Andreas Orthey Podcast

Dennis Hong: From Hollywood Robots to Magic, Art, and Automated Kitchens | Andreas Orthey #10

"Well designed machines are sexy!" Join me for Episode 10 of the podcast. This time my guest is the legendary Dennis Hong, Professor of Robotics at the University of California, Los Angeles. The Washington Post called him the Leonardo da Vinci of robotics, he is the go-to expert whenever Hollywood needs a robot, and he has appeared on shows like MasterChef USA and Magic for Humans. Dennis is truly one of the few remaining modern polymaths, and it was a pleasure to talk with him not only about robotics, but also about his expert-level knowledge in fields as diverse as magic, cooking, and art. For me, Episode 10 was definitely 10/10 on the fun scale. Go watch it now! Outline 02:23 Childhood in USA and Korea 07:45 Academic Career 13:06 Car For The Visual Impaired 19:10 RoboCup World Champion 22:58 Pioneering Breakthrough Technology 25:22 Becoming An Artist 29:56 Hollywood and Robotics 31:47 Reinforcement Learning vs. MPC for Locomotion 35:50 Cooking and MasterChef USA 39:17 Automatic Ghost Kitchen 43:32 Becoming a Magician 46:35 Live Magic Trick 48:19 On Making People Happy Episode Links Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7auQAJvcCXdVFomgSX5tC3?si=eWVM6LP5TSGEKm43m1341g Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dennis-hong-from-hollywood-robots-to-magic-art-and/id1812910570?i=1000769489626 X: https://x.com/andreas_orthey/status/2058916537868726453 Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa): https://www.romela.org/ Dennis Hong's Website: https://samueli.ucla.edu/people/dennis-hong/ Dennis Hong's TED Talks: https://www.ted.com/speakers/dennis_hong Dennis Hong on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hong.dennis/ Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

• Transcript

Francesco Ferro: PAL Robotics, REEM Humanoids, Retail and Service Robotics | Andreas Orthey #9

PAL Robotics is one of the most successful robotics companies in Europe, with more than 200 robots deployed in over 15 countries. Join me for an in-depth discussion with co-founder and CEO Francesco Ferro. We talk about the different robotics products PAL Robotics has launched, the challenges the company has faced, and what is needed to actually build a cashflow positive robotics company. I am happy that Francesco shared his insights with me. Please enjoy this episode! Outline 00:45 Life before PAL Robotics 04:46 Launch of PAL Robotics 09:15 Acquiring Early Funding 14:00 First Robot: REEM-A (2005) 18:22 REEM-B 23:22 REEM-C and REEM-H 26:16 Becoming CEO and TALOS (2017) 38:02 Humanoids for Service and Research 46:51 Retail Robotics and Remote Access 55:48 Daily Life of a CEO Episode Links Website PAL Robotics: https://pal-robotics.com/ YouTube PAL Robotics: https://www.youtube.com/PALRobotics LinkedIn PAL Robotics: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pal-robotics/ LinkedIn Francesco Ferro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-ferro-88791a1/ Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

• Transcript

Jamie Paik: Reconfigurable Robots, Laparoscopy, Robogami, Soft Robotics, Haptics | Andreas Orthey #8

Join me for a podcast episode with the brilliant Jamie Paik (Prof EPFL, Reconfigurable Robotics Lab). We explore her upbringing where she was torn between science and art, her contributions to reconfigurable and soft robotics, her pioneering work on Robogamis (Origami Robots), and her patented JAiMY tool for Laparoscopic surgery. Jamie is really at the very frontier of robotics research, and I am super grateful to her not only for participating in this episode but also for generously sharing her insights into research, teaching, and mentoring. Outline 03:10 The Scientist and The Artist 11:51 South Korea and Samsung 21:09 Postdoc in Paris 25:34 Laparoscopy 33:57 Origami Robotics 46:59 Humanoid Robots 53:17 EPFL and Reconfigurable Robotics Lab 01:02:10 Soft Robotics 01:07:10 Reconfigurable Robots 01:15:20 Future of Robotics 01:18:31 Haptic Devices 01:26:44 AI and Research 01:30:56 Teaching and Mentoring Episode Links Wikipedia Jamie Paik: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Paik Website Jamie Paik: https://people.epfl.ch/jamie.paik LinkedIn Jamie Paik: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiepaik/ Website Reconfigurable Robotics Lab: https://www.epfl.ch/labs/rrl/ LinkedIn Reconfigurable Robotics Lab: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reconfigurable-robotics-lab/ Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

• Transcript

Oliver Brock: Science of Intelligence, Protein Folding, Berlin, AllAdvantage | Andreas Orthey #7

Everyone talks AI, but what is intelligence, actually? Join me and Prof. Oliver Brock, director of the Science of Intelligence excellence cluster, for a deep-dive into the science of intelligence, robotics, protein folding, and his startup side quests. Here are my three personal highlights from this podcast: - Oliver believes that intelligence manifests itself through behavior, and that behavior depends on a small set of principles. One of those principles, he believes, is active interconnection, where information flows between different parts of a system, guided by optimization. - He recounts his truly inspiring life-story, including how we grew up in the 80s in West Berlin, what he did when the wall came down, how he found his way into Stanford University, and how he became the CTO of a company raising $200M in funding. - By linking protein folding to robotics, Oliver explains how Deepmind's AlphaFold achieved a breakthrough in finding stable protein folding states, what Levinthal's paradox entails, and that necessity has driven nature to excel at protein folding. Outline 02:14 Growing Up in Berlin in the 80s 08:26 Path Towards Academia 17:17 Founding AllAdvantage 27:23 Professorship in Amherst, MA 29:15 Protein Folding and AlphaFold 37:54 Interactive Perception 44:42 Intelligence, Behavior, and Braitenberg Vehicles 47:21 Definition of Intelligence 49:02 Multiple Intelligences 53:33 Intelligence as a Process 55:15 Work Turing Test 57:19 Principles of Intelligence: Active Interconnection 01:05:59 Science of Intelligence 01:10:16 Future of Robotics Thanks and Credits Special thanks to the Science of Intelligence excellence cluster, especially Maria Ott, for providing the podcast room for this episode and help with setting everything up. Unfortunately, the audio of this episode got scrambled during recording due to a microphone malfunctioning. I had to reconstruct roughly 90 percent of this episode using AI tools. To do this, I used ElevenLabs.io to generate a transcription of the scrambled audio (which was surprisingly good) and then used their voice cloning tool to regenerate the audio in Oliver's voice. Unfortunately, the voice cloning introduced an accent to Oliver's voice, so the voice you hear is not the original voice of Oliver. However, the content is preserved and has not been altered from the original. Furthermore, this process led to some mismatch between lips and audio, which made the video stream unusable. I used different tools like facefusion.io, sync.so and diff2lip to finally restore the lips to be in synchronization with the audio from the voice cloning. The final video still has some audio and video artifacts plus the additional accent for Oliver's voice, but it was the best that could be achieved with the tools available to date. Books Mentioned Mind Children by Hans Moravec Computers & Thought by Edward Feigenbaum The $2 Million Cough by Greg Hoffman [About the company AllAdvantage] Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology by Valentino Braitenberg Action In Perception by Alva Noë Episode Links Science Of Intelligence: https://www.scienceofintelligence.de/ Oliver Brock Homepage: https://www.tu.berlin/en/robotics/about-rbo/prof-dr-oliver-brock Robotics and Biology Laboratory: https://www.tu.berlin/en/robotics Wikipedia AllAdvantage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllAdvantage The Work Turing Test: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/pdf/75d3340c6dbd7bcd8c4b4c617acb5d932b03f4ba Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

Majid Khadiv: The Future of Humanoid Robotics | Andreas Orthey #6

Majid Khadiv is Professor for AI Planning in Dynamic Environments at Technical University Munich (TUM). In this podcast, we talk about multiple topics connected to the future of humanoid robotics, including: - Which company is winning humanoid robotics? - What are the major application areas for humanoid robots? - The power of visualizing dynamical equations - How to recover on flat terrain by only a single step into the future. - The ideal education of students who want to study humanoid robotics. Enjoy the podcast! Outline 01:05 Getting into University in Iran 03:28 Visualizing Mathematical Equations 13:35 PhD in Iran 19:55 From Iran to Germany 26:11 Humanoid Locomotion 32:41 From PhD to Postdoc 42:40 The Ideal Education 48:55 Biggest Societal Problems 50:06 Warfare and Technology 53:10 Applications for Humanoid Robots 54:49 General-Purpose vs Specific-Purpose Machines 57:33 Moravec's Paradox 01:01:20 Main Bottlenecks for Humanoid Locomotion 01:12:23 Model Predictive Control 01:14:35 Problem of Infinite Choice 01:17:32 Contact Before Motion or Motion Before Contact 01:20:05 Which Company Will Win Humanoid Robotics? 01:23:16 When We Will Get Room Cleaning Robots 01:24:11 Data Acquisition 01:28:33 Quadrupeds at CERN 01:30:21 Cleaning Rooms 01:32:28 Problems With Unemployment 01:35:48 Basic Income 01:39:53 AI Taking Over 01:41:24 Humanoid Robot Personalities 01:43:24 Favorite Philosophers 01:49:55 Current Research and Longterm Vision Episode Links Majid Khadiv Homepage: https://www.professoren.tum.de/en/khadiv-majid Majid Khadiv Lab Homepage: https://www.ce.cit.tum.de/en/aipd/home/ Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

Wolfgang Hönig: Multi-Robot Coordination, Drone Physics, Drone Lab, NVIDIA | Andreas Orthey #5

The global drone market is projected to reach 260 billion USD by 2030 [1]. Are you curious about the technology driving this revolution? I recently sat down with Wolfgang Hönig, professor for multi-robot coordination at the TU Berlin, for an in-depth discussion on the future of robot drones. In our podcast episode, we discuss - When will drone package delivery become a Reality? - How to overcome the complex physics of drone flight - Coordinating swarms of drones for maximum efficiency - Why bird-like drones could be a game-changer - How to build a cutting-edge drone research lab - How drones can revolutionize search and rescue operations Check out our full conversation below! Content 00:35 Research Goals 01:17 Motivation to do Robotics Research 01:58 Early Life in Dresden 03:20 First Programming Experiences 05:20 From Computer Science to Embedded Systems 06:36 Master Thesis with NVIDIA 07:38 Software Engineer at NVIDIA 09:11 Lessons Learned at NVIDIA 10:17 Favorite Coding Environment 10:43 Largest Company in the World in 2025 11:25 From NVIDIA to Academia 12:26 Meeting His Wife 13:17 Difficulty of Getting into a PhD Program 14:08 Moving to Los Angeles 15:09 Multi-Robot Coordination Lab 16:21 PhD work on Drones 17:06 Virtual Reality and Drones 18:02 Motion Planning for Multi-Robot Teams 19:22 Main Challenges for Motion Planning on Drones 20:35 Understanding the Physics of Multiple Drones 22:13 Motion Planning for Drones 25:46 Combining Planning and Learning 27:32 Drone Racing 29:22 Applications of Large Swarms of Drones 30:30 Where is my Package Delivering Drone? 33:46 Bird-like Drones 35:10 Advantages of Bird Designs 36:10 How to Build a Drone Lab 38:27 Demonstrations in the Drone Lab 39:31 Difference between Drone Lab and Real World 40:39 Drones in Warfare 41:59 Drone Search And Rescue 42:52 Larger Drones for Search and Rescue 44:59 Civilian Applications of Drones 46:35 Drone Lifetime and Battery Requirements 48:07 Connections to Material Science 49:35 Current Research Projects 50:36 Most Impactful Paper Ever Written 51:42 Next Career Milestones 52:15 Prerequisites to do Drone Research 52:58 Value of H-Index Metric 53:58 A Typical Day in Wolfgang's Life 55:03 Weekly Events in the Research Groups 55:32 Personal Definition of Success 57:01 Mentors 58:09 Counterbalance to Professorship 01:00:08 Life Lessons Learned References [1] https://www.sphericalinsights.com/reports/drone-market Episode Links Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wLmvai2GLfgcbyDlYtWm8?si=_hf8o__eQn-OjGlLMKsILA Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wolfgang-h%C3%B6nig-multi-robot-coordination-drone-physics/id1812910570?i=1000708579725 Wolfgangs Personal Website: https://whoenig.github.io/ Wolfgangs Lab: https://imrclab.github.io/ Lab Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsFZxMGOnS8pC6DSeRVnDLg Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

Sean Murray: How to build a Robotics Company, Robot Motion Planning on a Chip | Andreas Orthey #4

How do you build a robotics company? Join me in my latest podcast episode, where I talk with Sean Murray, co-founder and director of robotics engineering at Realtime Robotics. Our topics include: - His past as a chemical engineer - Motion planning on a chip - The challenges of starting a robotics company - The importance of early feedback in product development - Hiring and retaining the right people - How academic and industrial motion planning differs - The next 10 years of industrial robotics Please enjoy! Content 00:37 From Montana to Berlin 01:18 Born in Texas 02:26 First Contact with Computers 03:10 Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology 04:10 Interests in Bioinformatics 05:37 Reservoir Engineering 07:31 Challenges in Reservoir Engineering 11:12 PhD in Computer Science 13:05 Benefits of having a different background 14:09 Goals in PhD 15:33 Robot Motion Planning on a Chip 18:53 Process of Starting a Robotics Company 20:29 Vision of First Product 21:56 Not what the industry wanted 22:57 First Customer 23:38 How to acquire Funding 24:50 Biggest Challenge to start Realtime Robotics 25:50 On Culture and Hiring 26:38 Philosophy of Hiring People 28:02 Retaining Good People in a Startup Environment 29:23 Building Technical Expertise and Retain it 30:31 Prerequisites to work at Realtime Robotics 31:40 Critical Skills in a Startup Environment 32:35 Differences between Academic and Industrial Motion Planning 35:22 Resolver for Workcell Optimization 38:19 Significance of Early Feedback 40:25 Current Challenges in the Robotics Industry 41:27 Balancing Shortterm and Longterm Goals 42:13 The Next 10 Years 43:28 AI in Robotics 44:44 Impact of Large Language Models in Robotics 45:40 Advice for your younger Self 46:39 Value of Pivoting Faster 47:17 Automation and Fears of Unemployment 49:05 Which jobs will become Obsolete? 49:32 Could Basic Universal Income Unemployment? 51:35 Exercises to Balance out Sitting on a Desk Episode Links Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3lJBV0in1MDvWrmm61DyWi?si=_idjSqaoR-iWG9PDdjEFdQ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sean-murray-how-to-build-a-robotics-company-robot/id1812910570?i=1000706674729 Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

Bradley Nelson: Microrobotics, Medical Robotics, Magnetic Field Control | Andreas Orthey #3

Imagine tiny robots moving through your bloodstream, breaking down blood clots, repairing damaged cells, or delivering targeted drugs to tumor sites. This isn't science fiction---it is the real-world potential of microrobotics, a field on the verge of revolutionizing robotics research and transforming medicine as we know it. In episode #3 of my podcast, I sit down with leading expert Brad Nelson, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zürich, to explore the fascinating world of robots at the smallest scales. Content 00:38 Beginnings of Microrobotics: Manipulation at Small-Scale 02:45 Grand Challenges in the Field: Small, Intelligent Machines 03:27 Medical Applications of Microrobots 04:08 Regulatory Challenges: Sterility 05:08 Personal Motivations: From the Space Program to Microrobotics 06:43 First Robotics Project: Assembly Workcells and Force Control 09:00 PhD in Robotics: Microscopic Robots 10:14 Curiosity and Forces at the Smallest Scales 12:06 First Interest in Medical Robotics 15:13 Two Leading Causes of Death: Heart Attacks and Ischemic Strokes 16:09 Move Micro Robots: Magnetic Field Control 18:11 From Blockage to Relief: CTs, Nanoparticles, and Microneedles 21:25 Detection of Strokes: Face, Arm, and Speech Test 23:06 Formation of Blockages 23:55 Prevention of Blood Clots: Smoking, Diet, and Exercise 25:28 Femtotools: Force Sensors at Small Scales 27:19 Aeon Scientific and Nanoflex Robotics 28:03 Magnetic Fields: Dangers and Weak Fields 29:36 Effects of High-Frequency Magnetic Fields 30:18 From Research to Product: Challenges and Lessons learned 32:49 Building Exceptional Teams: Passion, Teamwork, and Uncertainty 34:11 Ideal Research Student: Excitement, Collaboration, Hard Work 35:39 Structure of Daily Work Days 37:18 What is the Smallest Scale for Robots? 39:40 The Limit: One Micrometer 40:21 Alternatives to Magnetic Fields for Actuation 41:11 Applications outside the Medical Field 43:08 How realistic is the movie Transcendence? 45:00 Current State on Transporting Drugs through the Body 47:09 Micro-robots in the Brain: What can we already do? 48:18 What Bradley is most proud of 48:45 What do you need to break into Micro-Robotics? 50:31 How to create a good interdisciplinary team? 51:59 How do LLMs affect the field of Micro-Robotics? 54:00 Current Research: Robotics Capsules and Teleoperations 56:34 Time in United States Peace Corps: Botswana and Teaching Math 58:56 Moving from Minnesota to Switzerland 01:00:52 Why Robotics is Amazing Episode Links Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/522KaV5Os08rHJUNTjaRhn?si=0jgsp-7HRcacRZlCxyCW7Q Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bradley-nelson-microrobotics-in-medicine-andreas-orthey-3/id1812910570?i=1000706674728 Bradley Nelson Website: https://msrl.ethz.ch/the-lab/team/Brad_Nelson.html Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

Steven M. LaValle: Robotics Research, Virtual Reality, and Life in Finland | Andreas Orthey #2

Steve LaValle is one of the pioneers of robot motion planning. I got the rare opportunity to talk with him in my podcast series on robotics. Topics included his work on the Planning algorithms book, development of the rapidly-exploring random tree algorithm, minimal sufficient robot brains, doing motion planning research with his son, and his new life in Oulu, Finland. Please enjoy! Content 00:40 Early Childhood 04:59 Getting into University 07:27 Life at University 10:13 Symbolic vs Visual Mathematics 11:11 Getting into Phd Program 12:12 How to get into MIT for students 13:09 Advice from Phd Advisor 14:17 First Paper 16:30 Options after Phd 17:47 Advice to Phd Students 19:19 Postdoc in California 21:46 Demo for Bill Gates 22:52 Becoming Professor at Iowa State 23:34 Developing RRT 26:21 Reason of longterm success of RRT 28:34 Sampling-based vs. Randomized 30:30 Could RoboticsGPT deprecate motion planning? 31:53 Value of motion planning research 33:07 Information spaces 34:10 Minimal sufficient robot brains 35:37 Writing "Planning algorithms" 40:33 Managing and organizing references 42:08 Deprecated parts of the book 43:16 Challenges in writing more books 44:19 Unpublished RRT book 44:28 Reading and favorite books 45:50 Reading Ayn Rand 46:53 On joining Oculus VR 50:51 Virtual reality research 52:24 Killer application for VR 52:54 Facebook buys Oculus 53:31 Control over time is most important 54:20 Meeting Brett Leonard 55:30 Huawei 57:16 On being successful 59:30 H-Index as performance indicator 01:00:16 Metrics for academic career 01:01:36 Time allocation 01:02:28 Tired phase of career 01:03:26 Advice to younger researchers 01:04:40 Fascination with Finland 01:07:46 Learning Finnish 01:08:12 What Steve misses about the US 01:08:55 Benefits from Saunas 01:10:18 Future aspirations of lab 01:11:21 Research with Alexander LaValle 01:13:15 Robotics applications for daily life 01:14:04 Gardner hype cycle of deep learning 01:15:18 Value of material science for robotics 01:16:12 Closing comments Episode Links Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1tuJ6w35CCIkyXjsviFTtc?si=tKfYa5MXQXKFmnUivc5C4g Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/steven-m-lavalle-robotics-research-virtual-reality/id1812910570?i=1000706674834 Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast

James Kuffner: Toyota Woven City, Robotics in Japan, Google Self-driving Car | Andreas Orthey #1

I recently talked with James Kuffner at the ICRA conference in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Topics included getting into Stanford, his contributions to robot motion planning, robotics in japan, the google self-driving car project, Woven city, and his advice on becoming successful. Content 00:00 Introduction 01:24 Background 02:38 Getting into robotics 04:55 Programming at 12 years old 05:52 Getting into Stanford 07:30 Robotics at Stanford 12:19 From computer vision to motion planning 13:59 RRT-Connect algorithm 20:31 Is research in motion planning still valuable? 22:48 Will LLMs deprecate planning? 26:23 Timeline for truly intelligent robots 28:10 Breakthroughs required for AI 32:30 Cloud robotics 34:47 Going to Japan 37:04 Technological progress and craftsmanship in Japan 39:34 Work culture in Japan 43:49 Professor at Carnegie Mellon University 46:03 Collaborations at CMU 47:25 Self-driving project at Google 51:53 Coding mastery at google 53:51 Code search tool 55:09 Vi versus Emacs 56:27 Full self-driving 58:44 Who is ahead in self-driving technology? 01:01:06 Achieving level 5 autonomy 01:04:51 Behavior of robot cars and the median driver 01:06:30 Impact of self-driving on labor 01:10:37 Biggest problems for society 01:13:36 Woven City by Toyota 01:15:41 Job loss after Fukushima earthquake 01:18:01 A city from scratch 01:19:29 Climbing mount Fuji 01:20:42 Inventor garage 01:23:11 Startup incubator and beyond 01:23:57 Success definition 01:26:18 Daily habits 01:27:59 Pulling all-nighters 01:30:00 Advanced Shakespeare 01:30:58 Advice for early career researchers 01:31:59 Value of books 01:32:31 Linus Pauling: Change fields every 7 years 01:33:37 Next big project 01:34:34 Influential books 01:36:59 The value of biographies 01:38:23 Personal goal of 50 books per year 01:39:43 Biggest contribution to science Episode Links Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/75jmWRsM7K2XkCiZr0zsNP?si=JauAqp1FQ5Ol19UPr1HHug Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/james-kuffner-toyota-woven-city-robotics-in-japan-google/id1812910570?i=1000706674948 Podcast Links Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/andreasorthey X/Twitter: https://x.com/andreas_orthey Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/andreasorthey/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aorthey/ Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/aorthey Personal Website: https://aorthey.com Podcast Website: https://aorthey.com/src/podcast Errata 49:16 James wants to add that the CMU car went 7.32 miles and not about 17 miles in the first DARPA grand challenge. 1:24:13 The success quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson and not E. Pugh. The original quote is: "What is success? To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch Or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!" -- Ralph Waldo Emerson