why robotics still faces a major gap between research and real-world deployment—and how the company’s Grid platform aims to close it. Their conversation explores robot-agnostic intelligence, simulation, reusable skills, deployment architecture, enterprise data ownership, and the growing role of agentic AI. Rather than relying on one universal “robot brain,” Grid combines specialized capabilities—including perception, grasp prediction, and motion planning—into workflows that can be adapted to different robots and tasks. Sai also explains how simulation and deployment data can work together in a feedback loop, and how agents could help build, evaluate, and deploy robotic skills. ### Register now for RoboBusiness 2026: https://cvent.me/w0eRN9?RefId=podcast Listen to the podcast for a special discount code.

    General Robotics Is Betting on Modular Intelligence, Not One Robot Brain

  7. Sep 18

    The picks-and-shovels strategy behind the robotics boom

    Teddy Haggerty is the founder and CEO of Robostore and Robo Inc., where he has helped push robotics into education, enterprise pilots, and early commercial deployments. His perspective is shaped by years of building in drones, crypto infrastructure, manufacturing, and import-export before turning his focus to robots. The robot boom is real, but the winners may not be the ones building the flashiest humanoid. Haggerty reveals why the smartest move in robotics right now is selling the picks and shovels: the hardware, curriculum, training, and integration layer that makes robots actually usable. From high school drones to crypto infrastructure to safety helmets and now robotics, Haggerty has been building businesses at the edge of every major wave. In this conversation, he breaks down how Robo Store evolved from a distribution play into a robotics education and deployment platform, and why Robo Inc. is now pushing toward a more localized, solution-first model. Gene Demaitre and Mike Oitzman press Haggerty on the bigger question behind the hype: what does it take to turn robotics into a real business, not just a demo? Haggerty’s answer is refreshingly pragmatic. Build for a specific job, keep the stack modular, and solve a customer problem today instead of chasing a fully general robot that is still years from mass adoption. ### Register now for RoboBusiness 2026: https://cvent.me/w0eRN9?RefId=podcast Listen to the podcast for a special discount code.

    The picks-and-shovels strategy behind the robotics boom

  8. Sep 11

    One brick at a time: How Monumental uses robotics to build walls

    On the show this week, Salar al Khafaji, CEO and founder of Monumental explains how they are building walls with a custom trio of robots that automate the process of placing mortar and bricks. The company is innovating the construction market, selling “walls as a service”. In the interview, al Khafaji outlines the business model, and describes the solution design that uses custom mobile robots to handle all the wall materials on the construction site. ### Register now for RoboBusiness 2026: https://cvent.me/w0eRN9?RefId=podcast Listen to the podcast for a special discount code.

    One brick at a time: How Monumental uses robotics to build walls
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About

Join Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community.

Information

  • Creator
    The Robot Report Podcast
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    272
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    The Robot Report Podcast

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