The Future of Engines

Futurist Trond Arne Undheim interviews Alec Shkolnik, President and co-founder of Liquid Piston, an MIT spinout. We talk about engines and how they can power robots, vehicles and drones. Our guest has made the bold choice of making a new engine, which hasn’t been attempted since 1954, instead of just capitalizing on his gold plated education in AI, robotics and neuroscience in the most obvious way.

 

The takeaway is that even though engines powered by anything but electricity seem a bit outdated in today’s environment, the future is a hybrid scenario with a mix of engines with different capabilities contributing to optimizing our desired mobility. By giving the rotary engine an overhaul, Liquid Piston might take us even faster into a future where a myriad of machines let us venture farther, faster and with more flexibility than today’s technologies allow. What an exciting prospect that, in this age of big conglomerates in the automotive sector, a father/son business might one day power the vehicles you see all around you.

 

Additional context about the show, the topics, and our guests, including show notes and a full list of podcast players that syndicate the show can be found at https://trondundheim.com/podcast/.

 

After listening, check out Liquid Piston as well as Alec Shkolnik's online profile:

• Liquid Piston https://liquidpiston.com/
• Alec Shkolnik LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alecshkolnik/

For more about the host, including media coverage, books and more, see:

• Trond Arne Undheim's personal website (https://trondundheim.com/)
• The Yegii Insights blog (https://yegii.wpcomstaging.com/)
• Pandemic Aftermath https://trondundheim.com/pandemic-aftermath/ 
• Disruption Games https://trondundheim.com/disruptiongames/

To advertise or become a guest on the show, contact the podcast host here. If you like the show, please tell all your friends, subscribe and consider rating it five stars. The show is hosted by Podbean and can be found at Futurized.co.