Solar Powered Robotic Weeding

Sense Think Act Podcast

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Helen Greiner, who is the CEO at Tertill; Tertill makes a small solar powered weeding robot for vegetable gardens. The conversation begins with an overview of Helen’s previous robotics experience, including at as a student at MIT, co–founder at iRobot, founder and CEO at CyPhyWorks, and in advising government research in robotics, AI, and machine learning. From there, Helen explains the design of the Tertill robot, how it works, and her high hopes for this simple robot: to help reduce the environmental impact of the agriculture industry by helping people to grow their own food. In the last part of the conversation, Helen speaks broadly about her experience in robotics startups, the robotics industry, and the future of robotics.
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EPISODE LINKS:
– Tertill’s Website: https://tertill.com/}
– Helen’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen–greiner–382295/}
– Tertill’s on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/franklin–robotics/}
PODCAST INFO:
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– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
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– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:41) Introducing Helen
– (0:06:09) Roomba’s backstory
– (0:12:13) CyPhyWorks
– (0:17:29) Helping special forces with your robots
– (0:20:13) Advising robotics and AI research investments
– (0:24:24) Introducing Tertill
– (0:35:39) Lessons learned from the Roomba
– (0:42:42) Challenges in making Tertill
– (0:48:34) Why make a weeding robot?
– (0:54:07) On gardening
– (1:00:22) Helen’s path
– (1:02:24) Matching the market and technology
– (1:09:21) Where and how to get information on opportunities
– (1:11:26) Advice for starting a robotics company
– (1:21:00) Different types of investment
– (1:23:09) B–to–B or B–to–C (Business to business or business to consumer) markets
– (1:24:51) Robotics consumer space
– (1:25:52) Future of robotics
– (1:28:38) Importance of robotics in the big picture
SOCIAL:
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