Welcome to the Innovator Coffee, a podcast that bridges the gap between people and the world of AI and innovation. This is Wickey. Follow us to explore the top AI products, ecosystem insights, and the emerging trends.

Guest Bio

Joe Dong is the Founder and CTO of Chestnut Robotics, a startup building dexterous manipulation platforms designed to address labor shortages in advanced manufacturing. Prior to founding Chestnut Robotics, Joe led end-to-end AI initiatives at XPeng and was an early member of the Foundation Model team at Waymo.

Summary

In this episode, Joe shares insights on dexterous manipulation, robotics data bottlenecks, foundation models for robots, startup building, and the future of physical intelligence.

Joe also reflects on the transition from AI engineer to startup founder, the challenges of building a company from scratch, and why founders must become generalists capable of solving whatever problem is broken that day.

Innovator Coffee bridges the gap between people and the world of AI and innovation. We interview founders, investors, researchers, and operators shaping the future of technology.

Follow us for conversations on AI, robotics, cybersecurity, venture capital, and emerging technologies.

Episode Summary Timeline

00:00 – 07:15 What Is Dexterous Manipulation?

07:15 – 11:55 Building Hardware and Software Together

11:56 – 16:15 Waymo vs. Tesla: Two Innovation Cultures

16:16 – 22:05 From Startup to Product in Nine Months

22:06 – 27:00 Open Source, Data, and the Business Model

27:01 – 32:00 Solving the Robotics Data Problem

32:01 – 40:20 The Road to Commercial Humanoid Robots

40:21 – 44:50 From Technologist to Founder

44:51 – 46:30 The Future of RoboticsKey QuoteAbout Innovator Coffee

Special thanks to Hannah Wang who did the wonderful job to assist to complete this podcast. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-wang-9302421b3/

Host：Wickey Wang

*IT Security Compliance Leader & University Faculty

*Growth fund VC advisor, VC fellow and Angel Investor with cybersecurity and AI focus

*GAI Security book co-author & SafenAI co-founder

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The post Innovator Coffee EP-36 Beyond the model – The real challenge of robotics appeared first on Chasing Polaris – Wickey's blog.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Chasing Polaris - Wickey's blog authored by Wickey Wang. Read the original post at: https://wickey.substack.com/p/innovator-coffee-ep-36-beyond-the