The new frontiers of AI and robotics, with CMU computer science dean Martial Hebert

04/16/22 • 23 min

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we explore the state of the art in robotics and artificial intelligence with Martial Hebert, dean of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science in Pittsburgh.

A veteran computer scientist in the field of computer vision, Hebert is the former director of CMU's prestigious Robotics Institute. A native of France, he also had the distinguished honor of being our first in-person podcast guest in two years, visiting the GeekWire offices during his recent trip to the Seattle area.

As you'll hear, our discussion doubled as a preview of a trip that GeekWire's news team will soon be making to Pittsburgh, revisiting the city that hosted our temporary GeekWire HQ2 in 2018, and reporting from Cascadia Connect Robotics, Automation & AI conference, with coverage supported by Cascadia Capital. More details soon.

Hosted by GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited and produced by Curt Milton, with music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosted by GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited and produced by Curt Milton, with music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

Words with AI: Language and the future of work, with Textio CEO Kieran Snyder

What's the impact of the words we use? Augmented writing platform Textio uses machine learning and natural language processing to take the guesswork out of business communication, offering predictive analytics designed to help companies recruit a diverse workforce and build an inclusive culture.

The 120-person Seattle-based tech company, led by CEO Kieran Snyder, has been going through a transformation of its own during the past two years, expanding its product lineup while taking its own workforce fully remote, and recruiting more people outside the Seattle area.

In the process, the company built its own in-house online tool for participatory time-boxed conversations, for team-building and collaboration among its employees. Dubbed "Umeo," it's not a product ... at least not yet.

Snyder, who was named the CEO of the Year in the 2021 GeekWire Awards, joins us on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast for a conversation about the importance of language, Textio's evolution, the future of workplace technology, regional differences in business language, and her formative experience as a "Scrabble hustler" in college in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square.

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Moscow-born Seattle tech CEO grapples with invasion of Ukraine, closes 800-person Russian operation

Sergei Dreizin is co-founder and CEO of software engineering company Akvelon, based in Bellevue, Wash. Born and raised in Moscow, he moved to the U.S. in 1992, after the Soviet Union's collapse, getting his computer science degree from the University of Minnesota before going to work for Microsoft in the Seattle area.

But he maintained personal connections to Russia, and Akvelon established a large engineering operation in the country — numbering about 800 people, or more than half the company's workforce. Akvelon also has 300 people in Ukraine, with a large office in Kharkiv, a city near the Russian border that has come under heavy attack.

On March 11, Akvelon shut down its operations in Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But that was just the beginning of the story, as Dreizin explains on this special episode of the GeekWire Podcast in conversation with GeekWire co-founder John Cook. See GeekWire.com for written excerpts.

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