#97 – Sertac Karaman: Robots That Fly and Robots That Drive

About this episode

<p>Sertac Karaman is a professor at MIT, co-founder of the autonomous vehicle company Optimus Ride, and is one of top roboticists in the world, including robots that drive and robots that fly.</p> <p>Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors:<br /> – Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download:<br /> – Cash App (App Store):&#160;<a href="https://apple.co/2sPrUHe">https://apple.co/2sPrUHe</a><br /> – Cash App (Google Play):&#160;<a href="https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w">https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w</a></p> <p>EPISODE LINKS:<br /> Sertac&#8217;s Website: <a href="http://sertac.scripts.mit.edu/web/">http://sertac.scripts.mit.edu/web/</a><br /> Sertac&#8217;s Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/sertackaraman">https://twitter.com/sertackaraman</a><br /> Optimus Ride: <a href="https://www.optimusride.com/">https://www.optimusride.com/</a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.</span>&#160;If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ai">https://lexfridman.com/ai</a> or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p> <p>Here&#8217;s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p> <p>OUTLINE:<br /> 00:00 &#8211; Introduction<br /> 01:44 &#8211; Autonomous flying vs autonomous driving<br /> 06:37 &#8211; Flying cars<br /> 10:27 &#8211; Role of simulation in robotics<br /> 17:35 &#8211; Game theory and robotics<br /> 24:30 &#8211; Autonomous vehicle company strategies<br /> 29:46 &#8211; Optimus Ride<br /> 47:08 &#8211; Waymo, Tesla, Optimus Ride timelines<br /> 53:22 &#8211; Achieving the impossible<br /> 53:50 &#8211; Iterative learning<br /> 58:39 &#8211; Is Lidar is a crutch?<br /> 1:03:21 &#8211; Fast autonomous flight<br /> 1:18:06 &#8211; Most beautiful idea in robotics</p>