In this episode of the ODSC Ai X Podcast, host Sheamus McGovern speaks with Dr. Denis Garagić, CTO at Palladyne AI, about how intelligent systems are moving beyond the screen and into the physical world.
They explore the rise of embodied and physical AI, how it’s transforming robotics and manufacturing, and why autonomous drone swarms represent a powerful shift in real-time, decentralized decision-making. Denis also shares why hybrid models often outperform LLMs in production environments, and what’s needed to safely deploy these systems in industry and defense.
Key Topics Covered
How Denis Garagić’s work connects robotics, AI software, and autonomy.
What Embodied AI and Physical AI mean, and how they differ from traditional automation.
Why embedded, adaptive systems are replacing rigid, pre‑programmed robots in manufacturing.
The role of data, edge compute, and multi‐modal perception in enabling real‑world autonomy.
Internal limitations of large language models (LLMs) in industrial and physical systems, and why hybrid autonomy is often preferable.
How true drone swarms work: decentralized decision‑making, edge planning, and self‑organising UAV fleets.
Use cases in industrial manufacturing (automotive, aerospace, defense, construction) and in public‑safety/drone swarms.
The operational, organisational, and safety challenges of deploying embodied/physical AI in production: workforce readiness, verification & validation, regulatory considerations.
The future of embodied & physical AI: world‑models, runtime memory, sim‑to‑real transfer, and where the industry is headed next.
Memorable Outtakes
“Embodied AI is about learning through actions. You perceive, adapt, and reason while interacting with the physical world—just like we do as humans.”
“Drone swarms shouldn’t act like fleets. They should act like hives—decentralised, self‑organising, and communicating with only what’s necessary.”
“LLMs don’t scale well in industrial environments. Data is proprietary, compute is constrained, and the models need to be reliable — not just impressive.”

References & Resources
Dr. Denis Garagić’s bio (Palladyne AI): https://www.palladyneai.com/about-palladyne-ai/dr-denis-garagic/
Palladyne AI homepage: https://www.palladyneai.com
Blog: Autonomous Swarming Takes Flight: The Next Era of UAV Operations: https://www.palladyneai.com/blog/autonomous-swarming-takes-flight-the-next-era-of-uav-operations
Press release: Palladyne AI Achieves Key Milestone with First Small Drone Autonomous Tracking Flight:  https://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2024/12/23/10124356.htm TMCnet
News article: Palladyne AI and Draganfly partner for advanced UAV swarm autonomy: https://www.dronexl.co/2025/10/21/draganfly-ai-palladyne-autonomous-drone-swarms/ DroneXL.co
News article: Palladyne AI secures US Patent for advanced swarming and autonomy technology: https://www.asdnews.com/news/defense/2025/11/03/palladyne-ai-secures-us-patent-advanced-swarming-autonomy-technology ASD News


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From Embodied and Physical AI to Autonomous Drone Swarms with Dr. Denis Garagic

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From Embodied and Physical AI to Autonomous Drone Swarms with Dr. Denis Garagic

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