Tertill CEO Helen Greiner; Can Aurora catch Waymo?

Welcome to Episode 34 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community.

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This week I chat with Helen Greiner, the CEO of Tertill, a Boston-based robot gardening startup. The company was formerly known as Franklin Robotics. Of course, Helen is also co-founder of iRobot and commercial drone company CyPhy Works. Tertill, which was started on Kickstarter back in 2015 by Rory MacKean, John Chase, and Roomba inventor Joe Jones, first showcased its robot at our RoboBusiness 2016 startup competition and again at our 2017 CES Robotics Conference.

Tertill CEO Helen Greiner.

I talk to Helen about the state of the company, how she will help it scale, and the overall challenges of developing an outdoor consumer robot. We also discuss why she left CyPhy Works in 2017 and what went wrong with the company. CyPhy Works rebranded to Aria Insights before shutting down in March 2019. Its assets were later acquired by FLIR Systems. We also discuss new drone regulations, the future of drone delivery, and much more.

I also comment on the week’s top robotics stories, including Aurora forming a partnership with Toyota to develop robotaxis. Does this partnership make Aurora a legitimate competitor to Cruise, Waymo and other leading autonomous vehicle developers?

If you would like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the podcast, or if you have recommendations for future guests or segment ideas, contact me. For sponsorship opportunities of The Robot Report Podcast, contact Courtney Nagle for more information.

Podcast timestamps

0-1:51 Show Intro
1:52-39:36: Conversation with Helen Greiner, CEO, Tertill
39:37-48:07: News Commentary – Aurora partners with Toyota; ROS 2 driver for UR cobots
47:08-49: Show Outro