Inspired with Alexa von Tobel
00:38:18 · Alexa von Tobel, Boris Sofman
[00:38:18] S1: Do you mean humanoids in warehouses or humanoids in homes or all humanoids? [00:38:25] S0: I say particularly in like homes and the idea of a 100% generalized solutions, I'm more optimistic of the idea of manipulation in fulfillment and a warehouse and assembly and manufacturing, where you customize it for the particular application you have, and you don't necessarily need to mimic the form factor of a human, you solve the problem with these technologies and eventually grow into something more generalizable. [00:38:47] S1: We share that opinion. Boris, last question before we move to the quick fire round where I just get some of your hot takes. What are you most excited about? One question, what are you most excited about?
00:38:47 · Alexa von Tobel, Boris Sofman
[00:38:47] S1: We share that opinion. Boris, last question before we move to the quick fire round where I just get some of your hot takes. What are you most excited about? One question, what are you most excited about? [00:38:59] S0: I think the pace of technology progress is the fastest I've ever experienced in my lifetime. I can't wait for it to start to have an impact on some of these spaces where it takes a little longer to break through, but can completely transform our lives, particularly in medicine, genetics, personalized treatment, where so much of it has been this painful progression of almost like iterative testing that can the way we've seen this transform a lot of these like digital and, you know, kind of structured physical AI problems. I think that's going to become much more prevalent in the next ten years. I can't wait for that to happen. And that may be the most transformative impact of AI, which I think that's sort of, that's actually kind of almost necessary, because there's this unfortunate negative opinion that's forming on AI, because it feels like society isn't universally being able to benefit from it. I hope that in places like education and healthcare, that's the most transformative and universal applications of these technologies to become possible. [00:39:59] S1: I agree with you on that. Okay, quick fire round before we let you go. What's a book that you recommend everybody read? What's a book that's had an outsized impact on your life? It can be any book. It does not have to be a business book.
00:39:59 · Alexa von Tobel, Boris Sofman
[00:39:59] S1: I agree with you on that. Okay, quick fire round before we let you go. What's a book that you recommend everybody read? What's a book that's had an outsized impact on your life? It can be any book. It does not have to be a business book. [00:40:11] S0: I loved Creativity Inc. This was actually Ed Catmull's biography in the history of Pixar, And it was just a fascinating story, but it was almost like this memoir on how do you create reproducible creativity that doesn't stifle the ability for individuals to like push their visions, but maintains the level of quality bar that you need as you scale a company. Was actually quite amazing, and I think applies to a lot of industries far beyond entertainment. [00:40:39] S1: That's awesome. What's a mantra that you have that kind of helps fuel your work? And it can be anything, a belief, but like sort of something that runs in the back of your head. [00:40:48] S0: I think the most incredible applications and solutions are at the overlap of industries that don't typically have commonality. And so, and we've seen this over and over again in, these types of companies where you bring backgrounds from completely different places, and the sum is far bigger than the parts.
00:40:48 · Boris Sofman, Alexa von Tobel
[00:40:48] S0: I think the most incredible applications and solutions are at the overlap of industries that don't typically have commonality. And so, and we've seen this over and over again in, these types of companies where you bring backgrounds from completely different places, and the sum is far bigger than the parts. [00:41:06] S1: I totally agree with you. I think it is the the the Venn diagram between truly divergent categories where you find wild unlocked for society. So I I deeply agree with that. If you had to talk about another category that you're just fascinated to learn about right now that is not constructioned, what is it? What's just another place where the the world is catching your attention?
00:41:06 · Alexa von Tobel, Boris Sofman
[00:41:06] S1: I totally agree with you. I think it is the the the Venn diagram between truly divergent categories where you find wild unlocked for society. So I I deeply agree with that. If you had to talk about another category that you're just fascinated to learn about right now that is not constructioned, what is it? What's just another place where the the world is catching your attention? [00:41:33] S0: Oh my gosh. Well, I got two answers for this. Like, practically the other area I was really excited about and was started to really explore was manufacturing, where I do think that there's going to be a world not too far in the future, where you start to create an increasing library of types of tasks that can be automated. They're increasingly sophisticated. And the combination of those can transform the way we think about manufacturing and assembly. Maybe less practically for me personally, but one that if I were to like transform and shift decades of experience into another area, it's genetics. I'm so fascinated by how something that was, it's effectively the software of the human body. And with that lens, can take all of the same types of approaches and mindsets that we have in AI today to a space that is, we talked about, the most transformative of our generation. [00:42:25] S1: I'm only smiling because that is precisely what I would have said too, and I deeply agree. [00:42:29] S0: I love it.
00:42:29 · Boris Sofman, Alexa von Tobel
[00:42:29] S0: I love it. [00:42:30] S1: Boris, last question. To date, what's been the biggest pinch me moment of your career? What's like the moment that when you tell your kids you're proud of, what is it? We'll end there. [00:42:41] S0: You know what? I I hope to have like many of these at Bedrock. At Waymo, it was being able to really see the first driverless car milestones, like the very first time in San Francisco commercial rides, then the very, very first freeway driverless that we like very, very directly kind of pushed and worked on. The reason being is that autonomous driving was the thing that got me into robotics. It was like this holy grail that was so exciting. And it was like this catalyst for so many people in the industry that pulled us into this like physical autonomy space. And it was this search of R and D for decades, and then finally hit this inflection point where it started to become real, and it was an incredible feeling for the first time. [00:43:26] S1: That's amazing. Boris, thank you so much for joining us today. Everybody out there, if you wanna check out Bedrock Robotics, please do. The website is incredible. Boris, we are rooting for you. Thank you for unlocking the future of everything, construction, humanity, saving lives, and for all your work at Waymo. I'm deeply personally grateful. Thank you. Thank you, Alexa. You're It's a the best Thank of [00:43:49] S0: you. Love the conversation and excited to talk again soon.