Automated with Brian Heater

Robot vacuums have been on the market for over 20 years and are still in fewer than 20 percent of US homes. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Gary Cohen, CEO of iRobot and the brand behind Roomba, about what it actually takes to rebuild one of the most iconic names in consumer robotics.Gary breaks down the shift from feature-led to consumer-led product development, explaining why iRobot missed key market opportunities and how competitors used that window to take significant market share. He shares the full story behind the failed Amazon acquisition, the Chapter 11 restructuring, and how he rebuilt the company's entire product line in under 12 months to win Prime Day 2025.They also discuss why the robot vacuum market is far from saturated, why simplifying the setup and onboarding experience matters more than any new feature, and what the Gillette razor wars teach us about the robot vacuum arms race happening right now. Gary also addresses data privacy under the new ownership structure and previews what iRobot's roadmap looks like over the next two to three years, including a Japan-first product launch and the long-awaited iRobot lawnmower.We'd love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.orgYou can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm.Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter:https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Home robotics has been promised for decades, but most products still struggle to meet everyday expectations. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Mehul Nariyawala of Matic Robots about why the robot vacuum category became the beachhead for home robots, and what it actually takes to ship a product people trust.Mehul breaks down the shift from “default trust” to “default skepticism” in consumer hardware, and why robotics lives in the “march of nines,” where demos look impressive at 90%, but real products require relentless work to reach the reliability customers demand. He explains why people will collaborate with AI software, but they want robots to delegate tasks completely, which raises the bar dramatically for home robotics.They also talk through what makes Matic’s approach different, including why the company believes vision-only autonomy is the only economically viable path for indoor robots at scale, and how mapping, localization, and on-device intelligence lay the foundation for future home capabilities beyond vacuuming. The conversation closes with Mehul’s view of an “iPhone moment” in home robotics, and how Matic plans to keep improving through software updates while building toward what comes next.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter:https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“We wanted to ship before we talked.”That’s how Rob Cochran, co-founder of Fauna Robotics, explains the company’s decision to stay in stealth until its humanoid robot was already in customers’ hands. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Cochran about launching a humanoid startup in one of the most competitive and uncertain moments in robotics.Instead of targeting factories or chasing headline-grabbing demonstrations, Fauna built Sprout, a lightweight, three-and-a-half-foot-tall humanoid designed for developers and real-world experimentation. The robot is soft to the touch, expressive, and modular by design, supporting teleoperation, mapping and navigation, voice interaction, and AI model development out of the box. The goal is not to claim that humanoids are solved, but to create a platform where researchers, startups, and enterprises can begin solving them.They discuss why shipping matters more than announcements, the realities of pricing and scaling hardware, how developer ecosystems accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies, and why modular AI stacks may be more practical than a single end-to-end model. The conversation also covers data ownership, teleoperation versus autonomy, early commercial deployments, and the long-term vision for consumer and home robotics. It is a pragmatic look at what it takes to move humanoids from concept videos to working systems in the world.Sponsored by SANYO DENKI America: SANMOTION delivers precise, reliable multi-axis control for advanced robotics systems. Learn more at https://www.sanyodenki.com/america/.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter:https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Nobody wants a robot.” That’s how Péter Fankhauser, CEO of ANYbotics, reframes industrial automation. Customers are not buying quadrupeds for spectacle. They are investing in solutions that solve real operational problems. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with the ETH Zurich spinout founder about turning cutting-edge robotics research into a commercially deployed inspection platform used in offshore wind, oil and gas, and other hazardous environments.They discuss why ANYbotics is not chasing humanoid hype, how the company built traction through real-world deployments, what industrial facilities actually look like behind the scenes, and how reinforcement learning reshaped their control systems. The conversation also covers transparency in robotics marketing, the role of teleoperation in autonomy, the shift from collecting data to delivering insights, and the ethical line the company drew around weaponization. It is a grounded look at where industrial AI is delivering value today and what it takes to scale autonomous robots in the real world.Sponsored by SANYO DENKI America: High-performance SANMOTION C S300 delivers precise, reliable multi-axis control. Learn more at sanyodenki.com/america.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Talk about humanoid robots is everywhere, but how useful are they in industrial settings?In this live episode of Automated, Brian Heater talks with Mikell Taylor, former Amazon Robotics leader and current head of General Motors’ Autonomous Robotics Center. Recorded in front of an audience at A3’s Business Forum, the conversation dives into safety, collaboration, automation at scale, and why the best robots don’t necessarily look like us.From Amazon’s Proteus AMR to GM’s next generation of manufacturing automation, this episode cuts through the hype and focuses on what actually works in the real world.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brian Gerkey believes deeply in the importance of open-sourcing robotics technology. His career, with time spent at Willow Garage, Open Robotics, and now as CTO at Intrinsic, has been guided by this philosophy.In this episode of Automated, Gerkey explains why “simple” tasks like picking and placing remain some of the toughest problems to solve, especially in high-variability environments. We explore Intrinsic’s software-first approach to making automation economically viable, the idea of artificial functional intelligence (AFI), and how technology only succeeds when workers trust and understand how to use it. Bryan reflects on the tight-knit spirit of the industry, and why community, relationships, and impact, not just perfect tech, drive it forward and keep him dedicated to robotics after all of these years.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The most interesting work around AI doesn’t occur at the height of the hype cycle.Kence Anderson has watched promising ideas overperform in demos, underperform in reality, and eventually re-emerge as something more modest and more useful. This episode focuses on that middle ground, where engineering judgment replaces speculation and progress looks slower than the headlines suggest.An engineer who led autonomous systems work at Microsoft and now runs AMESA, Kence brings that experience into A3’s Designing Industrial AI Agents course.Learn more about Amesa: https://www.amesa.com/ Connect with Kence: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kence/ We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After three decades in consumer robotics, Colin Angle is still asking the hardest questions about trust, value, and what robots are actually for.Colin Angle, co-founder and former CEO of iRobot, joins Automated for a candid conversation about the rise of consumer robotics, the collapse of the Amazon acquisition, and what comes next for physical AI.He explains why Roomba was never a “science project,” how regulatory delays reshaped the company’s future, and why the next generation of robots must focus on trust, value, and real human interaction, not just humanoid hype.The conversation also looks forward. Colin, now the CEO of Familiar Machines & Magic, shares how his thinking has evolved after three decades in consumer robotics, why trust and value creation remain the hardest problems to solve, and what excites him about the next era of physical AI, from emotionally intelligent machines to a smarter, more human-centered home.Connect with Colin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinangle/ Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at podcast@automate.org. You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automate.org/podcast. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.You can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/ Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundup Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The current interest in robotics follows a pattern we’ve seen before. Eric Danziger has spent years working through those cycles and offers perspective on how things are actually playing out.Invisible AI CEO Eric Danziger joins Automated to cut through the hype around humanoids, self-driving cars, and AI demos. Drawing from his time in the U.S. Army, Carnegie Mellon’s robotics program, and Silicon Valley startups, Danziger explains why physical AI moves more slowly than software, and why vision, infrastructure, and manufacturing realities matter more than flashy demos. A grounded conversation about what’s possible now, what isn’t, and what it will really take to automate the physical world.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robotics has a habit of compressing timelines in theory and stretching them out in practice. Few people are better positioned to talk about that gap than Vincent Vanhoucke, whose work spans the early days of deep learning at Google and the ongoing challenge of scaling autonomous systems at Waymo.Vincent Vanhoucke, distinguished engineer at Waymo and former leader at Google Robotics and Google Brain, joins Automated for a wide-ranging conversation on embodied AI, robotics, and autonomous driving.From the early days of deep learning to today’s foundation models, Vincent breaks down why scaling is harder than innovation, how robotics and AI finally converged, and what humanoids can learn from the long road to self-driving cars.Listen to Vincent’s podcast: AI in Motion https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCkt0hth826G9AtnOrQsPbKKD5JmdaMXb&si=Nes4oraGJT4d4biaWe’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

True Ventures was an early investor in key robotics startups like Diligent and Bear Flag, thanks, in part, to Rohit Sharma’s thoughtful eye. The venture partner discusses how the firm determines early stage successes and charts his family’s journey from India farm to Palo Alto boardroom. From ag robotics and humanoids to long investment timelines, founder empathy, and why optimism matters in venture, this conversation goes deep on how transformative technologies actually make it into the world. We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘‘Twas the night before Automated and all through TRI, not a robot was stirring, just Erin McColl and I. We watched several YouTube videos with great glee, for the latest in AI and autonomy.” Welcome to this end-of-year special where host Brian Heater and Toyota Research Institute’s Erin McColl break down the most compelling robot videos of 2025. What’s real, what’s hype, and what actually moved automation technologies forward. From diffusion policies and dexterity challenges to home robots, humanoids, and honest failure cases, this episode explores the trends shaping robotics heading into 2026, plus the reveal of the 2025 Readers’ Poll winner.See the full list of 10 videos under consideration on YouTube. We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahead of Disney’s Avatar: Fire and Ash’s release, we’ve got one hot conversation with Ben Procter. The film’s production designer, who previously worked on the Transformers series and Prometheus, discusses how real-world robots influenced the sequel’s autonomous systems and mechs.From Avatar’s crab suits to swarm construction robots, this conversation dives deep into how real robotics, industrial design, and human biomechanics shape some of cinema’s most iconic machines. Ben Procter explains how mech suits are piloted, why insects, not humans, are the real inspiration, and how realism makes science fiction hit harder.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For more than 30 years, University of Massachusetts Lowell professor Holly Yanco has been a leading mind in human-robot interaction. It seems the rest of the automation industry may finally be catching up with her decades of research.Professor Yanco delves into the complexities of human–robot interaction, from telepresence robots and robot trust to assistive tech, exoskeleton advances, and the challenges of real-world deployment. She shares lessons from decades of testing, breaking, and improving robots, why telepresence robots never had their predicted breakout moment, and what it takes to build capability-driven systems people can actually trust. This episode covers: agricultural robotics, underwater testing, community-college talent pipelines, and what it really takes to grow the next generation of roboticists.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Grace Brown, a humanoid robot future is a hopeful future. Andromeda’s Abi is designed to build connections in an increasingly isolated world, focused on older adults in care facilities. It’s a group that is a prime target for transformative technologies, but is too often overlooked.In this episode, she talks about designing Abi, the robot bringing real connection back into aged care, the jaw-dropping moments that proved it was working, and the obsession, grit, and magic behind building a billion-dollar startup from nothing.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2018, Dusty Robotics quite literally got in on the ground floor of automating the $2 trillion U.S. construction industry. Founder and CEO Tessa Lau discusses the ups and downs of those early days, and what it means to go from engineer to executive.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI Go-to-Market Lead for Energy & Utilities at Google AI, Dianne Eldridge, knows how to communicate with executives. The automation vet is also an expert at cutting to the heart of the matter in conversations about industry, society, and her own personal journey. In this episode, Dianne shares her remarkable journey, from surviving a three-family apartment in Beijing to becoming an executive shaping global AI strategy.She and Brian Heater explore AI’s impact on jobs, immigrant grit, ethical guardrails, leadership mistakes, and what it really takes to grow careers in the age of automation.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ken Goldberg is a great resource to have on speed dial when those complex robotics questions emerge. As a longtime U.C. Berkeley professor and cofounder of Ambi Robotics, he’s familiar with the promise the category holds and the vast amount of work and data it will take to bridge that gap.From Ambi Robotics’ data flywheel and the “robot data gap” to why personal use of humanoids may remain decades away, Goldberg and Brian Heater explore the hard truths behind dexterity, simulation, and learning at scale. Lock in for a synopsis of where robotics stands today and where it’s heading next.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A crush on a fictional astromech droid at age 11 set Helen Grenier down a path toward cofounding iRobot, the most influential consumer robotics firm of the early  21st century. Since then, Grenier has served as CEO of garden weeding robotics company, Tertill, and defense drone firm, Cyphy Works. We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What began as a University of Illinois engineering project has grown into a startup aimed at improving lives. Psyonic CEO Aadeel Ahktar discusses the company’s journey from human prosthesis to humanoid manipulation.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.