Robot Talk

Claire chatted to Ahti Heinla from Starship Technologies about their AI-powered delivery robots that operate independently on streets and sidewalks.
Ahti Heinla is the co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies, the world's leading autonomous delivery company building AI-powered robots that operate fully independently in real-world environments. One of the original engineers behind Skype's billion-dollar success, Ahti later made a quiet pivot into robotics, spending the past decade advancing practical, consumer-facing AI. Under his leadership, Starship has completed more than 10 million autonomous deliveries with a fleet of over 2,700 robots navigating streets, pavements, weather, and people, without human intervention.
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Claire chatted to Josie Hughes from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) about using generative AI to develop new designs for robotic manipulators.
Josie Hughes is an Assistant Professor at EPFL, where she established the CREATE Lab in 2021. She completed her PhD in the Bio-inspired Robotics Lab at the University of Cambridge, examining the role of passivity in bio-inspired manipulators. Her research focuses on developing novel design paradigms for designing robot structures that exploit their physicality and interactions with the environment. This includes the development of robotic hands, soft manipulators, and automation systems for applications focused on sustainability and science.
This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity.
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Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/

Claire chatted to Gavin Kenneally from Ghost Robotics about robot dogs for defence, security, and public safety.
Gavin Kenneally is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ghost Robotics, a company that has gained a reputation for pushing the boundaries of legged robotics technology. In his current role, Gavin spearheads a team of highly skilled engineers and researchers who share his passion for creating advanced robotics systems. Previously, he was Head of Product at Ghost Robotics, responsible for the mechanical design of the company's flagship product: the Vision 60 Q-UGV. Gavin has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and has authored six academic papers.
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Claire chatted to Melissa Greeff from Queen's University about autonomous navigation and learning for drones.
Melissa Greeff is an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen's University. She leads Robora Lab and is also an Ingenuity Labs Robotics and AI Institute member. Her research interests include aerial robots, vision-based navigation, and safe learning-based control. Melissa's expertise is in building autonomous aerial systems including previous experience in conducting field trials at various locations across Canada. She was listed as one of 50 women in robotics you need to know about in 2023 by the Women in Robotics organization.
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Claire chatted to Andrew Philippides from the University of Sussex about what we can learn from ants and bees to improve robot navigation.
Andrew Philippides is a Professor of Biorobotics at the University of Sussex, where he co-directs the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics and the be.AI Leverhulme Doctoral centre for Biomimetic Embodied AI. His research combines biological experiments with robotics, modelling, and machine learning to understand how intelligent behaviour emerges from the interaction of body and brain acting in an environment. Focussing on visual navigation, he aims to understand the navigation and learning abilities of ants and bees to develop novel AI and biorobotic algorithms.
This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity.
Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/ 
Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher