# Episode 123: Standardising robot programming - Nick Thompson

- Show: [Robot Talk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk)
- Published: 2025-05-30
- Length: 18m
- Episode: 123
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson
- Listen: https://ukrobotics.libsyn.com/episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson

## Summary

Nick Thompson, CEO of BOW, explains how his company’s SDK abstracts the complexity of robot programming by providing a unified, hardware-agnostic layer that works across simulation and real-world hardware. He details how BOW complements ROS by handling low-level communication and inverse kinematics, allowing developers to write applications that are decoupled from specific robot form factors like quadrupeds or drones. Thompson highlights a key use case with the ORE Catapult’s Cyrus project, where BOW unifies aerial, underwater, and surface vessels for offshore wind inspection, and outlines plans for an App Store marketplace to monetize reusable robotic skills.

## Chapters

- [0:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=7) Introduction: Nick Thompson and BOW
- [1:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=116) The Problem: Fragmented Robot Manufacturers and High Barriers
- [3:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=180) BOW as Middleware: Abstracting Hardware and Form Factors
- [4:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=283) Challenges in Robot Programming and the Role of ROS
- [7:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=421) BOW vs. ROS: Complementing Open Source with Proprietary SDKs
- [8:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=513) Use Case: ORE Catapult’s Cyrus Project for Offshore Wind
- [12:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=759) Future Roadmap: Scaling, OEM Partnerships, and App Store
- [14:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson#t=874) Developer Onboarding: Learning Curve and Supported Languages

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- BOW (company)
- One Beyond Ltd (company)
- ROS (other)
- ROS 2 (other)
- Cyrus (product)
- ORE Catapult (company)
- Kure Ocean (company)
- Innovate UK (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Building a Universal Robotics Platform with BOW](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2025-04-11-building-a-universal-robotics-platform-with-bow) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Juan Aparicio, Enrico Krog Iversen on improving robotics ease of use](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2021-03-05-juan-aparicio-enrico-krog-iversen-on-improving-robotics-ease-of-use) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Configuring the future of robotics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-05-22-configuring-the-future-of-robotics) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Making robots easier to program and deploy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-07-19-making-robots-easier-to-program-and-deploy) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Open source visualization and debugging for robotics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2022-01-28-open-source-visualization-and-debugging-for-robotics) (The Robot Report Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-05-30-episode-123-standardising-robot-programming-nick-thompson. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Robot Talk.