The Robot Report Podcast

Farmhand Ventures founding general partner Connie Bowen explains why agricultural automation must address farm workers’ needs, farm economics, and the realities of field operations.
The conversation draws on Bowen’s experience in venture capital and farm management to explore where robotics can help - and what it takes to earn growers’ trust.
Bowen’s time managing blueberry, hazelnut, and hemp properties showed her how labor is both a major farm expense and a central challenge in adopting new technology.
Farm work is skilled, yet farm workers are often excluded from technology design. Bowen argues that ignoring their experience can lead to products that don’t fit the work.
Farmhand Ventures invests in solutions that improve agricultural work, using both venture capital and redeemable equity to fit the realities of the market.
Bowen looks for founders who understand growers’ needs, involve customers early, and listen to farm workers. If technology disrupts workers’ jobs without considering their perspective, adoption can fail.
Harvest robots may only be used for a few weeks each year. Bowen sees potential in lower-cost systems and in addressing earlier tasks, such as thinning, that can support better harvest automation and field data collection.
Learn more: https://www.farmhandventures.com/

###

Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot.

WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems.

This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet.

AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable.

Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

Join the editorial team from The Robot Report as they recap the 2026 RoboBusiness event which took place last week in Santa Clara CA.

Steve Crowe, Gene Demaitre, Mike Oitzman, and Brianna Wessling share their favorite memories from the event.

Learn more about Open RobOps project: https://openrobops.org/

###

Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot.

WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems.

This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet.

AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable.

Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

Ben Waters, CEO of Wibotic, joins Mike Oitzman and Gene Demaitre to discuss how wireless charging is evolving for larger, more autonomous robotics fleets.

The conversation explores why opportunity charging—charging robots during natural idle moments—is becoming essential for maintaining uptime at scale.

Ben explains the trade-offs between charging speed, battery size, infrastructure costs, safety, and maintenance.

They also discuss Wibotic’s expansion into outdoor robotics, medical carts, drones, humanoids, defense, and other markets; the company’s IP65-rated 1-kilowatt charger; development toward 3-kilowatt systems; and software that helps customers model ROI and predict battery degradation.

The episode offers a practical look at why charging infrastructure, battery strategy, certification, and fleet data will shape the next generation of robotics.

###

Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot.

WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems.

This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet.

AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable.

Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

Janine Sinanan-Singh, Director of Gen AI Research at Appen, joins Mike Oitzman and Gene Demaitre to discuss the data, evaluation, and human oversight needed to advance robotics and agentic AI.
They explore how video and egocentric data can support robot training, why latency and generalization remain difficult, and where human judgment still matters.
Janine describes Appen’s evolution from speech and linguistics into supporting generative AI, multimodal systems, agents, and robotics with expert data.
The conversation examines what humanoid robot demos do—and don’t—show, how synthetic data can help teams scale, and what it takes to evaluate systems beyond the lab.

###

Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot.

WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems.

This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet.

AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable.

Learn more at http://www.wibotic.com/robotreport

The interview this week explores the European robotics market with OMRON’s Miguel Garces Moreno, covering growth in collaborative robots and AMRs, shifting demand toward sectors such as pharma, and the impact of labor shortages and supply-chain pressures.

Miguel discusses how OMRON aims to stand out through software, navigation, safety, and fleet management—not hardware alone. He previews the LD150 and LD300 mobile robots, including faster wireless charging, expanded safety features, and improved serviceability. The conversation also looks at AI’s potential in path planning and predictive maintenance, mobile manipulators and their applications, and why system integrators remain essential to OMRON’s strategy.

The interview closes with OMRON’s product roadmap and the growing importance of interoperability across multi-brand fleets.

###

Closing the loop of autonomy takes more than a great robot.

WiBotic provides reliable wireless charging and fleet energy management for autonomous robots and other battery-powered systems.

This patented technology gives robots more freedom to charge throughout their normal workflow, helping increase the uptime, ROI, and safety of your fleet.

AMRs, drones, floor scrubbers, humanoids, and everything in-between, WiBotic makes charging simple, seamless, and scalable.

Learn more at WiBotic.com/robotreport