# Episode 130: Robots learning from humans - Chad Jenkins

- Show: [Robot Talk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk)
- Published: 2025-10-24
- Length: 29m
- Episode: 130
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins
- Listen: https://ukrobotics.libsyn.com/episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins

## Summary

Chad Jenkins, a Professor of Robotics at the University of Michigan, discusses his lab's work on teaching robots through demonstration rather than coding, focusing on dexterous mobile manipulation and perception. He explains the challenge of 'affordances'—understanding how objects can be used—and the trade-off between the speed of deep learning models and the robustness of search-based algorithms. Jenkins also highlights his 'distributed teaching collaboratives' initiative, which uses open-source course materials to scale robotics education, supported by funding from the Sloan Foundation, Amazon, and Toyota Research Institute.

## Chapters

- [0:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins#t=7) Introduction: Claire Asher and Chad Jenkins
- [2:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins#t=133) Lab Goals: Learning from Demonstration and Mobile Manipulation
- [6:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins#t=381) Perception Challenges: Affordances and Object Reasoning
- [10:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins#t=650) AI Approaches: Deep Learning vs. Search-Based Algorithms
- [14:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins#t=898) Future Applications: Healthcare, Infrastructure, and Education
- [18:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins#t=1106) Societal Impact: Labor Economics and Reinstatement
- [22:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-24-episode-130-robots-learning-from-humans-chad-jenkins#t=1349) Education: Distributed Teaching Collaboratives and Open Source

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- University of Michigan (company)
- NVIDIA (company)
- Meta (company)
- Figure AI (company)
- Sloan Foundation (company)
- Amazon (company)
- Toyota Research Institute (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [177. Did A Shrimp Fry This Rice? No, A Robot Did](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-next-byte-podcast/2024-06-04-177-did-a-shrimp-fry-this-rice-no-a-robot-did) (The Next Byte Podcast)
- [Dextrous Robotics exits stealth; how robots impact the future of work](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2020-11-18-dextrous-robotics-exits-stealth-how-robots-impact-the-future-of-work) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [263: Experience the Theory](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2018-10-04-263-experience-the-theory) (Embedded.fm)
- [207: I Love My Robot Monkey Head (Repeat)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-03-12-207-i-love-my-robot-monkey-head-repeat) (Embedded.fm)
- [525: Some Sort of Metal](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2026-05-14-525-some-sort-of-metal) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

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