Rodney Brooks on Building a Robot Business Customers Pay For

A useful robot has to earn its place in someone’s workflow.

For Rodney Brooks, that means safe interactions, measurable results, and customers who want more.

Recorded in front of a live audience at Circuit Launch in Mountain View with Silicon Valley Robotics, this episode of Automated brings Brian Heater back together with the show’s first returning guest. Rodney, co-founder and CTO of Robust.AI and co-founder of iRobot, draws on decades of building robots to explain what it takes to turn technical progress into a working business.

Rodney discusses scaling beyond 100 deployed robots, handling unreliable warehouse Wi-Fi, and designing machines that people can take control of. He shares what his team learned when workers used emergency stops to reserve their robots, along with safety lessons from Roomba, Baxter, and Sawyer.

The conversation also explores physical AI and the limits Rodney sees in learning manipulation from video. He explains why forces and touch matter, how robot eyes can communicate intent, and where specialized machines could help an aging population.

Brian and Rodney examine the difference between a pilot and a deployment, the human work surrounding autonomous vehicles, and privacy concerns around teleoperated home robots. Rodney’s test for a robotics business includes a customer-support team that can respond at 3 a.m., measurable ROI that leads to repeat orders, and sustainable economics for each robot shipped.

KEY MOMENTS
00:00 Dexterity, robot data, and the future of automation
01:40 Rodney Brooks returns for a live episode in Mountain View
03:03 Introducing A3’s Automation News Center
03:53 Bringing a counterpoint to the humanoid conversation
04:39 Building humanoids at MIT beginning in 1992
05:30 The forces missing from robot training data
07:35 Warehouse navigation, visual SLAM, and working near people
09:01 Where focused AI models help robots today
10:15 Scaling beyond 100 deployed robots
12:51 Service partners and warehouse Wi-Fi problems
15:15 Human control and unexpected worker behavior
17:38 Emergency stops, wheels, and robot stability
18:44 Safety lessons from Roomba, Baxter, and Sawyer
20:40 What end-to-end robot learning still needs to prove
24:51 Egocentric video and object-centered coordinates
26:23 Choosing useful robot forms for different tasks
27:57 Aging populations and the need for physical support
29:26 Designing robots people can safely interact with
31:55 The human tasks surrounding a Waymo ride
33:14 Corporate leaders, facility managers, and workers as customers
34:46 How robot eyes communicate the next move
36:41 Humanoid theater, pilots, and deployment claims
38:09 Three tests for a real robot deployment
40:26 What 100 paying robots means
41:06 Teleoperation and privacy in the home
43:03 Dexterous manipulation and adapting the environment
44:15 Warehouse data, productivity, and agreed ROI
46:04 Why Rodney calls this a golden age for robots

Learn more about Rodney Brooks and read his writing:
https://rodneybrooks.com/blog/

Learn more about Robust.AI:
https://www.robust.ai/

Learn more about Silicon Valley Robotics:
https://www.svrobo.org/ svrobo.org

Learn more and register for IEEE Humanoids 2026, December 6–9 in Santa Clara:
https://2026.ieee-humanoids.org/

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