Share
Automated with Brian Heater
How Robots Fail, Learn, and Improve: A Conversation with Holly Yanco
Ep. 15
•
For more than 30 years, University of Massachusetts Lowell professor Holly Yanco has been a leading mind in human-robot interaction. It seems the rest of the automation industry may finally be catching up with her decades of research.
Professor Yanco delves into the complexities of human–robot interaction, from telepresence robots and robot trust to assistive tech, exoskeleton advances, and the challenges of real-world deployment. She shares lessons from decades of testing, breaking, and improving robots, why telepresence robots never had their predicted breakout moment, and what it takes to build capability-driven systems people can actually trust. This episode covers: agricultural robotics, underwater testing, community-college talent pipelines, and what it really takes to grow the next generation of roboticists.
We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.
You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm.
Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter:
https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundup
You can also find us on:
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
More episodes
View all episodes
14. The Robot Ending Loneliness in Aged Care: Grace Brown on Building Abi
47:33||Ep. 14For Grace Brown, a humanoid robot future is a hopeful future. Andromeda’s Abi is designed to build connections in an increasingly isolated world, focused on older adults in care facilities. It’s a group that is a prime target for transformative technologies, but is too often overlooked.In this episode, she talks about designing Abi, the robot bringing real connection back into aged care, the jaw-dropping moments that proved it was working, and the obsession, grit, and magic behind building a billion-dollar startup from nothing.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
13. Dusty Robotics CEO Tessa Lau on Reinventing Construction Through Automation
44:38||Ep. 13In 2018, Dusty Robotics quite literally got in on the ground floor of automating the $2 trillion U.S. construction industry. Founder and CEO Tessa Lau discusses the ups and downs of those early days, and what it means to go from engineer to executive.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
12. Dianne Eldridge on AI, Automation, and the Future of Work
52:15||Ep. 12AI Go-to-Market Lead for Energy & Utilities at Google AI, Dianne Eldridge, knows how to communicate with executives. The automation vet is also an expert at cutting to the heart of the matter in conversations about industry, society, and her own personal journey. In this episode, Dianne shares her remarkable journey, from surviving a three-family apartment in Beijing to becoming an executive shaping global AI strategy.She and Brian Heater explore AI’s impact on jobs, immigrant grit, ethical guardrails, leadership mistakes, and what it really takes to grow careers in the age of automation.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
11. Ken Goldberg: Solving Robotics’ Hardest Problems: Dexterity, Data, and Design
53:28||Ep. 11Ken Goldberg is a great resource to have on speed dial when those complex robotics questions emerge. As a longtime U.C. Berkeley professor and cofounder of Ambi Robotics, he’s familiar with the promise the category holds and the vast amount of work and data it will take to bridge that gap.From Ambi Robotics’ data flywheel and the “robot data gap” to why personal use of humanoids may remain decades away, Goldberg and Brian Heater explore the hard truths behind dexterity, simulation, and learning at scale. Lock in for a synopsis of where robotics stands today and where it’s heading next.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
10. Helen Greiner on Building iRobot and the Future of Home Automation
42:52||Ep. 10A crush on a fictional astromech droid at age 11 set Helen Grenier down a path toward cofounding iRobot, the most influential consumer robotics firm of the early 21st century. Since then, Grenier has served as CEO of garden weeding robotics company, Tertill, and defense drone firm, Cyphy Works. We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
9. PSYONIC’s Aadeel Akhtar on the Future of Bionics, Robotics, and Accessibility
54:49||Ep. 9What began as a University of Illinois engineering project has grown into a startup aimed at improving lives. Psyonic CEO Aadeel Ahktar discusses the company’s journey from human prosthesis to humanoid manipulation.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
8. Building Robots That Work for People: Amazon’s Playbook for Scaled Automation
49:57||Ep. 8Amazon Robotics' Chief Technologist discusses his journey from undergraduate aeronautics to helping the world's largest retailer deploy one million robots.He shares how Amazon is reinventing automation through human-machine collaboration, scalable AI, and a culture that values curiosity over hype. From early lessons at MIT to leading one of the world’s largest robotics teams, Tye Brady explains what it really takes to make robots that work for people.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/
6. Physical AI, Play, and the Path Beyond Humanoids with Brad Porter of Cobot
49:41||Ep. 6As a long time Amazon VP, Brad Porter knows what it takes to deploy industrial robots at scale. Now doing the same with his own company, Cobot, Porter delivers a dose of reality to the hardware hype cycle.We’d love to hear from you! Have thoughts or guest suggestions? Reach us at podcast@automate.org.You can find the transcript and more episodes of Automated at automated.fm. Unlock full access to Automated and explore everything automation. Subscribe today and leave a review on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Subscribe to the Automated Newsletter: https://www.automate.org/automation/newsletter-automation-roundupYou can also find us on:LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/automated-podcast-by-a3/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/automatedpod/