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Tertill CEO Helen Greiner; Can Aurora catch Waymo?

By Steve Crowe | February 12, 2021

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.

You can subscribe to The Robot Report Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify and more. Please subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review!

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

Show notes

  • Aurora partners with Denso, Toyota on robotaxi development
  • Cruise, Waymo lead way in Calif. autonomous vehicle testing
  • Dean Kamen: Engineering Robots for the Future
  • FLIR acquires Aria Insights’ tethered drone assets
  • PickNik developing ROS 2 driver for UR cobots

Tertill weeding robot. | Credit: Tertill

About The Author

Steve Crowe

Steve Crowe is Editorial Director, Robotics, WTWH Media, and co-chair of the Robotics Summit & Expo. He joined WTWH Media in January 2018 after spending four-plus years as Managing Editor of Robotics Trends Media. He can be reached at [email protected]

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  • Home
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    • Batteries / Power Supplies
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    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
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    • Software / Simulation
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    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
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