Welcome to episode 4 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us every Wednesday for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community.

Listeners can subscribe to The Robot Report Podcast on Apple Podcasts,  SoundCloud, Spotify, Google Play and YouTube.

Eugene and I this week talk with 6 River Systems and Gatik, two companies that were recently named RBR50 Innovation Award winners by sister publication Robotics Business Review.

This is the second straight year on the RBR50 list for 6 River Systems, which last year was acquired by e-commerce giant Shopify for nearly $500 million. Chris Cacioppo, Co-founder & CTO, joined the podcast to talk about the acquisition and how integration has gone. Chris also discusses how to build robots people are comfortable working around, creating a culture of innovation, mobile robot trends to watch, and the impact of COVID-19.

Gautam Narang, Co-founder and CEO of Gatik, also joined the podcast to discuss autonomous vehicles. Gatik is solving middle-mile logistics using Level 4 autonomous vehicles. Gautam discusses how Gatik landed a partnership with Walmart while in stealth mode, its hybrid approach to Level 4 autonomy, restricting its vehicles to the right-most lane and more. We also discussed the changing investment landscape around autonomous vehicles and why level 5 autonomy is at least 10-15 years away, if it can even be solved.

If you would like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of The Robot Report Podcast, or if you have recommendations for future guests, contact Steve or Eugene. For sponsorship opportunities of The Robot Report Podcast, contact Jami Brownlee.

Podcast Timestamps
0-1:32: Podcast Introduction
1:32-23:10: Conversation with Chris Cacioppo, Co-founder & CTO of 6 River Systems
24:00-55:09: Conversation with Gautam Narang, Co-founder & CEO of Gatik

Podcast Links
RBR50 Award Winners
The Robot Report Podcast on Apple Podcasts |  SoundCloud | Spotify | Google Play
The Robot Report YouTube Channel
Shopify acquires 6 River Systems for $450M
Gatik turns right on middle-mile approach to autonomy
Coverage of 6 River Systems
Coverage of Gatik