Episode 136: Making driverless vehicles smarter - Shimon Whiteson
Release Date: 12/05/2025
Episode 150: House building robots - Vikas Enti
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Vikas Enti from Reframe Systems about using robotics and automation to build climate-resilient, high-performance homes. Vikas Enti is the co-founder and CEO of , a physical AI company rethinking how homes are built through automation and localized fabrication. He previously spent more than a decade at Amazon Robotics, where he helped scale advanced robotics systems across global logistics networks. Today, he is applying those same principles of systems design and repeatable production to address the housing shortage. Vikas focuses on building climate-resilient,...
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Episode 149: Robot safety and security - Krystal Mattich
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Krystal Mattich from Brain Corp about trustworthy autonomous robots in public spaces. Krystal Mattich leads global data governance, system security, and privacy compliance for : the world’s leading autonomy platform for commercial robotics. As Senior Director of Security, Privacy, and Risk, she is the architect of the privacy-first infrastructure that powers over 40,000 BrainOS®-enabled robots across retail, airports, education and logistics. Krystal played a central role in launching Brain Corp’s public-facing Trust Center, reinforcing the company’s commitment to data...
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Bonus Episode: The Future of Home Assistant Robots
Robot Talk
Last month, I hosted a panel discussion on home assistant robots at the Festival of Tomorrow in Swindon. I was joined by Dr , a Reader in Interactive Assistive Technology at the University of Hertfordshire, Dr , a Lecturer at Imperial College London, Dr , a Lecturer in Autonomous Systems at King’s College London, and Dr , a Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Robot Interaction at the University of Cardiff. This event was part of the ’s Hawking Building Series — a series of four evening events organised at the Science and Innovation Park in Swindon. I’d like to say thanks...
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Episode 148: Ethical robot behaviour - Alan Winfield
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Alan Winfield from the University of the West of England about developing new standards for ethics and transparency in robotics. is Professor of Robot Ethics at the University of the West of England (UWE), Visiting Professor at the University of York, and Associate Fellow of the Cambridge Centre for the Future of Intelligence. Alan co-founded the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, where his research is focussed on the science, engineering and ethics of cognitive robotics. Alan is an advocate for robot ethics; he chairs the advisory board of the Responsible Technology Institute at...
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Episode 147: Miniature living robots - Maria Guix
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Maria Guix from the University of Barcelona about combining electronics and biology to create robots that are more than the sum of their parts. is a chemist and nanotechnology researcher in the University of Barcelona’s ChemInFlow lab, developing miniaturized living robots and integrating flexible sensors into microfluidic platforms to better understand biohybrid robotic platforms. Her PhD research at the Autonomous University of Barcelona focussed on nanomaterials for biosensing. She has held postdoctoral positions at IFW Dresden, Purdue University, and the Institute for...
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Episode 146: Embodied AI on the ISS - Jamie Palmer
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Jamie Palmer from Icarus Robotics about building a robotic labour force to perform routine and risky tasks in orbit. Jamie Palmer is co-founder and CTO of . He earned a Master's in Robotics from Columbia University on a full scholarship, researching intelligent, dexterous manipulation in the ROAM lab. Jamie developed and deployed autonomous hospital robots during the pandemic and worked as a race-winning engineer for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team. Support Robot Talk on Patreon:
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Episode 145: Robotics and automation in manufacturing - Agata Suwala
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Agata Suwala from the Manufacturing Technology Centre about leveraging robotics to make manufacturing systems more sustainable. Agata Suwala is a Technology Manager at the , where she leads cutting-edge work in automation and robotics. With over a decade of experience in R&D, Agata specialises in developing and implementing advanced manufacturing systems—particularly for the aerospace sector—transforming complex, skill-intensive processes through automation. Her recent focus is on enabling the transition to a circular economy by leveraging automation and robotics to...
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Episode 144: Robot trust in humans - Samuele Vinanzi
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Samuele Vinanzi from Sheffield Hallam University about how robots can tell whether to trust or distrust people. is a Senior Lecturer in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Sheffield Hallam University. He specializes in Cognitive Robotics: an interdisciplinary field that integrates robotics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and psychology to create robots that perceive, reason, and interact like humans. His research focuses on enabling social collaboration between humans and robots, particularly emotional intelligence, intention reading, and artificial trust....
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Episode 143: Robots for children - Elmira Yadollahi
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Elmira Yadollahi from Lancaster University about how children interact with and relate to robots. is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Lancaster University. She has a joint PhD in robotics and computer science from EPFL in Switzerland and Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal. Her research tackles explainability in robotics, as well as multimodal perception and explanation methods. Her core expertise is in child–robot interaction, with a focus on expectation management, trust, and AI literacy. She has organised workshops on Explainability in Human-Robot...
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Episode 142: Collaborative robot arms - Mark Gray
Robot Talk
Claire chatted to Mark Gray from Universal Robots about their lightweight robotic arms that work alongside humans. Mark Gray has worked in automation for the last 30 years, first involved in machine vision and robotics and finally collaborative robots or cobots. As country manager, Mark was the first person to work for Universal Robots in the UK and has carried out projects with many research institutes such as the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), the National Robotarium, and Bristol Robotics Lab. Join the Robot Talk community on...
info_outlineClaire chatted to Shimon Whiteson from the University of Oxford and Waymo about machine learning for autonomous vehicles.
Shimon Whiteson is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a Senior Staff Research Scientist at Waymo UK. His research focuses on deep reinforcement learning and imitation learning, with applications in robotics and video games. He completed his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. He spent eight years as an Assistant and then an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam before joining Oxford as an Associate Professor in 2015. His spin-out company Latent Logic was acquired by Waymo in 2019.
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