Agribotics with Suma Reddy; Space Lasers; The Truth About Tesla FSD

The Robot Report Podcast · 13 Mar 2021 · 35m

What this episode covers

Suma Reddy, CEO of agricultural robotics startup Future Acres, discusses the company's new 'Carry' mobile robot, which autonomously transports crops on farms to address labor shortages and improve safety. She explains the company's use of equity crowdfunding via SeedInvest to raise capital and its aggressive roadmap for future products like solar-powered sprayers and picking robots. The episode also covers news about Tesla's Full Self-Driving beta software limitations and rumors surrounding Amazon's home robot Vesta.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Just Gonna Send It · 46m

    Divya Thakur (Founder, Yardbot)

    Divya Thakur, founder of Yardbot, explains how he pivoted from a failed Bitcoin startup and a career at Cruise (General Motors) to building a hybrid landscaping business in Huntsville, Alabama. He details the five generations of robot iterations, highlighting mechanical failures in drivetrains and decks, and the strategic decision to combine human crews with autonomous mowing robots rather than pursuing full automation. Thakur also discusses using LLMs for training blue-collar workers and computer vision for obstacle detection, while outlining plans to expand the model to other Sun Belt cities.

  • Robot Talk · 28m

    Episode Seven - Agricultural Robotics: Farming for the future

    Dr Petra Bosilj of the University of Lincoln explains that robotic vision in agriculture is bottlenecked by a lack of annotated training data for complex tasks like distinguishing weeds from crops, though precision spraying can reduce herbicide use by 80%. Chris Chavasse, founder of Muddy Machines, describes his startup's development of lightweight, swarm-capable field robots for harvesting tender stem broccoli, designed to reduce soil compaction compared to heavy industrial machinery. The episode contrasts academic research into phenotyping and soil health with the commercial challenges of building rugged, soft-robotic end effectors and securing funding during the pandemic.

  • Manufacturing Happy Hour · 52m

    BONUS: Hear what Investors, Educators, and High Growth Companies have to say about the future of Robotics, Automation, and AI, Pt. 1 of 2 (brought to you by Cascadia Capital)

    Chris Luecke interviews leaders from Creative Ventures, Advanced Construction Robotics, Hire Henry, Madrona Venture Group, and Cascadia Capital about the future of robotics, automation, and AI. The guests discuss the shift of automation into unstructured environments like construction, agriculture, and landscaping, driven by labor shortages and advances in AI. They highlight the importance of solving specific market problems before technology, the rise of 'structured autonomy,' and the critical role of software in scaling robotic hardware.

  • IoT For All Podcast · 20m

    Smart Farming: The Role of IoT and AI | John Deere's Gaurav Bansal | Internet of Things Podcast

    Gaurav Bansal, VP of Engineering at Blue River Technology (a subsidiary of John Deere), discusses the integration of IoT, AI, and computer vision in smart farming to address labor shortages and climate challenges. He details the John Deere autonomous tractor, which uses stereo cameras and NVIDIA Jetson GPUs for obstacle detection, and the See & Spray system, which uses real-time computer vision to reduce herbicide usage by up to two-thirds. Bansal also highlights the critical role of connectivity, noting a partnership with Starlink to solve rural coverage gaps, and outlines John Deere's goal of achieving fully autonomous production systems for corn and soybeans by 2030.

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 27m

    164. Dyson’s Automated, Self-sustaining Strawberry Farm

    Daniel and Forbode discuss Dyson's transition from consumer electronics to agriculture, detailing their 36,000-acre automated farm in the UK. They highlight the integration of anaerobic digesters for energy, robotic strawberry pickers, and precision herbicide robots that reduce chemical use by 90%. The episode also covers Murata's soil sensor technology, which helps farmers optimize yields and resource usage through data-driven insights.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Robot Report Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.