Design This Day

Building the world's largest robotic network | Amazon's Emily Vetterick

Devin sits down with Emily Vetterick, Director of Product, Program, and Ops at Amazon Industrial Robotics, whose career has taken her from assembling aircraft at Boeing to scaling drone delivery at Prime Air. She now oversees the world's largest fleet of mobile robots, totaling over one million, and shares how Amazon designs for a world where humans and robots share the same physical space.She walks Devin through the design challenges behind Proteus, Amazon's autonomous mobile robot, from giving it eyes that signal intent to dialing in an acoustic chirp that works for a fleet without sounding like, as a colleague once put it, a bog full of frogs. Along the way, Emily reflects on a career-defining lesson she learned watching mechanics join a 767 at 2am: that the best design insights come from listening to the people actually doing the work.Time Stamps:2:09 Lessons from the Boeing night shift3:37 Customer trust and listening6:38 Customer-first drone design8:16 The “beehive ballet”10:31 Meet Amazon’s mobile robots13:13 Shreveport facility tour15:40 Proteus’ human robot signals24:15 AI for fleet and design30:37 Lightning round LinksDevin Liddell on LinkedInEmily VetterickTeagueAbout the Host: Futurist Devin LiddellDevin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company. Get in Touch Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com

Interlune is about to harvest rare elements from the Moon | Rob Meyerson

Devin sits down with Rob Meyerson, the former president of Blue Origin, to talk about his startup, Interlune, that is on track to harvest resources from the Moon’s surface. Interlune is after one element in particular: Helium-3. It’s extremely rare and valuable on Earth, but plentiful on the Moon. So they partnered with an unlikely collaborator to design a “harvester” that they’re planning to send to the Moon’s surface in the early 2030s.Rob shares how his team designed creative ways to test their prototype in conditions that mirror the Moon’s environment. He tells Devin about the ways his team is turning science fiction into science fact, and about how Interlune is planning to iterate as they go, allowing them to send missions to the Moon sooner.1:00 Why helium-3 matters1:38 The helium-3 supply crunch2:40 Customers and early demand4:29 Mining at a lunar scale5:35 Finding an earth partner6:48 Designing the harvester9:13 Prototyping to full scale12:31 Testing for moon conditions20:18 Earth return and space economy26:19 Moon timeline32:19 Lightning roundLinksDevin Liddell on LinkedInRob MeyersonTeagueAbout the Host: Futurist Devin LiddellDevin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company. Get in Touch Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com

Radically simplifying EVs at Slate Auto | Ben Whitla & Tisha Johnson

Devin speaks with two leaders  at Slate Auto, an EV startup that’s designed a cheap modular pickup truck. Tisha Johnson, Head of Design, and Ben Whitla, Head of Brand and Marketing, join Devin to share the big, gnarly challenges Slate is facing in getting a low-cost, personalizable vehicle to consumers—from design to production.They tell Devin about the joy and terror of relinquishing design control to their customers, and how they take inspiration from collaborative brands like Lego and Vans. They explain where their two disciplines, vehicle and brand design, inform one another at Slate, leading to a more integrated design approach than either of them expected. Plus, they share their hot takes on why screens in vehicles are totally overrated. 1:49 Why this kind of modularity hasn’t been seen before3:43 Their breakthrough in designing the front fascia 5:51 How brand and vehicle design align8:58 Designing for customer’s self-expression11:38 When car owners go wild14:30 Affordability through minimalism19:00 Taking the leap on a start-up23:26 Collaboration vs. AI agents26:16 Lightning round

New season coming soon

A new season is around the corner, celebrating Teague’s 100th anniversary and exploring the future of design. Hit follow to make sure you don’t miss what’s next.If you have a story to share, drop us a line at hello@teague.com.About the Host: Futurist Devin LiddellDevin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company. Get in Touch Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com

Are we ready for a driverless world? | Corey Clothier

Devin speaks with Corey Clothier, a longtime leader in autonomous vehicles. Corey is the co-founder and CEO of ARIBO Autonomous Solutions, where he helps government agencies and private companies deploy autonomous tech in the real world. In this episode, Corey and Devin talk about autonomy as a shift in how systems work. Good design considers not just what machines can do, but also how they fit into the complex realities of human life. The two explore what that looks like when the human element is a family on vacation, an airport manager struggling to hire staff, and a wounded veteran looking for care. Longtime listeners take note: autonomous lawnmowers make another appearance.1:34 Fort Bragg's wounded warrior problem2:23 Convincing a two-star general6:30 Most useful robot for Marines? 8:53 Vegas says yes to robot shuttles12:01 "There's no steering wheel!"13:12 From Johnny Cab to real autonomy16:35 The curb space conundrum17:38 Difference makers: the people in charge18:21 Michigan leading by example20:32 Evil robots and American pop culture21:18 Painted forklifts23:06 Autonomous lawnmowersLinksDevin Liddell on LinkedInCorey Clothier on LinkedInTeagueAbout the Host: Futurist Devin LiddellDevin Liddell is the Principal Futurist at Teague. With over two decades of experience in innovation and design strategy, Devin has worked with industry giants like Boeing, Intel, and Nike, helping organizations anticipate changes across both near- and far-term horizons to create their preferred futures. Devin is a frequent contributor to Fast Company. Get in Touch Have a complex problem that needs solving? Have a great guest or topic idea? We want to hear from you. Visit us at teague.com or send us an email at hello@teague.com