Michelle Lu, co-founder and CEO of Vsim Technology, explains how her company uses GPU-accelerated physics simulation to accelerate robot learning and close the sim-to-real gap. Previously at NVIDIA creating Isaac Gym, Lu details how Vsim overcomes the scalability and performance limitations of traditional CPU-based reinforcement learning frameworks. The discussion highlights specific challenges in simulating tactile sensors, deformable objects, and tendon systems for the ARIA Robot Dexterity program, aiming to enable complex dexterous manipulation tasks.
Miguel Garces Moreno, Product Marketing Manager for AMRs at Omron, discusses the European robotics market, highlighting growth in collaborative robots and AMRs driven by labor shortages and supply chain pressures. He previews the next-generation LD150 and LD300 mobile robots, which feature faster wireless charging, 360-degree safety coverage, and improved serviceability through modular design. The conversation emphasizes Omron's strategy to differentiate through software, navigation, and fleet management rather than hardware alone, while addressing the critical role of system integrators in deploying mobile manipulators and ensuring interoperability across multi-brand fleets.
Jenny List and Elliot Williams discuss Henrik Forstén’s synthetic aperture radar drone, which achieves centimeter-level resolution using RTK GPS and post-processing kinematic positioning. They also cover Breaking Taps’ custom microprocessor designed via wafer.space, James’ spinning Nipkow lightfield display, and Peter A. Jansen’s open-source tricorder featuring a Pomelo radiation detector and Hamamatsu spectrometer. Finally, Jenny describes her visit to the Zeche Zollverein industrial site in Germany’s Ruhr Valley.
Jimmy Diresta, Bob Clagett, and David Picciuto discuss the painful consequences of decision-making in their respective trades. Jimmy details a near-disaster building 16-foot floating shelves where a table saw error forced him to rip apart a glued-up assembly, and Bob recounts reinforcing a bar shelf after realizing it couldn't hold heavy vodka jugs. David shares his stress from overlapping video deadlines and a structural issue with a mini garage build, while the group analyzes the risks of mechanical failures versus design compromises.
Matt Ketterer, a Principal Controls Engineer at Pipeline Design & Engineering and a second-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, discusses his 20+ years of training with host Aaron Moncur. They explore how BJJ teaches that technique overcomes strength, the importance of tapping early to avoid injuries like torn ligaments and ACLs, and the psychological benefits of managing claustrophobia and stress through the sport. The conversation highlights the strong community bonds formed through shared struggle and the realization that narrowing focus to a few key moves accelerates learning and mastery.
Fine Woodworking editors Owen Madden and Bridget Gruber join host Vic Teslin to discuss the nuances of hand tool usage, specifically debating whether handplane weight impacts performance. They explore the '5/7 rule' for shaping roundovers, the value of classical training in contemporary design through maker Aspen Golan, and the practicalities of custom kitchen cabinetry versus standard sizes. The conversation also touches on the importance of hand tool safety and the historical context of woodworking techniques.
Jane Kate Wong, founder of Noon World, explains how her background in architecture and interaction design at Nike, Google, and Apple informs the brand's neuro-aesthetic approach and dual-layer gummy format. She details Noon's strategic pivot from failing in conventional grocery retail to a nationwide Target rollout, leveraging UGC and high-profile partnerships with Valentino and Adidas to educate consumers on cognitive calibration. Wong emphasizes long-term integrity over fast wins in the crowded wellness market.
Adam Smith, a professor at UC Santa Cruz, discusses his BayLeaf AI counterplatform, an open-source infrastructure designed to provide local, autonomous AI tools without data harvesting. He explains the concept of 'transagency,' where humans and agents collaborate, using tools like OpenCode, OpenChamber, and OpenWebUI to manage context and automate tasks. Smith advocates for using small language models (SLMs) and context distillation to retain knowledge in plain text files like AGENTS.md, arguing that this approach offers privacy and portability compared to corporate cloud services.
Gadi Benjamini, Co-founder and CEO of FireDome, explains how his company builds autonomous wildfire suppression hardware inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome. He details the electromechanical launcher that fires 10-gallon 'smart capsules' filled with water or fire retardant up to 1,000 feet, and the AI-driven computer vision algorithms used to detect spot fires while avoiding humans and drones. Benjamini discusses the company's pivot from his previous methane mitigation startup, Carbon Twist, to resilience tech, and outlines their 'resilience as a service' business model targeting early adopters like wineries and HOAs in California. He also shares challenges in sourcing durable motors and manufacturing tolerances, and describes upcoming testing in Sacramento to validate performance against high winds.
Shayle Kann interviews Brandt Vermillion, U.S. market lead at Modo Energy, about the Texas (ERCOT) grid-scale battery market, which has grown from 200 megawatts to 17 gigawatts, causing revenue to plummet by 84% due to ancillary service saturation and energy arbitrage cannibalization. Vermillion explains that while current revenues of ~$30/kW are underwater for most projects, the influx of data center load and the retirement of aging gas plants are expected to restore volatility and revenues by 2029-2030. The conversation details how longer-duration batteries (2.5-4 hours) capture secondary price spikes during extreme weather events like Storm Fern, and how developers are using tolling agreements to bridge the gap until market conditions improve.
Scott Tannen of Boll & Branch and Jamie Siminoff of Ring advise three early-stage founders on scaling physical product businesses. Tannen and Siminoff counsel Melita of Q for Quinn on the trade-offs between bootstrapping and venture capital, emphasizing the preservation of brand vision. They advise Eric of L Cubed Lifestyle to position his UV-protection apparel against sunscreen rather than traditional athleisure, suggesting retail placement in sunscreen aisles. Finally, they help Chris of Knox Provisions identify new use cases for his binoculars, such as sports and festivals, to expand beyond traditional outdoor channels.
Jeff Gable and Luca Ingianni discuss the practical challenges of adopting Test-Driven Development (TDD) in embedded software, specifically addressing the difficulty of starting with a blank screen. They outline a process that begins with decomposing systems into modules, sketching test ideas as bullet points, and writing test outlines in plain English before implementing code. The hosts highlight how LLMs can help overcome the fear of the empty screen but create new traps by generating overwhelming or nonsensical test suites, requiring developers to review test code more thoroughly than production code to ensure it accurately reflects the desired module interface and behavior.
Jill Bohaboy, founder of Trek Solutions, joins Rob to discuss the craft of design research, emphasizing that meaningful insights come from observation and qualitative methods rather than just asking people what they want. They explore specific techniques such as 'build-it' sessions, shop-alongs, and breaking down products like diapers to understand compensating behaviors and latent needs. Bohaboy argues that researchers can conduct effective, low-budget studies by simply observing consumers in their natural environments and asking open-ended questions to avoid bias. The conversation highlights how these methods help uncover the 'why' behind user actions, turning research into a launch pad for innovation rather than a roadblock.
Michael Corr, founder and CEO of Duro, explains why Altium acquired his cloud-based PLM platform to help hardware startups and small engineering teams manage product data without heavy IT overhead. He details how the Altium Designer plugin publishes library parts and full projects into Duro with part numbers and revision status, while the deeper integration within Altium 365 allows seamless switching between the two interfaces. Corr also highlights Duro's new AI agents that act as RF, mechanical DFM, and supply chain specialists to review change orders for teams that cannot hire those specialized roles. Finally, he emphasizes Duro's API-first architecture, which is designed to be easily consumed by AI coding agents to build custom integrations and extensions.
Eric Wiklendt, Managing Director at Speyside Equity, explains his two-phase 'portco value creation system' for middle-market manufacturing businesses: fixing margins through operational improvement (Phase 1) and then building top-line growth (Phase 2). He details how Speyside evaluates scalability, mitigates customer concentration risk, and structures management teams to ensure a business is sellable, arguing that owners should operate with the mindset of 'always be exiting' to maximize value. The discussion covers specific tools like sales force effectiveness frameworks and the importance of starting exit planning 24 months before a liquidity event.
Nick Classen, General Manager of Northwest Rapid Manufacturing, explains how the company evolved from supporting Northwest UAV into a high-rate production provider for UAVs using EOS SLS technology. He details the shift from prototyping to end-use parts, highlighting specific applications like conformal fuel tanks, EMI-shielded housings, and structural brackets made from Nylon 12, Alumide, and glass-filled polymers. Classen discusses the operational challenges of scaling production, the critical role of post-processing, and the company's strategic expansion into metal AM (DMLS) to meet growing defense and aerospace demand.
Sean Petterson, CEO of Supersede, explains how his company turns recycled plastic into structural building materials like Marine Board and OSB alternatives, starting with boats and expanding to RVs. He details a capital-efficient manufacturing model using small, distributed plants in Phoenix and Bristol, Indiana, to serve local markets and reduce logistics costs. Petterson highlights the use of AI for tool design, machine vision for quality control, and a custom-built ERP system developed without software developers to streamline operations. The company aims to build 10 plants in five years, leveraging first principles and domestic manufacturing trends to compete with traditional lumber products.
Gulrez Arora, founder of Gymkhana Fine Foods, explains how he leveraged his decade at Mars and a serendipitous connection with JKS Restaurant Group to launch a premium Indian food brand. Arora details the decision to build a hybrid manufacturing model, producing 40-50% of products in-house to maintain restaurant-quality standards that co-packers could not replicate. He discusses the brand's strategy of driving 900% category growth in the UK and achieving rapid success in the US through Whole Foods and Sprouts, relying on heavy in-store activation near meat sections to drive incremental sales.
Subhi Saadeh, founder of Let’s Combinate, introduces a four-part series on FDA inspection readiness under the new Quality Management System Regulation (QMSR), explaining how the retired QSIT framework has been replaced by Compliance Program 7382.850. He highlights advice from former FDA investigator Eric Pittman, who advises industry to focus exclusively on Section III of compliance programs as the primary roadmap for inspections. The episode details the shift from QSIT’s four major subsystems to six QMS areas, emphasizing a risk-based approach where investigators evaluate product risks and control effectiveness.
Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss the semiconductor memory market, noting that Chinese providers YMTC and CXMT are ramping capacity and improving yields, which may offer pricing relief to OEMs squeezed by data center demand. They analyze Meta's new 'Muse' AI assistant as a potential catalyst for mainstream adoption by bridging the user skill gap through proactive orchestration, while also highlighting the massive, unforeseen surge in CPU demand required to power these continuous 'agentic' workloads. Finally, they unpack Anthropic's $11 billion equity-exchange partnership with Akamai, highlighting its implications for distributed edge inference and the critical need for CPU infrastructure.
Aman Joshi, chief commercial officer at Bloom Energy, explains how long interconnection queues and grid constraints are driving data centers and industrial customers to adopt permanent, on-site fuel cell power. He details why the traditional levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) model is misleading for on-site generation, arguing that total delivered cost per watt into the rack—including reliability, community acceptance, and water use—makes Bloom's solid-state fuel cells economically superior to combustion turbines. Joshi highlights that community pushback regarding emissions and water consumption is forcing major projects, such as Oracle's New Mexico deployment, to switch from gas turbines to Bloom's technology to secure permits and social license.
Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollender, co-founders of Seventh Generation, recount their partnership, which built an eco-friendly household brand from a Vermont catalog into a major retail presence before fracturing in 1992. They discuss the operational challenges of early production, including a software failure with French string bags and manufacturing resistance to recycled toilet paper, and the strategic pivot to retail that led to a $700 million acquisition by Unilever. The episode highlights the bitter fallout of their breakup, including a 'Dear John' letter and subsequent firings, while reflecting on the importance of clear co-founder agreements and complementary leadership styles.
Thom King, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Icon Foods, explains the complex science of replacing sugar in food products, emphasizing that formulators must replicate sugar's eight functional roles beyond sweetness. He details how stacking fibers (like Olipop) and sweeteners (erythritol, allulose, tagatose) mitigates gastrointestinal issues and improves mouthfeel, while discussing the supply chain volatility of monk fruit and the impact of tariffs on erythritol. King advises founders to work with professional formulators rather than scaling kitchen recipes and highlights vegetable glycerin as an underrated tool for texture and shelf-life.
Michael Corr, co-founder and CEO of Duro, and Justin Sears, Head of Product Marketing at Altium, discuss how Duro’s cloud-based PLM platform and Altium’s Agile Teams are breaking down silos between electrical, mechanical, and procurement teams. They explain how Duro’s API-first architecture enables specialized AI agents to automate tasks like BOM analysis and part sourcing, addressing the critical need for real-time supply chain visibility. The conversation highlights the acquisition of Duro by Altium, the shift from selling 'vitamins' to 'medicine' for hardware startups, and the resurgence of small, fast-moving hardware companies leveraging modern tooling.
Hye Rin (Juliet) Choi, VP of Product at Grüns, explains how the company scaled to a billion-dollar acquisition by Unilever through its 'taste to retain' philosophy and rigorous internal R&D. She details the multi-stage testing process, including third-party lab validation with Eurofins, and the decision to bring science, regulatory, and formulation functions in-house to accelerate innovation and ensure quality. Choi highlights that complex gummy formulations often require 30 to 40 iterations to balance taste, texture, and technical feasibility, while emphasizing the critical importance of documentation and version control for scaling operations.
