Robot Talk

Claire chatted to Kushant Patel from Brookhaven National Laboratory about robots that work in scientific facilities, such as particle accelerators.

Kushant Patel builds software that helps robots and instruments perceive, map, and move through the physical world. After completing a Master's in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo, he spent two years at the University of California, Berkeley teaching quadruped robots to map and inspect nuclear material, and a year at the University of California, Davis building closed-loop brain-computer interfaces. At Brookhaven National Laboratory, he is developing control systems for advanced synchrotron beamlines.

This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity.
Support Robot Talk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/

Last month, Claire hosted a panel discussion at AUV 2026 exploring how progress in marine autonomy resonates with different audiences, from engineers who are developing the technology, to the end users in science, industry and defence, and the young people who will become the next generation of engineers. She was joined by five panellists: Gwyn Griffiths, Daniel Hook, Emma Curtis, Sara Aldhaheri, and Edith-Clare Hall.
This bonus episode is brought to you by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society and the AUV Southampton organising committee, in partnership with Cellula Robotics and Sonardyne International.
Get access to the full catalogue of bonus episodes by becoming a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher

During my recent visit to The National Robotarium in Edinburgh, I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak to some of the Robotarium's resident companies.
In this interview, I talked to Niall McGrath, CEO of Robocean, a company building and deploying robots to restore seagrass meadows – one of the most important marine ecosystems on Earth.
This episode was made possible by UK RAS STEPS, a programme supporting Research Technical Professionals in robotics and autonomous systems in the UK.

Claire chatted to Michelle Lu from Vsim Technology about using simulation and artificial intelligence to teach robots new skills.

Michelle Lu is co-founder and CEO of Vsim Technology. She was previously a Director of Simulation Technology at NVIDIA, where she and her co-founder created the world's first end-to-end GPU-accelerated reinforcement learning (RL) framework, Isaac Gym, which set the template for how modern GPU-accelerated simulation-based RL is performed in robotics. In 2022, Michelle and her co-founder left NVIDIA to create Vsim, driven to solve the limitations that plague simulation-based robotics AI: efficiency, scalability and the sim-to-real gap.

This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity.
Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/

Claire chatted to Aaron Edsinger from Hello Robot about their Stretch robots that can help people with mobility issues live more independently.
Aaron Edsinger is CEO and Co-Founder of Hello Robot, a robotics company dedicated to developing practical, safe, and accessible robots for people. With a passion for building robots and robot companies, Aaron has founded four companies focused on bringing human collaborative robots to the consumer, manufacturing, healthcare and research markets. As Robotics Director at Google, he led the business, product and technical development of two of Google's central investments in robotics, and helped to define the overall robotics strategy.

This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity.
Join the Robot Talk community on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher
Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/