Iván Hernández Dalas: Spencer Krause: Why Hardware is the New Engineering Frontier

In Episode 227 of The Robot Report Podcast, hosts Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman recap the major robotics news of the week.

Our guest on the show this week is Spencer Krause, CEO and co-founder of SKA Robotics. A longtime friend of the show, Krause shares insights into the development process for new robotics solutions, and a deep dive into ruggedized field robotics. From automating giant mining trucks to launching “software-defined” actuators, Spencer discusses the “mercenary” engineering mindset, including “war stories” from the field, and why hardware is the next frontier in the Post-AI era.

headshot of spencer krause.

Spencer Krause, CEO and co-founder of SKA robotics.

Spencer Krause has been engineering and building robots for over 23 years. He is the President and CEO of SKA Robotics, which has served multiple Fortune 100 companies developing advanced field robotic systems. He recently cofounded Tension Dynamics because he recognized an opportunity to revolutionize the market for linear actuators and motion platforms.

In his spare time, Spencer hosts the podcast “Collaborative With Spencer Krause” where he has informal and raw conversations with people doing interesting things in technology, research and entrepreneurship.

Krause recently co-founded Tension Dynamics, a new linear actuator company.

Show timeline

  • 9:12 – News of the week
  • 26:47 – Spencer Krause, co-founder and CEO and co-founder of SKA Robotics

News of the week

Skild AI raises $1.4B to build ‘omni-bodied’ robot brain

Skild AI, a robotics company founded in 2023, reached a $14 billion valuation after a $1.4 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group, with participation from NVIDIA, Jeff Bezos, and strategic partners such as Samsung and LG. The company is developing the Skild Brain, a foundation model for robotics designed for multiple body types. Unlike AI systems requiring programming for specific hardware, this model controls robot morphologies—including humanoids, quadrupeds, and mechanical arms—without prior knowledge of the machine’s form. To develop this system, Skild AI trains its model using human action videos and physics simulations.

The technology uses in-context learning to allow robots to adapt to physical changes. In tests, robots using the Skild Brain demonstrated the ability to recover from mechanical issues, such as jammed wheels or the loss of a limb, by adjusting their movements. While the company intends to deploy these systems in homes for tasks like cooking and cleaning, the current focus is on enterprise applications. After reaching $30 million in revenue in 2025, Skild AI is deploying its technology in security, manufacturing, warehouse logistics, and construction.

Expanded robotaxi services

  • London is set to become one of the first major cities where the world’s leading autonomous vehicle companies — especially from the US and China — directly compete by launching robotaxi services as early as 2026.
  • Waymo has begun testing its self-driving vehicles in London and plans a commercial launch there. Baidu’s Apollo Go — a Chinese autonomous ride-hail operator, already operating at scale in Asia — is preparing to bring its robotaxis to London through partnerships with companies like Uber and Lyft.
SITE AD for the 2026 Robotics Summit save the date.

The post Spencer Krause: Why Hardware is the New Engineering Frontier appeared first on The Robot Report.



View Source

Popular posts from this blog

Iván Hernández Dalas: 4 Show Floor Takeaways from CES 2019: Robots and Drones, Oh My!

Image
We’ve had some time to recuperate from the madness of CES, in which more than 150,000 attendees and thousands of exhibitors displayed their latest gadgets, gizmos and yes, even robots, on the CES show floor. Last week’s reporter’s notebook focused on the collection of startups around the Eureka Park area of CES, but several of the same trends were evident on the main South Hall 2 area of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where drones, robotics, AR/VR, and gaming took center stage. While most of our time was spent at CES hosting the Service Robots Arrive in Daily Life event, we did have some time during the week to visit the show floor and record observations. Here’s what we saw on the show floor, as well as some of our own individual meetings: 1. Underwater drones make a big splash On the main floor, there was no busier aerial drone booth than the DJI booth, but that is expected given the company’s dominance in the space. But once you got past that, you noticed a lot more drone co...
Read more

Iván Hernández Dalas: How automation and farm robots are transforming agriculture

Image
Source: EOS Data Analytics Agriculture is becoming the most high-tech industry today. All the top-notch technologies are finding a place in the way we produce, harvest, and distribute our crops. And in all cases, farm automation and robots are not an affordable luxury, but a necessary minimum due to tackling the rising global food demand. Agricultural robots can mitigate labor shortages by automating tasks like planting, harvesting, and weeding, while also supporting sustainable practices. Combined with satellite imagery tools for data-driven farming, these innovations can make precision agriculture more efficient, resilient, and environmentally responsible. According to the United Nations report , by 2050, the world will need 70% more food to feed nearly 9.7 billion people. Considering this demand, farm robots and remote sensing are the cornerstone of the proper work of the supply chain. Smart machines arise for the farm Farm robots are no longer experimental concepts — they ...
Read more

Iván Hernández Dalas: Tacta Systems raises $75M to give robots a ‘smart nervous system’

Image
Tacta Systems said its technology enables robots to perform delicate, variable, human-like tasks with flexibility, efficiency, and autonomy. | Source: Adobe Stock Tacta Systems Inc., which is developing dexterous intelligence to give robots tactile skills and spatial awareness, last week raised $75 million. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup said it will use the funding to accelerate the development of systems capable of performing complex, human-like tasks. “Enabling machines to solve complex, physical world problems is the next frontier in robotics technology,” stated Andreas Bibl, co-founder and CEO of Tacta Systems. “AI models have become incredibly sophisticated in working with text and video, but much of the physical world remains incomprehensible to them,” he said. “We’re incredibly excited about the disruptive technology that we’re developing, which will ultimately help humanity automate much of the drudgery of factory work and grueling physical labor.” Tacta said its br...
Read more