#003: Daniel Theobald - Founding Multiple Robotics Companies, Responsible Leadership, Automating Healthy Food, and People-First Robotics and AI Bold Visions

In this episode Joe speaks with Daniel Theobald. Daniel has decades of experience leading research scientists and teams of engineers in developing cutting edge robotics technology. He has 67 issued patents and over 30 patents pending. He achieved a perfect academic record and was chosen by the faculty at MIT as the engineering student most likely to make a significant impact on engineering and humanity. He also received a prestigious Hertz Foundation Fellowship.  



In 2018 he founded Vecna Robotics, now a global leader in autonomous forklifts. In 2014 he co-founded MassRobotics, a non-profit dedicated to the global advancement of the robotics industry. His passion project is agriculture mechanization at Twisted Fields research farm on beautiful Rancho San Gregorio.  He is currently focused on helping large organizations successfully automate through his latest startup Mekable.com.  He is dedicated to the idea that technology can be used to improve life for everyone on the planet.



In the opening of the episode Daniels shares the story of how he met Edward Teller, “the father of the hydrogen bomb” as a boy and how that influenced him. He talks about how the teachings of his father and the Mormon faith have influenced him as a leader; what it means to be a responsible engineer, and the counterintuitive benefits of helping other people. Then toward the end Daniel shares insights into the current problems with food production and how automation can make food more sustainable and healthy for both humans and the earth.



Timecodes



00:00 Introduction

02:51 Early Life and Education

06:54 The Impact of Meeting Edward Teller

09:04 Influences from Childhood - Mormonism and Daniel's Father

16:25 Founding and Growth of Vecna Technologies

26:48 Founding Mass Robotics

29:31 Founding Vecna Cares, Twisted Fields, Tree41, and Mekable

34:00 Twisted Fields and Automating Food Production

40:27 Fear of Robotics and AI

42:33 The Acorn Platform and Power of Open Source

49:06 How people can help





Resources



Edward Teller: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller

Lawrence Livermore Lab: https://www.llnl.gov/

Cray Supercomputer “Bubbles”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-2

Debbie Theobald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-theobald-6899947/

Vecna Technologies: https://vecna.com/

MIT: https://www.mit.edu/

Space Systems Lab UMD: https://ssl.umd.edu/

W3 Health: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/w3health

BEAR Robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rdRxV-qn3w

Clayton Christensen: https://claytonchristensen.com/

Innovators Dilemma: https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244

Mass Robotics: https://www.massrobotics.org/

Vecna Cares: https://www.vecnacares.org/

Vecna Robotics: https://www.vecnarobotics.com/

Twisted Fields: https://www.twistedfields.com/

Tree41: https://www.tree41.com/

Mekable: https://www.mekable.com/

Acorn Platform: https://www.twistedfields.com/research

Ken Salisbury (MIT/Stanford): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Salisbury_Jr.

Twisted Fields Github: https://github.com/Twisted-Fields





Daniel’s Contact info



Website: https://www.twistedfields.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-theobald/





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