Automated with Brian Heater

Get a direct line to the biggest names and brightest minds in robotics, AI, and automation. Automated with Brian Heater brings you long-form conversations and unfiltered insights into how we got here, where we’re going, and what’s behind the technologies impacting how we live and work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Automated with Brian Heater is a science podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 50 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Automated with Brian Heater, a science show with 50 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #50

  Kathryn Zealand and Jessica Bath on Wearable Robotics, Parkinson’s, and the Future of Mobility

  Aug 12, 20261h 23m

  The ability to move is about far more than getting from one place to another. It can shape independence, confidence, social connection, and quality of life. In this special episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Kathryn Zealand, founder and CEO of Skip, the Google X spinout behind MO/GO, and Jessica Bath, DPT, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy at UCSF. Kathryn explains how a personal experience with her grandmother helped lead her from theoretical physics and evaluating moonshots at Google X into wearable robotics. She breaks down why Skip thinks about MO/GO as an “e-bike for walking,” how the company is building foundation models of human movement using real-world gait data, and why hiking offered a better starting point than the structured environments where many exoskeleton companies begin. The conversation then turns to Parkinson’s disease, a subject that has become deeply personal for Brian following his father’s diagnosis and recent passing. Kathryn and Jessica explore freezing of gait, fall risk, and what researchers still do not understand about the neurological signals behind movement. They also discuss how wearable robotics, deep brain stimulation, exercise, physical therapy, and better movement data could help people remain active and independent. MO/GO itself is a consumer recreation device and is not FDA-cleared. Skip’s work around Parkinson’s uses a separate prototype and is being studied through clinical research. Kathryn also shares the deeply personal story behind Project Stardust, a research-stage effort working toward better at-home pregnancy monitoring that she helped launch after the loss of her son, Ziggy. It is a conversation about movement, dignity, data, and what it means to build technology around problems that genuinely matter to people. Connect with Kathryn Zealand: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-zealand/ Learn more about Skip and MO/GO: https://www.skipwithjoy.com/ Learn more about Project Stardust: https://project-stardust.org/ Connect with Jessica Bath: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-bath-pt-dpt-phd-a2331499/ Jessica Bath at UCSF: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jessica.bath Support Parkinson’s research through The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research: https://www.michaeljfox.org/donate We’d love to hear from you. Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org . You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm . Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the Automated Newsletter. https://www.youtube.com/@automatedpodcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/automated-with-brian-heater/id1837762221 https://open.spotify.com/show/60olq6brlBEIJWggx2fMR6 https://www.automate.org/automation/automated-newsletter LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/

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  Episode #48

  Ali Agha on Robot Hallucinations, Physics, and Real-World AI

  Jul 29, 202642 min

  Physical AI is moving into the real world. But once a robot leaves the lab, Ali Agha says edge cases become the environment. In this episode of Automated, recorded live at Automate in Chicago, Brian Heater speaks with Ali Agha, founder and CEO of FieldAI, about building autonomous robots that can operate safely in unpredictable, unstructured places. Ali’s path to FieldAI runs through MIT, Qualcomm, NASA JPL, and DARPA. At Qualcomm, he worked to put autonomy on the low-power Snapdragon processor that would later fly aboard NASA’s Mars helicopter. At JPL, he led aerial mobility research and helped develop robotic systems for caves, subterranean networks, and other environments where maps, GPS, and reliable communication are not available. That work eventually led to the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. Ali’s team sent legged, wheeled, and flying robots into unknown environments to map, explore, and coordinate missions with no prior information. The experience changed how he thought about autonomy. In the physical world, the unusual case quickly becomes the normal case. That idea now sits at the center of FieldAI’s approach. Instead of asking a data-only model to learn every physical rule from raw camera and LiDAR input, FieldAI combines data-driven learning with physics and uncertainty quantification. The goal is to help a robot recognize when it is approaching the limits of what it knows, slow down, and make a safer decision. Brian and Ali dig into what robot hallucinations look like when an AI model controls a physical machine. A wrong answer from a chatbot can be corrected. A wrong move from a robot around people, equipment, or an active jobsite carries a much higher cost. They also examine why FieldAI runs its autonomy entirely on the robot without Wi-Fi, 5G, or a cloud connection. Ali argues that building safety into the architecture from day one allows robots to enter real customer workflows, collect useful data, improve, and create the deployment flywheel that robotics has struggled to start. Construction is especially valuable because the environment changes by the hour. FieldAI is also deploying in energy, manufacturing, logistics, and urban operations, giving its models experience across very different conditions and tasks. Finally, Ali explains why FieldAI is staying robot-agnostic while other physical AI companies move toward building full hardware stacks. Its software is already operating across 34 different robot embodiments, from multi-ton vehicles to quadrupeds and humanoids. Connect with Ali Agha https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-agha-7aa5212a Learn more about FieldAI https://www.fieldai.com/ Learn more about FieldAI’s Field Foundation Models https://www.fieldai.com/news/fieldai-announces-over-400m-in-funds-raised-to-advance-embodied-ai-at-scale We’d love to hear from you. Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Also subscribe to the newsletter. https://www.youtube.com/@automatedpodcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/automated-with-brian-heater/id1837762221 https://open.spotify.com/show/60olq6brlBEIJWggx2fMR6 https://www.automate.org/automation/automated-newsletter You can also find us on: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/

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  Episode #47

  Samantha Johnson on the Robot Giving DeafBlind People a New Way to Connect

  Jul 22, 202641 min

  Robotics is often judged by how quickly, powerfully, or autonomously a machine can move. Samantha Johnson built a robot to solve a much more human problem: helping DeafBlind people access information and communicate with the people they love. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Samantha Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Tatum Robotics, about how a chance meeting with a DeafBlind woman named Elaine inspired a tactile signing robot that is now being used in the real world. When Samantha asked Elaine how they could stay in touch, Elaine explained that they could not call each other. Samantha immediately began wondering whether a robot could create a new form of communication. Months later, the pandemic made the need even more urgent as social distancing disrupted the in-person contact and interpreting services on which many DeafBlind people relied. Samantha explains how she went from studying bioengineering and looking up basic servo instructions online to building robotic hand prototypes in her apartment. She also shares how almost every assumption she made during the first user test turned out to be wrong. A silicone covering intended to make the hand feel human instead felt like a monster, and users refused to touch it until the material was removed. That experience shaped the way Tatum Robotics develops its technology. DeafBlind consultants, users, and advisors have been involved throughout the process, guiding decisions about the hand’s size, movement, speed, grammar, personalization, and physical design. Brian and Samantha also discuss the pressure she faced from investors who wanted her to set the DeafBlind application aside and instead build a general-purpose robotic gripper. Samantha explains why she refused to compromise the company’s mission and how grants, startup programs, MassRobotics, and the Perkins School for the Blind helped the team continue developing the product. The conversation explores the communication barriers that many people rarely consider. One DeafBlind user explained that after taking a nap, he could not tell whether he had been asleep for two hours or two days. Others had lost contact with friends for more than a decade or could no longer call their own family members. Samantha shares how the robot is now helping users check the time, read news and weather updates, manage notifications, schedule appointments, and make phone calls. One woman used the system to call her daughter for the first time, repeatedly telling her, “It’s your mom. It’s your mom on the phone.” They also dig into the technical challenges of building a low-cost, compliant, tendon-driven hand capable of the dexterity required for tactile finger spelling. Samantha explains how the company customizes the robot for individual users and why one tester briefly forgot she was touching a machine rather than a human hand. Finally, Samantha discusses Tatum Robotics’ next phase, including a full robotic arm capable of more complex signing and potential applications in healthcare, museums, patient portals, and other public environments. Connect with Samantha Johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-johnson-7001b413a Learn more about Tatum Robotics https://tatumrobotics.com/ We’d love to hear from you. Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org . You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm . Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Also subscribe to the Automated Newsletter. https://www.youtube.com/@automatedpodcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/automated-with-brian-heater/id1837762221 https://open.spotify.com/show/60olq6brlBEIJWggx2fMR6 https://www.automate.org/automation/automated-newsletter LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/

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  Episode #46

  Dr. Ayanna Howard on Human-Centered Robotics, AI Guardrails, and Physical AI

  Jul 15, 202646 min

  Robotics and AI are moving fast. But Dr. Ayanna Howard says the real test is not just whether machines become more capable. It is whether those systems are built with people, safety, accessibility, and real-world impact at the center. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Dr. Ayanna Howard, Dean of The Ohio State University College of Engineering, about human-centered robotics, agentic AI, healthcare robotics, accessibility, and what it really takes to move automation into the real world. Dr. Howard’s career has spanned NASA robotics, field robotics, healthcare robotics, assistive technology, AI ethics, and engineering leadership. Across all of that work, one theme has remained constant: technology should help improve the human condition. Brian and Dr. Howard discuss her early fascination with The Bionic Woman, how she started working at NASA after her freshman year of college, and why her work on glacier robots helped shape the way she thinks about Earth, humanity, and the responsibility of technologists. The conversation also digs into the state of physical AI today. Dr. Howard explains why many of the robotics breakthroughs getting attention now are built on ideas researchers were exploring decades ago. Compute, sensors, and AI models have changed dramatically, but the hardest robotics problems, including manipulation, autonomy, and real-world deployment, are still not solved. Brian and Dr. Howard also discuss humanoid robots and the gap between polished demos and messy real-world environments. A robot handling similar boxes on a flat conveyor belt may be impressive, but warehouses, hospitals, homes, and public spaces are far more complicated. The conversation then turns to AI guardrails. Dr. Howard explains why she is especially concerned about LLMs and agentic AI, and why bias, regulation, and safety become much more urgent as AI systems move into higher-stakes applications. They also explore why accessibility is central to the future of physical AI. Dr. Howard explains that robots encounter many of the same barriers as people with disabilities, and that a more accessible world would make it easier for both people and robots to move through it. Finally, Dr. Howard shares what still makes her optimistic, including low-cost robotics that could support children with cerebral palsy, older adults, injured athletes, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and schools. Connect with Dr. Ayanna Howard https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayanna-howard Learn more about Dr. Ayanna Howard https://www.ayannahoward.com/ Learn more about The Ohio State University College of Engineering https://engineering.osu.edu/ We’d love to hear from you. Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Also subscribe to the Automated Newsletter. https://www.youtube.com/@automatedpodcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/automated-with-brian-heater/id1837762221 https://open.spotify.com/show/60olq6brlBEIJWggx2fMR6 https://www.automate.org/automation/automated-newsletter You can also find us on: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  Episode #45

  Yoel Fink on Education, Invention, and Asking Better Questions

  Jul 8, 202641 min

  The best ideas are not always hidden in the future. Sometimes they are sitting right in front of us, waiting for someone to ask a better question. In this episode of Automated, Brian Heater speaks with Yoel Fink, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, about education, invention, advanced fibers, and why so much of technology follows the same obvious tracks. This is not a typical conversation about robotics or automation. It is a wider look at how people learn, how researchers discover, and why stepping off a prescribed path can sometimes lead to better outcomes than following the one everyone else expects. Yoel reflects on his own unconventional path, from military service and years of backpacking to studying chemical engineering, physics, and eventually materials science at MIT. He explains why he encourages students to take time, see the world, and collect the kinds of experiences no classroom can fully provide. Brian and Yoel also discuss the pressure students face when they are pushed too quickly from one life milestone to the next. Yoel argues that people are not trains, and that education often works better when students have more room to mature, explore, and understand what they actually want to build. The conversation then moves into research and invention. Yoel shares the story of asking a simple question in a room full of leading optics researchers, a question that helped lead to a new kind of mirror and shaped the direction of his career. For Yoel, that moment reveals something essential about innovation: sometimes the breakthrough is not the answer. It is the courage to ask the question no one else is asking. They also explore Yoel’s work with advanced fibers and functional fabrics. He explains why fibers are one of the oldest and most universal forms of human technology, and why the future of computing and sensing may not look like another screen, headset, watch, or metal device. It may be woven into the clothes we already wear. Finally, Yoel challenges the way major technology companies often move in the same direction, from glasses to headsets to devices that look increasingly similar. His question is simple: are we really out of ideas, or are we just too busy following everyone else? Connect with Yoel Fink https://dmse.mit.edu/people/faculty/yoel-fink/ Learn more about fibers@mit https://pbg-rle.mit.edu/ We’d love to hear from you. Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Also subscribe to the Automated Newsletter. https://www.youtube.com/@automatedpodcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/automated-with-brian-heater/id1837762221 https://open.spotify.com/show/60olq6brlBEIJWggx2fMR6 https://www.automate.org/automation/automated-newsletter You can also find us on: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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