Robot Talk

Episode 132: Collaborating with industrial robots - Anthony Jules

Claire chatted to Anthony Jules from Robust.AI about their AI-driven autonomous robots that work alongside humans. Anthony Jules is the CEO and co-founder of Robust.AI, a leader in AI-driven warehouse automation. The company's flagship product Carter™, is built to work with people in their existing environments, without disrupting their workflows. Anthony has a career spanning over 30 years at the intersection of robotics, AI, and business. An MIT-trained roboticist, he was part of the founding team at Sapient, held leadership roles at Activision, and has built multiple startups, bringing a unique blend of technical depth and operational scale to human-centered automation. Support Robot Talk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher

Episode 131: Empowering game-changing robotics research - Edith-Clare Hall

Claire chatted to Edith-Clare Hall from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) about accelerating scientific and technological breakthroughs. Edith-Clare Hall is a PhD student at the University of Bristol, Frontier Specialist at ARIA, and leader of Women in Robotics UK. She focuses on the critical interfaces where interconnected systems meet, working to close the gap between academic research and real-world deployment to unlock cyber-physical autonomy. At ARIA, she works as a technical generalist, accelerating breakthroughs across emerging and future programmes. Her PhD research focussed on creating bespoke robotic systems that deliver support for people with progressive conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND). Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher

Episode 130: Robots learning from humans - Chad Jenkins

Claire chatted to Chad Jenkins from the University of Michigan about how robots can learn from people and assist us in our daily lives. Odest Chadwicke Jenkins is a Professor of Robotics and a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. His research addresses problems in robot learning from demonstration and human-robot interaction, primarily focused on dexterous mobile manipulation and robot perception. In 2022, he founded the Robotics Major Degree Program for undergraduates at the University of Michigan. He was awarded the 2024 ACM/CMD-IT Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing. Support Robot Talk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher

Episode 129: Automating museum experiments - Yuen Ting Chan

Claire chatted to Yuen Ting Chan from the Natural History Museum about using robots to automate molecular biology experiments. Yuen Ting Chan has nearly 20 years of experience working on translating, developing and optimising laboratory protocols, from DNA forensics to the biomedical field. She has brought automation to molecular laboratories for over 12 years, translating the laboratory protocols into bespoke scripts for a wide variety of liquid handling instruments. Her role at the Natural History Museum is to bring automation to the molecular laboratories, thus providing more opportunities for researchers to work on projects with large sample numbers for the wide variety of specimens within the museum. Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher

Bonus Episode: Smart City Robotics Competition

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the Smart City Robotics Competition in Milton Keynes, where I spoke to the organisers, competitors, exhibitors and attendees of this exciting 3-day event. Check out our conversations in this month's bonus episode! This bonus episode was sponsored by euRobotics, an international non-profit association that aims to boost European robotics research, development, and innovation. Thank you to euRobotics for their support! And thank you to Smart City Consultancy for inviting me to attend the competition. This is the first time I've recorded interviews at a live event like this, so I'd love to know what you think. Would you like to see more content like this in the future? Let me know! Listen to the full catalogue of bonus episodes here: https://www.patreon.com/collection/681853 Find out more about euRobotics: https://eu-robotics.net/  Learn more about the Smart City Robotics competition: https://www.smartcityconsultancy.co.uk/