Joel Johnson, the passenger inside the Waymo One robotaxi that was confused by construction cones, takes us inside what went wrong. He also talks about his overall experience with Waymo One, which includes 147 rides to date.

We also catch up with Tom Ryden, executive director of MassRobotics, who takes us inside the develop of the group's new mobile robot interoperability standard.

Passenger of confused Waymo robotaxi discusses what went wrong

In this episode we sit down and learn about the Robot Operations Group with co-founders Florian Pestoni and Joe Wieciek.

In the second half of the show we discuss one vendor's experience as part of the working committee for the recent R15.08 Safety Standard when we talk to Mike Bearman from Vecna Robotics.

Find out whats going on in the world of robot operations

This week, Mike Demko, head of AutoStore’s MFC business line, joins the program to discuss the growth of e-commerce and the role automation is playing. We also hear from Jason dePreaux, a market analyst for Interact Analysis, who discusses the robotics industry services market. 

https://roboweeks.com/

https://www.therobotreport.com/softbank-robotics-europe-cutting-workforce-40-in-shake-up/

https://www.therobotreport.com/hyundai-completes-acquisition-controlling-stake-boston-dynamics/

https://mobilerobotguide.com/2021/06/15/dusty-robotics-raises-16-5m-in-series-a-funding/

https://www.therobotreport.com/weride-raises-310m-funding-autonomous-vehicles/

https://www.interactanalysis.com/the-warehouse-automation-service-market-may-2021/

Softbank distancing itself from Pepper, AutoStore's Mike Demko, robotics industry services

Claus Risager, CEO and co-founder of Blue Ocean Robotics, discusses the evolution of the Danish company and its early entry into disinfection robots. He also tries to sell us on the benefits of telepresence robots.

We also discuss the bigger stories in the robotics industry of late, including the future of Fetch Robotics after the Zebra acquisition, Aurora taking its self-driving tech public via SPAC, the shutdown of Abundant Robotics and the Ingenuity Helicopter completing another historic flight on Mars.


https://mobilerobotguide.com/2020/04/01/robotic-solutions-for-covid-19/

https://mobilerobotguide.com/2021/07/08/a-bright-future-for-fetch-robotics-following-zebra-acquisition/

https://www.therobotreport.com/aurora-taking-autonomous-vehicle-tech-public-via-spac/

Claus Risager on disinfection robots and growing Blue Ocean Robotics

We talk to Jeff Chapman, the founder of The Chapman Group, about the current state of hiring within the North American robotics industry. Jeff is one of the "most connected" individual's within the robotics and automation industry and currently helps companies find talent and he helps individuals find the right opportunity. Tune into to learn what's Jeff's from his unique perspective on the industry.

State of hiring in the robotics market with Jeff Chapman

John Deere recently acquired startup Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million. Founded in 2017, Bear Flag Robotics retrofits its autonomy stack onto existing tractors. 

Dan Leibfried, Director, Autonomy and Automation, John Deere, and Igino Cafiero, Co-founder & CEO, Bear Flag Robotics, join the show to discuss the future of autonomous tractors and agricultural robotics.

Mike also updates us on his trip to ATX West, we dive into our latest investments recap and we celebrate our 50 episode!

http://www.therobotreport.com

http://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com

http://www.mobilerobotguide.com

http://www.cobottrends.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0TB8KlrIx4

https://www.therobotreport.com/july-2021-robotics-investments-and-acquisitions/

https://mobilerobotguide.com/2021/08/05/john-deere-buys-developer-of-autonomous-tractors/

The Future of Autonomous Tractors

Steve and Mike discuss the breaking news this week about the end of life for Intel RealSense cameras.
Tesla unveiled plans to build a humanoid robot.
We talk to Stratom CEO Mark Gordon about the autonomous solutions that help US troops to accomplish their mission in the field.

Latest on Intel RealSense; Tesla Bot; Stratom supports the troops

In episode 52 of The Robot Report podcast, hosts Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman discuss the recent news about Waymo expansion of driverless taxi service into San Francisco. Also featured in this episode is a conversation between Steve and Yaro Tenzer, CEO of RightHand Robotics. Steve and Yaro discuss the technology and capabilities of the RHR bin-picking and singulation solution for warehouse fulfillment applications.

RightHand’s Yaro Tenzer on robotic piece-picking; Waymo’s SF expansion

Michael Kohen, founder and CEO of Spark AI, joins the show. Michael discusses situations in which AI and machine learning still come up short for robotics systems and how his company's human-in-the-loop system helps solve edge cases in real-time. He shares specific real-world examples, including details about Spark AI's partnership with John Deere and its autonomous tractors.

The podcast also discusses the top stories of the week, including the US government imposing restrictions on AMD and NVIDIA selling certain AI chipsets to China. We breakdown what this could mean for robotics.

AI: chipset bans and keeping humans in the loop

See The Fire Dancing

Summary
This week, Mike Oitzman recaps the FIRA 2025 Ag Robotics event in Woodland, CA, highlighting the latest innovations in new automation solutions for agriculture. Featured guest this week is Danny Bernstein, founder of The Reservoir, an agtech incubator located in Salinas, CA. Danny takes us through the creation of The Reservoir and the vision for the organization to support new Ag automation startups. 
Also on the show is a brief conversation with Dave Silver, Director of Orchard Autonomy at John Deere, who updates us on the latest orchard solutions from JD.
Companies mentioned in the recap:|
- Bonzai Robotics
- AgScout (vineyard yield management software)
- TensorField (hot oil weeding solution)
- Pittsburgh Robotics
- John Deere
- The Reservoir

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FIRA 2025 Ag robotics recap

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

FIRA 2025 Ag robotics recap

The Robot Report Podcast

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