Marc Raibert: Boston Dynamics and the Future of Robotics | Lex Fridman Podcast #412

Marc Raibert is founder and former long-time CEO of Boston Dynamics, and recently Executive Director of the newly-created Boston Dynamics AI Institute. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

TRANSCRIPT:

EPISODE LINKS:

PODCAST INFO:

OUTLINE:
0:00 - Introduction
1:43 - Early robots
6:47 - Legged robots
25:27 - Boston Dynamics
28:45 - BigDog
36:52 - Hydraulic actuation
38:44 - Natural movement
44:31 - Leg Lab
51:23 - AI Institute
54:41 - Athletic intelligence
1:02:35 - Building a team
1:05:37 - Videos
1:13:25 - Engineering
1:16:53 - Dancing robots
1:21:40 - Hiring
1:25:32 - Optimus robot
1:34:02 - Future of robotics
1:38:56 - Advice for young people

SOCIAL:

[endorphinder]

Marc Raibert, whom I can claim as an acquaintance, is the poster child for follow your interests (and not necessarily within immediate reason). A very inspirational interview. Thanks both.

[jrussino]

THIS is the kind of interview I subscribed for.

[KosturikPraca]

Fantastic podcast. I am a Robotics and cybernetics student and I am a huge fan of Boston Dynamics and MIT.

[ChristophyBrun]

Having this guy at the forefront of AI development and research would make me feel a lot more comfortable with where it might go rather than Sam Altman. No PR training, no corporate speak, wisdom gained from real life experience. Seems like a great guy who just wants to build robots.

[stefanovicigor]

Saw first video back in 2008 and I was amazed back then. This is scary next level.

[somedude-lcdy]

Marc: "pixel values aren't like words".
Sora: "Hold my beer"

[ianmcdonald]

25 years ago i was buying my first mp3 player, the biggest card i could get for it was 16 mb, it had 16 mb built in cost £250 and i loved it, 2005 im paying £400 for a 512mb sd card that jump in 6 years was crazy, 1998 if you had a 5gb hard drive it was over kill, the game half-life was 70mb in size and what a game it was, nowadays the top titles can be easily 100 gb in size. Can you imagine the jump in 25 years from now, hopefully at 75 i will be around and witness the crazy development tech goes in, to be around from almost the beginning when having a digital clock radio was high tech or having a solar power calculator in school that fitted into your ruler, to where we are now is mind blowing, its still disappointing cars cant fly but who knows.

[kylekohler]

Clear my schedule, new Lex just dropped.

[vitaminwaterdaisuki]

What's amazing about Marc is how crazy humble he is. Just an amazing human. One day before I die I hope I ever get to meet this man.

[TheRealStructurer]

Great discussion. Nice to see Lex going back to his roots. Wish this discussion was longer, so many more aspects to talk about. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼

[yoyo-jcqg]

I like how lex does his image and video clip overlays, they dont interrupt the flow of the podcast, so noice

[danschanone]

Thanks for another great instalment. Always looking forward to the next interview...🙏❤️🙏❤️

[NanoDex]

I like the idea of developing perfect fumbling

[rossci]

I love that Lex is a technical guy first and foremost. Interviews like this are a rare thing that we are fortunate to have access to. Marc is such a humble and inspiring character. For all the tech talking heads who love to drone about how they're revolutionizing things, it's so refreshing to see this man who will surely go down in engineering history just eagerly talk about his work and ideas from a place of genuine curiosity and enthusiasm. Thanks Lex and Marc!

[gordonicus]

The movement of Boston Dynamics robots is just amazing. I've not seen any others that compare...

[ilovemyhondaex]

awesome. always love hearing from Marc.

[dynodyno]

Lex is my favorite podcaster and most importantly interviewer. I would put your ability to interview up against any other human on this earth. I also admire how humble you are, maybe one day you could do a solo podcast and talk about your though process on things, and how you manage to stay humble. I understand who you are on the podcast may not be the way you are 100% of the time off the podcast, but I want to be more like you. From your accomplishments, work ethic, humbleness, and ability to have empathy for people from all point of views. Would really appreciate that lex

[AH-wrir]

Great questions Lex! What a fascinating conversation.

[samuk]

Key observation: 1:29:10 ”we got good at getting DARPA funding”. I’ve seen that problem with many teams/companies; they get good at getting grants or subsidies and optimize their organization to that end, rather than optimizing products for customers.

[mwiethoff]

Long live LEX - the charmer with razor sharp comments/questions. 
Much love and respect from Singapore.
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