Taking Elevators, Robot Body Language, and Advice for Startups

Sense Think Act Podcast

In this episode, Audrow Nash interviews Erik Schluntz, co–founder and CTO of Cobalt Robotics, which makes a security guard robot. Erik speaks about how their robot handles elevators, how they have humans–in–the–loop to help their robot make decisions, robot body language, and gives advice for entrepreneurs.
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EPISODE LINKS:
– Cobalt’s website: https://www.cobaltrobotics.com/}
– Erik’s website: http://www.erikschluntz.com/portfolio/}
– Video introducing the Cobalt robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PyUjK7JX_c&ab_channel=CobaltRobotics}
– Video of the Cobalt robot using an elevator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUKCI0ynm6s&ab_channel=CobaltRobotics}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:03:35) Having their robot take elevators
– (0:18:55) How the sensors are used (aka, fulfilling IoT promises)
– (0:22:17) Training the robot as a security guard
– (0:27:41) Adding a taser on your robot? + What it means to be a security guard
– (0:33:29) On being a technology and security company
– (0:36:32) Stopping a thief with their robot
– (0:38:08) How fleets of security robots are controlled
– (0:40:51) Understanding the human operators
– (0:44:42) Tech stack
– (0:45:34) Experience with ROS
– (0:46:37) Extending ROS packages to work with elevators
– (0:50:48) On open source software
– (0:52:23) Growing the team
– (0:54:13) Manufacturing the Cobalt robot + battle–testing their robots
– (0:56:18) Sourcing components
– (0:58:37) Making people feel safe around the robot
– (1:01:26) Robot body language
– (1:02:22) “Dog–fooding” to improve robot body language
– (1:04:29) Working with the research community
– (1:06:11) Having the Cobalt robot behave like a receptionist during the day
– (1:07:41) Impact on security guard jobs
– (1:11:19) Human–in–the–loop with robotics applications + levels of autonomy
– (1:17:26) How are you using machine learning?
– (1:21:40) Erik’s background in startups
– (1:24:10) Advice on picking a problem
– (1:28:50) Cobalt’s funding
– (1:31:02) Advice for founders looking for investors
– (1:32:41) Advice on avoiding bad investment
– (1:34:44) Advice for a younger you
– (1:35:46) Getting in touch
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}