Episode 204 of The Robot Report Podcast features guests Jan Zizka from Brightpick and Charlie Kemp from Hello Robot.
Zizka, CEO of Brightpick, explains the technical challenges that led to the Giraffe warehouse robot. He explains how the company’s team tackled the complexities of designing a two-stage telescoping robot that maintains stability and efficiency in high-density environments.
Learn about Brightpick’s innovations to overcome logistical hurdles, such as the compact design of Giraffe for easy transport and installation, as well as the strategic use of parallel movements to optimize warehouse operations. Join us as we follow the path from concept to reality for Giraffe.
The conversation with Kemp, co-founder and chief technology officer of mobile manipulator developer Hello Robot, is from a live interview from the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo show floor with editor Eugene Demaitre.
Show timeline
- 07:35 – News of the week
- 23:25 – Interview with Charlie Kemp, co-founder and CTO of Hello Robot
- 45:15 – Interview with Jan Zizka, co-founder and CEO of Brightpick
News of the week
UBtech Walker S humanoid robot demonstrates self battery change.
After Intel exit, RealSense maps its own future in 3D vision
RealSense spun out from Intel Corp. late last week with $50 million in funding from Intel Capital and MediaTek Innovation Fund. This marks the end of a tumultuous chapter for Santa Clara, Calif.-based RealSense. In 2021, Intel announced it was winding down the RealSense business, only to quickly reverse course. The mixed signals left many in the robotics community uncertain about the future of RealSense.
RealSense CEO Nadav Orbach said the new company has 130 employees. He said 115 of those came over from Intel, with 15 new hires from outside companies. Every employee who came over from Intel received stock options in the new company. RealSense said this not only rewards the founding team but also strengthens its ability to attract top talent.
Uber partners with Baidu, Lucid, and Nuro on robotaxis
It was a busy week for autonomous vehicles (AVs) and robotaxis. Baidu and Uber partnered to deploy thousands of Apollo Go AVs on the Uber ridesharing platform in markets besides the U.S. and mainland China.
Uber previously pursued its own robotaxi program but sold it off in 2020 and has partnered with self-driving technology developers since then. Similarly, Baidu has partnered with AV developers including Pony.ai.
In addition, Uber has partnered with electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Lucid Group Inc. and AV developer Nuro. They will equip the Lucid Gravity SUV with Nuro’s Driver SAE Level 4 autonomous software, which will operate on Uber’s platform and fleet management systems.
Uber aims to deploy at least 20,000 Lucid EVs with the Nuro Driver over the next six years. As part of this agreement, Uber stated that it will invest $300 million in Lucid and a comparable multi-hundred-million dollar amount in Nuro. It recently invested $100 million into WeRide.
On a related note, RBR50 Robot of the Year winner Waymo significantly expanded its Austin service area to 90 sq. mi. (233 sq. km), a move that followed Tesla‘s recent increase of its own service area to 42.07 sq. mi. (109 sq. km).
Global industrial robot market contracted 5.8% last year, reports Interact Analysis
The 2023 slump in the global industrial robot industry continued through 2024, with sales revenue declining 5.8% year over year, according to Interact Analysis. The market research firm attributed this decline to slow demand caused by a dip in manufacturing activity over the year, coupled with a decrease in average prices.
The global shipment volume of industrial robots in 2024 totaled just over 505,000 units, reflecting a 2.4% decrease compared with 2023. This reduction in shipments was coupled with a decrease in average prices, she said.
The manufacturing industry faced a challenging year in 2024, as high interest rates in Western markets and subdued demand in Asia slowed investment in production across all major regions, noted Interact Analysis. In addition, competition within the industrial robot market squeezed margins for robot manufacturers, and many emerging brands sacrificed profitability for market share, it said.
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