#374 – Robert Playter: Boston Dynamics CEO on Humanoid and Legged Robotics

Robert Playter is CEO of Boston Dynamics, a legendary robotics
company that over 30 years has created some of the most elegant,
dextrous, and simply amazing robots ever built, including the
humanoid robot Atlas and the robot dog Spot. Please support this
podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Boston Dynamics YouTube:
https://youtube.com/@bostondynamics
Boston Dynamics Twitter: https://twitter.com/BostonDynamics
Boston Dynamics Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/bostondynamicsofficial
Boston Dynamics Website: https://bostondynamics.com


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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players
you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that
time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:18) – Early days of Boston Dynamics
(15:39) – Simplifying robots
(19:37) – Art and science of robotics
(24:20) – Atlas humanoid robot
(41:14) – DARPA Robotics Challenge
(55:34) – BigDog robot
(1:09:23) – Spot robot
(1:30:48) – Stretch robot
(1:33:36) – Handle robot
(1:39:10) – Robots in our homes
(1:47:57) – Tesla Optimus robot
(1:56:39) – ChatGPT
(1:59:43) – Boston Dynamics AI Institute
(2:01:14) – Fear of robots
(2:11:36) – Running a company
(2:17:13) – Consciousness
(2:24:46) – Advice for young people
(2:26:42) – Future of robots