Riley Knox: Smart Factories, 3D Printing, Adv. Manufacturing, and Elon Musk | Hard Tech Podcast #10
Riley Knox, co-founder and CEO of Accelerate 3D, discusses his background in mechanical engineering and the development of smart factories that integrate 3D printing with automation. He contrasts the unproven economics of concrete 3D printing with the efficiency of robotic brick-laying systems like FBR, while arguing that additive manufacturing offers a viable path for small-to-medium batch production by eliminating mold costs. The conversation also covers the strategic importance of reshoring advanced manufacturing to the US, the limitations of hardware accelerators, and the polarizing influence of Elon Musk on public perception of hard tech.