Automate It: A Robotics Podcast
Each week, the co-founders of Polymath Robotics sit down to give you the inside scoop on the robotics industry. They'll share war stories, weird facts, and little-known approaches to working with robots (with a special focus on autonomous vehicles). About the hosts: Stefan Seltz-Axmacher is the CEO of Polymath Robotics, and is best known as the founder of Starsky Robotics, an early autonomous trucking pioneer. Ilia Baranov, CTO, was employee # 10 at Clearpath Robotics, has led teams at Amazon's home robot division, and owned the ROS repo after Willow Garage shut down.
Episodes
On this episode of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia dive into Aurora’s recent announcement about running driver-out trucks on public highways—an undeniably huge technical feat, but one that curiously failed to make a media splash. But first, they play the Robot Invention Game, drawing a wild scenario: applying deep learning to railroads.
This week on Automate It, we're excited to have a special guest!
Carnegie Robotics co-founder David LaRose joins the podcast to share his perspective on the evolution of robotics from academic research to rugged real-world systems.
He reflects on what’s changed - and what hasn’t - over the last 15 years, from safety systems that still rely on spreadsheets to why so many autonomous vehicle projects have stalled.
David also unpacks the...
In the 58th episode of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan Seltz-Axmacher and Ilia Baranov discuss why hardware for robots is so dang expensive.
But first, they play the robot invention game and come up with a humanoid axe murderer.
On Ep 57 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia get into Polymath Robotics' latest progress—scaling the team, launching new customer projects, and pushing forward despite the usual challenges.
Then they play the robot game, brainstorming how machine learning could help identify high-value recyclables -- devolving into "spot the $10 treasure," complete with GPU budgets, conveyor belt chaos, and the eternal battle between proce...
On this episode of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia break down the surprisingly flawed state of collision avoidance systems in mining—where billion-dollar companies still rely on network-dependent GPS safety systems that can fail with network outages, jamming, or spoofing.
They get into why legacy mining autonomy is stuck in the past, how vendor lock-in prevents progress, and what a modern, sensor-driven approach to safety should actua...
On Ep 55 of Automate It, we invite Adrian Macneil, CEO of Foxglove, to play the robot game -- which takes a turn into pest control, debating whether humanoid robots should stomp or grab mice. Then, Adrian gives us a deep dive on the state of robotics developer tools, why debugging robots is still a mess, and what it takes to build a software company in a hardware-heavy industry. Plus: why robotics is where SaaS was in the early 200...
In Ep 54 of Automate It, Polymath's co-founders tackle the tough topic of safety -- and what it means for a big heavy robot to be "safe enough."
But first, they play the robot invention game, which creates industrial grey goop. Try the grey stuff it's delicious, indeed.
On Ep 53 of Automate It, the guys discuss their takeaways from CES 2025 - including Jensen Huang's big announcement on autonomous vehicles, how the Chinese auto industry is leapfrogging everyone, evolution of the Lidar industry, a big OEM stepping back from autonomy, and more.
But first, they play the robot invention game, which they basically use to make fun of a VTOL "company" that exhibited at CES this year.
On Ep 52 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia discuss the demise of Cruise Automation and why it's representative of the hidden dangers in autonomy programs. But first, they play the robot game and invent a ground-penetrating radar application for fast food.
This week on Automate It, the guys invent a robot that spearfishes for shipping containers at the bottom of the ocean. Then, they're talking one of the mysteries of the universe: why "hype" robotics is often perceived as more valuable than robots that actually, you know, work.
On Episode 50 of Automate It (!!) the guys play the robot invention game and come up with a robot for assessing your cleanliness levels. Then, we're diving DEEP (pun intended) into the challenges of underwater robots.
In Episode 49 of Automate It, Stefan & Ilia reflect on whether MINEXPO is secretly the best robotics conference. Then, they break down Tesla's humanoid robot demo and whether fake demos are ever "okay." But first, the robot invention game results in a pyromaniac AI for data collection.
In Ep 48 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia discuss why we don't work with AMRs. But first, they play the robot invention game and come up with quad rotors for smart cities.
In Episode 47 of Automate It, Stefan and Ilia play the robot game and invent autonomous shopping carts that can return themselves. They also learn that Stefan is the type of person to abandon shopping carts (shocking!).
Then, the main discussion of the day: why doesn't the military have better robots? The guys break down why the Defense Industrial Complex hasn't kept up with consumer-grade robots in recent conflicts (and wh...
On Episode 24 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia play the robot invention game and come up with a swarm of zeppelins that yeet pizza at you. Or as Ilia puts it, a robot version of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It's silly but turns into an in-depth discussion on the state of swarm technologies.
Then, they're talking robotics regulation: will SB 1047 really kill the booming AI industry?
In Ep 45 of Automate It, Stefan & Ilia try to play the robot game but mostly get sidetracked talking about movie magic. Then, they're debunking a popular myth in robotics: that Starlink will solve all your remote connectivity problems.
On ep 44 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia play the robot invention game and come up with a cheap nuclear reactor by dunking plutonium in a swamp. *In other news, we're now on several CIA lists. (Thanks Adam A for the topic suggestions!)
Then, our main topic of the day: robots on a boat! What are the challenges of operating robots when your ground isn't stable?
On Episode 43 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia break down the hidden tradeoffs and challenges of building a vertical robotics company. But first, they play the robot invention game, which results in a humanoid robot for predictive maintenance around the home.
In Episode 42 of Automate It, Polymath Robotics co-founders Stefan and Ilia are talking all about radar. What's it good for? What's it not? And most importantly, why's it so hot right now?
In Episode 41, Stefan & Ilia play the robot invention game in response to Nat Friedman's tweet about a robot that quietly picks up leaves.
Then, they're are rolling up their sleeves and tackling a dirty topic: DIRT! Why is dirt hard for robots? Can't they just, like, dig? The guys break down what makes dirt such a challenging problem.
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