How Democratizing Access to Robotics will Benefit All: Intrinsic’s Brian Gerkey on Open-Source Software

Brian Gerkey believes deeply in the importance of open-sourcing robotics technology. His career, with time spent at Willow Garage, Open Robotics, and now as CTO at Intrinsic, has been guided by this philosophy.

In this episode of Automated, Gerkey explains why “simple” tasks like picking and placing remain some of the toughest problems to solve, especially in high-variability environments. We explore Intrinsic’s software-first approach to making automation economically viable, the idea of artificial functional intelligence (AFI), and how technology only succeeds when workers trust and understand how to use it. Bryan reflects on the tight-knit spirit of the industry, and why community, relationships, and impact, not just perfect tech, drive it forward and keep him dedicated to robotics after all of these years.

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