Ep 79 | Calm Down, Slow It All Down, Let Clarity Emerge (w/ Vikash Kumar)
In this episode, I talk with Vikash Kumar, Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon and founder of MyoLab.AI, where he’s building human-embodied AI systems:We talk about growing up in a small Indian town, the influence of his mother on his early learning, and how a robotics club at IIT Kharagpur set him on a 15-year path through the world’s top labs.From a PhD at the University of Washington, to OpenAI, Google Brain, Meta FAIR, and now his own company! Vikash shares how his curiosity evolved from tinkering with machines to uncovering the fundamentals of embodied intelligence, and why he believes the future of AI is physical, not just linguistic.He also explains the bold vision behind MyoLab: building “digital twins” that are physiologically and behaviorally lifelike; AI companions that understand not just what you say, but who you are. We talk about how this intersects with robotics, health, memory, and agency, and why the path to general intelligence may start in the body, not the cloud.
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Ep 78 | Don't Start With A Whiteboard, Talk To Customers (w/Brennand Pierce)
I talked with Brennand Pierce, founder and CEO ofKinisi Robotics, where he’s building one-armed mobile manipulators:Designed to automate warehouse tasks like picking, palletizing, and labeling and many more.After nearly two decades in robotics, Bren brings a rare mix of academic depth, startup experience, and hands-on engineering to the conversation.We talk about growing up fascinated by sci-fi and Japanese hobby robots, studying computer science at Exeter, earning a Master’s at the Bristol Robotics Lab, and completing his PhD in humanoid robotics at the Technical University of Munich. Bren shares what he learned building humanoids, founding three robotics companies; including co-founding Bear Robotics, which shipped over 25,000 service robots, and why he now believes the future belongs to practical, task-optimized robots rather than overpromised humanoids.We also look into Kinisi’s approach to solving real-world deployment challenges, lessons from past robotics booms, and what it takes to move from flashy demos to robots that actually work in production.
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Ep 77 | If Other People Can Do It, Why Not Us? (w/ Aaron Tan)
In this episode, I talk with Aaron Tan, PhD, Co-founder of Syncere, where he’s reimagining domestic robotics:A robotic lamp capable of folding laundry!One single video of the concept went viral, pulling in over 4 million views and sparking thousands of conversations online.We talk about growing up in Taiwan, immigrating to Canada as a teenager, and how a Lego Mindstorms kit from his father kicked off a lifelong obsession with robots. Aaron walks me through his path from a Bachelor’s and Master’s at Ontario Tech University, to a PhD at the University of Toronto, and a postdoc at Stanford... and why he chose the Bay Area to build Syncere.He also shares the story behind Lume’s design, inspired by Beauty and the Beast, and explains why he believes the future of home robotics shouldn’t look like humanoids. We talk about building in public, customer psychology, and what it’s like creating a product people can’t wait to have in their homes.
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Ep 76 | Fear and Pressure Fade When Joy Takes Over (w/ Brendah Njiru)
In this episode, I talk with Brendah Njiru, founder of HOMY Robotics, where she’s building emotionally intelligent humanoid robots for senior living:With a background in neuroscience and Alzheimer’s research at Cornell, Brendah brings a rare scientific depth to robotics.We talk about her upbringing in Kenya, her early obsession with medicine, and what pulled her into AI and hardware. She shares how she transitioned from labs to startups, why senior care is the perfect proving ground for home robotics, and how her work is grounded in real-world deployment.Brendah also opens up about pressure, ambition, and how she's building HOMY to solve deep human problems, not just automate tasks.
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Ep 75 | We Should Scale It Up Ourselves (w/ Lerrel Pinto)
In this episode, I talk with Lerrel Pinto, Assistant Professor at NYU and one of the most cited researchers in robotics today:His work spans everything from self-supervised learning to robot dexterity, and he's on a mission to make robots generalize the way humans do.We talk about growing up in India, building his own education at IIT, and what led him to Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, and now New York. Lerrel explains how his lab at NYU, GRAIL, tackles robot learning at scale (from representation learning to reinforcement learning) and why open-source, affordable robots are core to his approach.He also shares what it’s like launching his new stealth-mode startup, Assured Robot Intelligence (ARI), while running one of the top research labs in the country. We talk about how his teaching, mentoring, and outreach are shaping the next generation of roboticists.
The show for founders building real deep tech.
Each episode features founders, executives, and builders in AI, robotics, and hardware — breaking down how they build, scale, and learn.
We talk about systems, mistakes, GTM strategy, funding lessons, and how to move from research to traction.
Hosted by Ilir Aliu from 22Astronauts.
Whether you’re building now or just curious — tune in.
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