Machine Minds

Greg Toroosian

Machine Minds - the minds behind the machines! This is the show where we dive deep into the intricate worlds of robotics, AI, and Hard Tech. In each episode, we bring you intimate conversations with the founders, investors, and trailblazers who are at the heart of these tech revolutions. We dig into their journeys, the challenges they've overcome, and the breakthroughs that are shaping our future. Join us as we explore how these machine minds are transforming the way we live, work, and understand our world. 

  1. Beyond the Demo: Building Robotics That Actually Work with Jennifer Kwiatkowski

    -4 Ч

    Beyond the Demo: Building Robotics That Actually Work with Jennifer Kwiatkowski

    From aerospace engineering to tactile sensing and physical AI, Jennifer Kwiatkowski’s path into robotics was driven by a simple but powerful motivation: taking math and physics off the whiteboard and making them work in the real world. Now an AI Specialist at Robotiq, Jennifer works at the intersection of hardware, software, and customer reality. In this conversation, she joins Greg to unpack what it actually takes to deploy robots that deliver ROI, why integration is often harder than the robot itself, and how the industry can avoid getting lost in hype cycles. Jennifer brings a research background in robotic manipulation and tactile sensing, along with firsthand experience navigating the fragile complexity of physical systems. Her perspective cuts through buzzwords and focuses on what matters: reliability, safety, usability, and long term value for customers. In this conversation, Greg and Jennifer explore: Jennifer’s journey from mechanical engineering at McGill to a decade deep in robotics and AIWhy engineers, not just scientists, are the ones who bring theory into the physical worldThe hidden challenge in robotics: integration can account for 50 to 80 percent of total automation costLessons from building automated pick and place systems for data collection and the real data barriers in physical AIWhat separates shiny robotics demos from systems that actually deploy and scaleWhy vertical focus and application specific reliability win over general purpose promisesThe hard truth about automation: if a human still has to supervise it, you have not automated anythingHow AI meaningfully adds value in unstructured environments, and when it simply adds unnecessary complexityThe importance of setting the right expectations with customers and practicing real customer empathyWhy supply chain and support operations become major bottlenecks when robotics companies scaleUsing OKRs to align teams without creating decision making bottlenecksSafety and privacy concerns as robots move into unconstrained human environmentsThe current hype cycle around humanoids and where Jennifer sees sustainable growth in robotics adoptionWhy she is excited about “weird robots” and unconventional form factors that move beyond human imitationFor founders, engineers, and operators building physical AI systems, this episode offers a grounded look at what it takes to move from prototype to production, and from hype to durable impact. Learn more about Robotiq: https://robotiq.com/ Connect with Jennifer Kwiatkowski on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkwiatkowski/ Connect with Greg Toroosian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian/

    49 мин.
  2. Scaling Robots Beyond the Safety Cage with Andrew Singletary and Amir Sharif

    18 ФЕВР.

    Scaling Robots Beyond the Safety Cage with Andrew Singletary and Amir Sharif

    As robots move out of cages and into shared human environments, safety is no longer just about stopping motion. It is about enabling systems to keep moving productively without increasing risk. 3Laws Robotics is tackling one of the hardest problems in autonomy: how to guarantee safety while machines remain in motion. Andrew Singletary, co-founder and CEO, and Amir Sharif, COO of 3Laws Robotics, join Greg to unpack how a decade of academic research in safety critical control evolved into a commercial platform for dynamic safety across robotics, vehicles, and autonomous systems. From warehouse robots and mobile manipulators to aircraft and automobiles, their work aims to make autonomy scalable, certifiable, and trusted in the real world. Andrew traces his path from high school robotics competitions to nuclear engineering at Georgia Tech, a PhD at Caltech, and ultimately founding 3Laws to productize safety technology that companies repeatedly asked him to integrate. Amir brings the operator’s lens shaped by multiple startups and exits, focusing on product discipline, execution, and building an organization that values getting it right over being right. Together, they explore what it actually takes to move beyond academic proofs into functional safety that survives broken sensors, real world uncertainty, and regulatory scrutiny. Highlights: The origin of 3Laws Robotics and the influence of Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws on the company’s philosophyWhy traditional industrial safety equates safety with stopping and why that breaks down for mobile robots, vehicles, and aircraftThe concept of dynamic safety and how robots can remain in motion while maintaining established safety guaranteesHow safety events, gridlock, and human resets quietly destroy productivity across robot fleetsThe gap between academic definitions of safety and industry expectations for functional safetyWhy safety must be designed in early rather than bolted on at the end of developmentHow 3Laws works with both established robot form factors and emerging systems like mobile manipulators and humanoidsThe role of exposure and scale in redefining safety risk as robot fleets growLessons from hiring early team members and why skepticism is often a signal of deep understandingHow Andrew and Amir divide responsibilities between vision, product, and operations without rigid boundariesWhy culture, values, and hiring standards act as long term accelerants rather than speed bumpsThe challenge of focus when a single safety platform can apply to logistics, automotive, aerospace, and beyondWhat founders often get wrong about changing industries versus working within existing frameworksWhy certification and third party validation are critical to trust in autonomous systemsFor founders, operators, and engineers building robots that must operate alongside people, this conversation offers a grounded look at how safety, productivity, and autonomy intersect and why the future of robotics depends on systems that can move intelligently, not just stop. Learn more about 3Laws Robotics: https://3laws.io Connect with Andrew Singletary on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsingletary/ Connect with Amir Sharif on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asharif/ Connect with Greg Toroosian on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian

    49 мин.
  3. Building the Brain Behind the Next Generation of Robots with Nikita Rudin

    11 ФЕВР.

    Building the Brain Behind the Next Generation of Robots with Nikita Rudin

    From academic breakthroughs in legged locomotion to building a horizontal AI platform for millions of robots, Flexion Robotics is taking on one of the hardest problems in the field: how to make robots learn, adapt, and scale in the real world. Nikita Rudin, co-founder and CEO of Flexion Robotics, joins Greg to share his journey from growing up in Switzerland with dreams of space exploration, to pioneering reinforcement learning for robots during his PhD, to helping shape NVIDIA’s simulation tools, and ultimately to founding a company aimed at becoming the “brain” behind general purpose robots. Nikita brings a rare perspective that spans deep research, real-world demos, and early-stage company building. He explains why hand-engineered behaviors and teleoperation do not scale, how reinforcement learning and simulation unlock robustness, and what it really takes to move robotics from impressive demos to economically viable deployments. In this conversation, Greg and Nikita explore: Nikita’s path from physics to engineering to robotics, and why he has always been drawn toward faster real-world impactEarly breakthroughs in neural network controlled quadrupeds and why reinforcement learning became the only scalable path forwardThe hidden human effort behind robotics demos, and why that model cannot support general purpose robotsHow Flexion Robotics is building a horizontal AI software platform to serve as the brain across many robot typesThe role of simulation, reinforcement learning, and the sim-to-real gap in training robots safely and at scaleWhy reinforcement learning leads to more robust systems that can recover from failure rather than collapseThe limits of simulation, where real-world data still matters, and why mixing both is essentialWhy demand for humanoid and general purpose robots is already strong across logistics, manufacturing, and material handlingThe tension between customer engagement and long-term platform development in a frontier technology startupWhat Nikita looks for in exceptional roboticists, including action-oriented thinking, healthy stubbornness, and strong collaborationUnderappreciated roles in robotics startups, from infrastructure engineers to data and deployment pipelinesHow Nikita’s leadership style has evolved as the team scaled to more than 40 engineersWhere the robotics industry risks over-promising, especially around consumer and home robotsWhy hype can be healthy if expectations and timelines remain honestAdvice for founders on underestimating team size, timelines, and the operational realities of company buildingFlexion’s near-term milestones, including moving from demos to real industrial deployments and making the economics work at scaleHow a successful horizontal robotics platform could accelerate the entire ecosystemIf you are building robots, investing in them, or trying to understand what it will take to move from research breakthroughs to real-world impact, this episode offers a grounded, deeply technical, and forward-looking view of where robotics is headed. Learn more about Flexion Robotics: https://flexion.ai Follow Flexion Robotics on LinkedIn and X for updates and technical insights Connect with Nikita Rudin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikita-rudin Connect with Greg Toroosian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian

    46 мин.
  4. What Breaks First When Robotics Scales with Joe Harris

    4 ФЕВР.

    What Breaks First When Robotics Scales with Joe Harris

    From gigabytes of robot telemetry per minute to natural language search across multimodal data, Alloy is tackling one of the most underappreciated bottlenecks in robotics: making sense of what robots are actually doing in the real world. Joe Harris, founder of Alloy, joins Greg to unpack how his background in electrical engineering, machine learning, and growth teams shaped a product that helps robotics companies move faster, ship more reliably, and avoid rebuilding the same internal tooling over and over again. What started as frustration with inaccessible data and slow feedback loops has become a platform designed to turn robot data into a shared, searchable source of truth across engineering, validation, and commercial teams. The conversation dives deep into why replay tools break down at scale, how modern LLMs are changing what’s possible with robotics telemetry, and why deciding what not to build is one of the most important skills for early-stage founders. Highlights: Joe’s path from electrical engineering and machine learning research into growth teams at scale, and how feedback loops became a unifying theme across software and roboticsWhy robotics companies are drowning in data but starving for insight, with robots generating gigabytes per minute across video, sensor data, and logsHow Alloy helps teams move beyond one-off replay by enabling cross-sectional analysis, natural language search, and summarized field test reportsThe validation and verification teams who feel the value first, and how faster analysis turns into faster deployments for customersWhy most robotics startups should not build their own telemetry and analysis stack, and how the industry is entering a tooling renaissance similar to early cloud softwareThe importance of pain times frequency when deciding what features to build and what to cutLessons from early mistakes, including why free pilots often fail and how paid pilots create real commitment on both sidesJoe’s philosophy on early hiring, small teams, mission alignment, and building culture without unnecessary processWhat the next 12 to 18 months look like for Alloy as robotics fleets scale and foundation models reshape the landscapeA long-term vision for a world of abundant automation, where robots learn continuously from experience and data interpretation becomes critical infrastructureIf you are building robots, deploying them at scale, or thinking about the unseen infrastructure required to make robotics reliable in the real world, this episode offers a candid and deeply technical look at what it takes to turn raw robot data into real-world progress. Learn more about Alloy: www.usealloy.ai Connect with Joe Harris: https://x.com/_joe_harris_ Connect with Greg Toroosian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian

    43 мин.
  5. How Agile Factories Unlock Speed, Customization, and National Resilience with Edward Mehr

    28 ЯНВ.

    How Agile Factories Unlock Speed, Customization, and National Resilience with Edward Mehr

    Manufacturing has long been the bottleneck between imagination and reality. From aerospace to automotive, complex physical products still take years to tool, validate, and produce. Machina Labs is working to change that equation by turning factories into flexible, software-driven systems that can build almost anything, anywhere. Edward Mehr, co-founder and CEO of Machina Labs, joins Greg to unpack his journey from early software obsessions to SpaceX, and ultimately to founding a company focused on rethinking how the world makes metal parts. Drawing from hands-on experience across software, robotics, and aerospace manufacturing, Edward shares why factories themselves are the real product, and how breaking the link between tooling and design unlocks speed, resilience, and creativity. The conversation explores how Machina Labs’ robotic “Robocraftsman” systems combine dexterity, AI-driven learning, and modular deployment to form metal without molds or dies. The result is manufacturing that adapts as fast as software, enabling rapid iteration, distributed production, and entirely new business models. Highlights from the conversation include: Edward’s early fascination with computers and making things, and how hands-on craft and coding shaped his view of the physical and digital worldsLessons from SpaceX on why manufacturing speed, not engineering ambition, is often the true constraint in hardware innovationWhy traditional factories are locked to specific designs and materials, and how Machina Labs is building product-agnostic, software-defined factoriesThe concept of the Robocraftsman, a robotic system that learns like a human craftsperson and adapts processes in real time using data and AIHow Machina Labs captures data from both physical forming and simulation to train models that optimize force, tooling, and process parametersEarly traction in aerospace and defense, including dramatically reducing lead times for legacy aircraft parts that once took years to replaceExpanding into automotive manufacturing and enabling mass customization directly from OEMs without expensive toolingA major partnership in the UAE focused on rapidly deployable, distributed manufacturing for defense and commercial resilienceThe strategic importance of factories as national security assets in an era of fragile global supply chainsHow portable, containerized manufacturing systems open the door to off-world production on the Moon, Mars, and beyondThe challenges of building multidisciplinary teams across robotics, AI, and materials science, and how leadership evolves as companies scaleEdward’s vision for the future of manufacturing, where physical expression becomes as fast, personal, and iterative as software developmentIf you are building hardware, scaling robotics, or rethinking how physical products get made, this episode offers a deep look at what it takes to bring software-speed thinking into the world of atoms. Learn more about Machina Labs: https://machinalabs.ai/ Machina Labs Advances Custom Automotive Manufacturing with AI and Robotics: https://machinalabs.ai/resources/machina-labs-advances-custom-automotive-manufacturing-with-ai-and-robotics Strategic Development Fund Announces Investment and Initial Agreement with Machina Labs: https://machinalabs.ai/resources/uae-strategic-development-fund-announces-investment-and-initial-partnership-with-machina-labs Connect with Edward Mehr on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-mehr/

    51 мин.
  6. What Venture Capital Really Optimizes For in an AI-Driven World with Peter Harris

    21 ЯНВ.

    What Venture Capital Really Optimizes For in an AI-Driven World with Peter Harris

    Venture capital looks glamorous from the outside, but the reality is far more nuanced. From surviving market cycles to backing founders through years of uncertainty, long-term success in venture comes down to judgment, grit, and pattern recognition earned the hard way. Peter Harris, Partner at University Growth Fund, brings a rare perspective shaped by nearly two decades in venture investing, student-led fund models, and firsthand experience navigating both booms and downturns in technology markets  . Peter’s path into venture capital started early, influenced by entrepreneurship, real estate investing, and a shift from wanting to be an engineer to seeing business itself as a tool for solving problems at scale. After helping rebuild and operate one of the largest student-run venture funds in the country, he went on to co-found University Growth Fund, a diversified Series A and beyond firm with a mission that blends strong returns, student development, and economic impact. The conversation spans what makes founders investable beyond pitch decks, why fundraising ability is often underestimated as a CEO skill, and how venture dynamics change when markets tighten. Peter also shares how AI is rapidly reshaping creation, distribution, and labor, and why ownership of assets may matter more than ever in the decade ahead. Topics covered include: Peter’s journey from student venture investor to Partner at University Growth Fund and the lessons learned rebuilding a fund from the ground upHow living through multiple market cycles changes how investors evaluate risk, founders, and timingWhy a CEO’s ability to raise capital in both good and bad markets can determine a company’s survivalThe concept of grit in founders and why simply outlasting competitors can be a decisive advantageWhat Peter looks for beyond resumes including earned secrets, founder insight, and lived experienceHow University Growth Fund balances real venture execution with training the next generation of investorsWhy most businesses should not raise venture capital and the control trade-offs founders must accept if they doHow AI is driving the cost of creation toward zero and shifting competitive advantage toward distribution, sales, and brandThe implications of AI on labor markets and why asset ownership may become increasingly criticalCommon mistakes founders make when pitching VCs and how to think more clearly about what capital is actually needed forFor founders, operators, and anyone trying to understand how venture capital is evolving in an AI-driven world, this episode offers a grounded and experience-backed look at what really matters when building companies that last. Connect with Peter Harris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vcpete/ Learn more about University Growth Fund: https://www.ugrowthfund.com/ Listen to Peter’s podcast, VC.fm: https://vc.fm/ Connect with Greg Toroosian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian/

    52 мин.
  7. The Missing Infrastructure Holding Robotics Back with Adrian Macneil

    14 ЯНВ.

    The Missing Infrastructure Holding Robotics Back with Adrian Macneil

    Robotics does not stall because the ideas are bad. It stalls because the underlying infrastructure is missing. Adrian Macneil, co founder and CEO of Foxglove, has spent his career inside the systems that power some of the most ambitious autonomous technologies in the world, and he believes the next leap in robotics will not come from a single breakthrough robot, but from making robotics development radically easier for everyone. Adrian’s path spans early work in payments and crypto, a formative chapter at Coinbase, and several pivotal years at Cruise during the early rise of self driving cars. At Cruise, he saw firsthand how much bespoke infrastructure was required to build, debug, and scale autonomy and how every leading AV company was quietly reinventing the same internal tooling. That realization became the foundation for Foxglove: a data and visualization platform designed to give robotics teams the same off the shelf leverage that software startups take for granted. In this conversation, Greg and Adrian unpack: Adrian’s journey from early programming curiosity to building infrastructure at Coinbase and Cruise, and why autonomous vehicles made the value of robotics instantly tangibleWhy robotics development is dominated by custom tooling, siloed data formats, and painful debugging workflows, and how that slows the entire industryThe origin of Foxglove and its mission to provide a shared data platform for robotics and physical AI, from logging and visualization to debugging and analysisWhat makes robotics data fundamentally different, including multimodal sensors, massive data volumes, limited bandwidth, and edge-first constraintsThe creation of MCAP as an open data format, and why interoperability is a prerequisite for robotics to scale beyond a handful of well funded teamsHow Foxglove acts as a single pane of glass for understanding robot behavior across simulations, incidents, and real world deploymentsWhy robotics startups face “death by a thousand paper cuts,” from hardware and autonomy to go to market, pricing, and reliability expectationsLessons from fundraising in a non consensus market, and why finding investors who already believe your thesis matters more than convincing skepticsThe parallels between today’s humanoid robotics hype and the early days of self driving cars, including the long tail of real world deploymentWhat Foxglove looks for when hiring, and why proactive ownership is the mindset Adrian would clone across the entire companyA ten year vision where starting a robotics company feels more like starting a SaaS company, with off the shelf infrastructure enabling founders to focus on real customer problemsIf you care about the future of robotics, autonomy, and physical AI, and want to understand what actually needs to change for the industry to scale, this episode is a grounded and deeply informed look at the infrastructure beneath the hype. Learn more about Foxglove: https://foxglove.dev Connect with Adrian Macneil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianmacneil Connect with Greg Toroosian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian

    48 мин.
  8. Designing the Human Side of Robotics with Shakir Dzheyranov

    7 ЯНВ.

    Designing the Human Side of Robotics with Shakir Dzheyranov

    Robotics doesn’t fail in the field because of hardware alone—it fails when humans can’t understand, trust, or effectively work with the systems they’re given. Shakir Dzheyranov, founder and CEO of HelloRobo, has built his company around that reality. With a background spanning visual arts, motion design, and product leadership at brands like Nike, Shakir brings a rare design-first lens to robotics and automation. After years in traditional design and marketing, he made a deliberate pivot into product design—drawn by the ability to tie design decisions directly to real user problems, business outcomes, and measurable impact. That shift ultimately led him to robotics, where he saw a massive gap between technical capability and human usability. HelloRobo now operates as a specialized product design partner for robotics and automation companies, helping them build market-ready interfaces for robot operations, fleet management, and human–machine collaboration. Rather than chasing flashy MVPs or over-designed “vision concepts,” Shakir and his team focus on interfaces that can actually ship, scale, and be adopted by operators in the real world. In this conversation, Greg and Shakir dive into: Shakir’s journey from art direction and brand design to building a robotics-focused product design firmWhy robotics companies struggle with UX—and why established design patterns often don’t exist yetThe decision to narrow HelloRobo’s focus exclusively to robotics and automationHow contributing to Open Robotics helped establish credibility before commercial tractionWhat makes UX in robotics fundamentally different from consumer softwareDesigning operator interfaces and fleet management systems for complex, safety-critical environmentsLessons from working with Bedrock Robotics, including designing new interaction patterns from scratchWhy talking directly to operators beats copying existing UI patternsThe three traits HelloRobo looks for when hiring designers: product thinking, visual clarity, and the ability to embrace chaosHow design teams can stay grounded in business metrics instead of aesthetics aloneThe difference between MVPs, overbuilt “vision” products, and what Shakir calls market-ready softwareWhy onboarding and education are still missing pieces in most robotics productsBuilding culture in a creative, distributed team—and why HelloRobo is opening its first New York officeFounder lessons on risk, playfulness, and learning to build without over-controlling outcomesWhat excites Shakir most about the future of robotics: mobility, prosthetics, and technologies that extend human capabilityFor founders building robotic systems, leaders scaling hardware companies, or anyone thinking about how humans actually interact with autonomous machines, this episode is a reminder that great robotics isn’t just engineered—it’s designed. Learn more about HelloRobo: https://hellorobo.co Connect with Shakir Dzheyranov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shakir-works Connect with Greg Toroosian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian

    52 мин.
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Machine Minds - the minds behind the machines! This is the show where we dive deep into the intricate worlds of robotics, AI, and Hard Tech. In each episode, we bring you intimate conversations with the founders, investors, and trailblazers who are at the heart of these tech revolutions. We dig into their journeys, the challenges they've overcome, and the breakthroughs that are shaping our future. Join us as we explore how these machine minds are transforming the way we live, work, and understand our world. 

Информация

  • Автор
    Greg Toroosian
  • Годы выхода
    2023 - 2026
  • Выпуски
    127
  • Ограничения
    Без ненормативной лексики
  • Авторские права
    © 2026 Machine Minds
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    Machine Minds