The Grand Challengers Podcast

#58 - Juan Pablo Carbajal: Tadpoles, tolerance and why AI alignment is really a human problem

We train AI systems to optimize for metrics — but what if the real alignment problem isn't in the machine? What if it starts with us?Juan Pablo Carbajal is a physicist, interdisciplinary researcher, and educator at the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST). Originally from Argentina, his career spans physics, robotics, biomechanics, agronomy, machine learning, and water research — driven not by any single discipline but by a deep need to understand the systems underlying everything he encounters.In Episode 58 of The Grand Challengers Podcast, Juan Pablo joins host Peter Marcus Bach to reframe the AI alignment debate as fundamentally a human one. He argues that the same narrow, single-metric optimization we apply to AI — rewarding output over understanding — is already distorting science, education, and society. From the "publish or perish" crisis in academia to how we evaluate students with one-dimensional scores, the pattern is the same: pressure systems to hit a number, and unintended behaviours emerge.The conversation traces Juan Pablo's journey from collecting tadpoles in an Argentine river (with a memorable food-chain disaster) to studying embodied AI at the University of Zurich's AI Lab under Rolf Pfeifer, where intelligence is inseparable from its physical body. Along the way, he shares lessons from plant biology — how nitrogen-fixing bacteria and their "cheater" free-riders coexist through tolerance rather than punishment — and explains why physics-informed AI may be the antidote to purely data-driven approaches that mistake local patterns for universal truths.Topics include: the limits of data-driven machine learning, Gestalt psychology and machine vision, why the word "robot" means slave, complex systems and emergence, the role of culture as humanity's alignment mechanism, and why understanding history is our best defence against repeating its mistakes.Chapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro & Yerba Mate6:47 JP's Secret Mate Recipe11:13 Summarizing JP's passions into a keyword13:08 The Tadpole Story17:24 JP's dilemma of what to study and his lifelong mentor22:57 Versatility of a physicist and the Sokal affair25:58 Critique of the current education systems31:23 From physics to magnetic flux leakage detection36:51 A life lesson on tolerance from bacteria46:12 Embodied AI, Robotics and Studying Intelligence54:07 Physics-informed AI59:21 The challenge with prior knowledge - example from Gestalt Psychology1:05:08 The Real Alignment Problem1:22:49 JP's current exciting next steps1:26:12 Q&A Start1:26:43 What does innovation mean to you?1:28:38 Key moment, book, person1:31:10 Time Management1:33:32 Favourite childhood memory1:33:56 Biggest challenge to date1:35:58 Advice for young professionals1:36:35 What would you most like Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

#57 - Hiten Sonpal: A LEGO crane, a belt and disrupting the 600 billion dollar robotics industry

Every machine that lifts, digs, or hauls relies on hydraulics — a technology that hasn't changed in over 50 years. But what if you could replace that leaky, energy-wasting oil with a belt-and-pulley system that's three times faster, three times more efficient, and three times more durable, with zero emissions?That's what Hiten Sonpal and his team at RISE Robotics are doing. In Episode 57, Hiten joins Peter Marcus Bach to explore his full robotics journey, from a childhood fascination with LEGO Technic in India to building bomb-disposal robots for Iraq and Afghanistan at iRobot, designing the Roomba lawnmower, and now leading RISE Robotics as CEO, where their patented Beltdraulic™ technology is disrupting the $600 billion hydraulics industry.Hiten takes us inside the world of robotics: what counts as a robot, why humanoid robots are far from ready, and how AI is augmenting rather than replacing skilled workers. He explains why hydraulic systems waste 70% of their energy as heat, why electrifying heavy machinery has been prohibitively expensive, and how Beltdraulic solves both problems by replacing fluid with precision-engineered belts and sealed bearings.The results speak for themselves. RISE's Guinness World Record-holding robotic arm lifts over 7,000 lbs fluid-free. Their military crane dropped from 1,800 lbs to 300. And their commercial liftgate saves delivery fleets $300–$1,200 per truck per day.Hiten also shares the personal story of spending five years building a robot lawnmower at iRobot, only to have it cancelled by COVID, and how that adversity became the catalyst for his entrepreneurial career leading three companies as CEO.🔗 Show notes: https://petermbach.com/index.php/podcast/057-hiten-sonpal/ 🔗 RISE Robotics: https://www.riserobotics.comChapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro and the Drumming Passion5:04 Early inspiration for robotics - Lego9:15 Moving beyond Lego11:29 The Chess Playing Robot18:55 From Chess to iRobot - seeing real-world value23:27 The rise and diversity of the robotics industry30:21 Generative AI's impact on robotics32:36 The electric sheep and an unfortunate timing37:56 Being smarter about design for sustainability - RISE Robotics45:15 Examples of RISE's applications51:44 RISE Robotic's Future Plans58:17 Hiten's reflections from advisory and leadership positions1:01:43 Q&A Start1:02:04 What does innovation mean to you?1:03:28 Key Moment, Book, Person1:05:18 Favourite childhood memory1:07:03 Biggest challenge to date1:13:18 Advice for young professionals1:14:18 What would you most like to be remembered for?1:15:32 Where can people find you?1:15:58 Final Message1:16:43 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

#56 - Fred Jordan: The power of mathematics, anti-counterfeiting to "wetware" and how biocomputing will disrupt our future

Fred Jordan, scientist, entrepreneur and co-founder of AlpVision and FinalSpark in Vevey, Switzerland reveals the power of mathematics to us and how he thinks differently when it comes to computing. We dive deep into how he has combined industrial processing and digital watermarking to create anti-counterfeiting technology and uncover the mystery of "Organoid Intelligence", also known as biocomputing - using "the real thing" to compute. What was previously only written in science fiction novels (e.g., "wetware" from William Gibson's Neuromancer) is now becoming a reality! Tune into the longest episode on the podcast to date to hear about how Fred's love for science, technology and scifi has inspired him to make real disruptive change and how biocomputing could be the complement to our rapidly advancing semiconductor and AI industries. Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro & the City of Vevey3:16 Talking Science Fiction10:25 An early opportunity to use a supercomputer15:49 The power of mathematics21:57 The story and principles behind AlpVision - anti-counterfeiting38:19 Why start FinalSpark? Thinking DIFFERENT42:00 Speech recognition in a bucket?49:10 Reservoir computing and using the real thing57:55 Early history and fundamentals of biocomputing1:17:51 A discussion on terminology1:20:33 The energy consumption debate1:29:38 The Neural Platform and the eventual application1:38:57 Future Plans for FinalSpark & Fred1:43:30 How to learn more about biocomputing?1:46:41 Q&A Start1:47:13 What does Innovation mean to you?1:48:37 Key event, book, person1:50:29 Time Management1:52:39 Favourite childhood memory1:55:21 Biggest challenge to date1:57:02 Advice for young professionals1:58:17 What would you most like to be remembered for?2:00:32 Where can people find you?2:02:11 Final Message2:02:45 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

The NotebookLM Mini Series #10 (FINALE): The long-overdue critical reflection, "backstage pass" and exclusive conversation with AI on AI

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google's NotebookLM is a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its outputs... and a deep dive into some of the topics that we have covered on the show. We feature previous guests, who are here to join in on the fun!Episode #10 is the final episode of this mini-series and we conclude by using the mini-series itself as the source for two other types of audio overviews that NotebookLM can generate: the Debate and Critical Discussion. Furthermore, I do this as a solo human, but converse with Martha and Stuart, the hosts of our deep dive discussions across the mini-series by using the "Interactive Mode". Will they be able to answer some challenging and existential questions and reflect upon the critique of their performance? Or will everything go awry? Find out in this spectacular finale and also learn about how you can get started with building AI literacy yourself.Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vRFEGMyTTfeCtc8qiUB82?si=dygdqu9IQLSFYNvVzPNu5w)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:39 Introduction and the theme of the final episode4:29 My own experience with AI15:14 Tips for getting started with GenAI17:49 Experiments in the final episode20:19 A bit of banter before we start22:28 A deep dive of the Mini-Series - Live Reaction28:10 The Debate - Live Reaction34:30 The Critique - Live Reaction40:30 Post discussion with Martha & Stuart44:12 Discussions on the future with Martha & Stuart49:51 Wrapping up the Mini-Series53:19 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

#55 - Julia K. Dietmar: A new take on “dress to impress” - the intersection of sustainability, fashion, AI and the magic number 30

Julia K. Dietmar, co-founder and CEO of OpenWardrobe in Redwood City, California USA sheds some light on the sustainability of the fashion industry, the issue with overproduction, its environmental impact and how we can shift towards circular economy. Julia has over 20 years of experience in retail tech, having been Chieft Product Officer at Vue.ai and worked in Walmart eCommerce, thredUP and Yahoo. We discuss how she is harnessing the power of AI to create digital wardrobes, promote conscious dressing and ensure that every garment is worn the magic number of 30 times. Join us to learn more about dressing well, dressing consciously and all the human psychology behind it.Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:00:00 Intro1:59 Style Blueprint Offer2:46 Guest Intro & Cozy California Cabins4:37 You are what you wear - clothing makes people6:39 The decision fatigue of choosing what to wear10:22 From an IT study into the fashion industry17:12 Sustainability issues in the fashion industry33:06 What is Open Wardrobe?39:57 Data Driven Fashion for sustainability44:14 Getting started with the Open Wardrobe App46:52 The power of GenAI and Lola AI51:28 Julia's next steps with OpenWardrobe57:57 Q&A Start58:08 What does innovation mean to you?59:36 Key moment, book, event, person1:04:12 Time Management1:07:04 Favourite Childhood Memory1:08:17 Biggest Challenge to date1:10:14 Advice for young professionals1:11:13 What would you most like to be remembered for1:11:46 Style Blueprint Offer1:12:39 Where can people find you?1:13:51 Final Message1:14:13 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/