Iván Hernández Dalas: The future of RealSense 3D vision with Chris Matthieu

Episode 238 of The Robot Report Podcast features Chris Matthieu, VP of Developer Ecosystem for RealSense.

headshot of Chris Mattieu.

Chris Matthieu, VP of Developer Ecosystem for RealSense. Credit: RealSense

Chris Matthieu is a serial entrepreneur and active developer who has built and sold five emerging tech companies in the areas of communications, IoT, and decentralized supercomputing.

He currently serves as the VP, Developer Ecosystem for RealSense, where he focuses on AI, robotics, and stereo depth technologies.

Chris is a frequent speaker at robotics and emerging technology conferences and is speaking at the 2026 Robotics Summit and Expo.

Show timeline

  • 8:08 – News of the week
  • 23:25 – Chris Matthieu, VP of Developer Ecosystem for RealSense

News of the week

AGIBOT rolls out 10,000th humanoid robot

AGIBOT has officially hit a major industry milestone, celebrating the shipment of its 10,000th humanoid robot just three months after crossing the 5,000-unit threshold. This rapid acceleration—underscored by a diverse portfolio of seven different legged and wheeled models—cements the startup’s position as a global leader in humanoid production, following a year of record-breaking growth across manufacturing, research, and commercial sectors.

PhAIL ranks top robotics foundation models on real hardware

phail leaderboard screengrab.

Positronic Robotics evaluated four vision-language-action (VLA) models on bin-to-bin order picking. | Credit: Positronic Robotics

Positronic Robotics has launched the Physical AI Leaderboard (PhAIL), a first-of-its-kind open-source benchmark designed to bridge the gap between abstract AI research and the harsh realities of the factory floor. By evaluating vision-language-action (VLA) models on standardized hardware—starting with the Franka FR3—the Springfield-based startup aims to provide a much-needed objective metric for commercial readiness, addressing the “broken feedback loop” that has long hindered the deployment of reliable AI in real-world robotics.

Learn more at https://phail.ai/

Passengers stranded in moving traffic after robotaxi outage in China’s Wuhan

A massive system failure in Wuhan, China, has left over 100 Baidu Apollo Go robotaxis stranded in active lanes of high-speed urban expressways, marking the country’s first reported mass shutdown of autonomous vehicles. The incident, which began Wednesday night, trapped passengers in the middle of fast-moving traffic and triggered widespread safety concerns after in-vehicle systems failed to provide the promised rapid assistance, forcing many to rely on emergency SOS protocols.

Incident Overview

  • Scale: Over 100 robotaxis, operated by Baidu’s Apollo Go, came to a sudden halt.
  • Cause: A preliminary police investigation cited a “system malfunction,” though specific details were not provided.
  • Timing: Reports of the stalled vehicles began surfacing around 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday (April 1).

Passenger Experience

  • Stranded in Traffic: Vehicles stopped in active lanes, including the middle lanes of ring roads (elevated, high-speed urban expressways).
  • Safety Concerns: While some passengers exited the vehicles independently, others remained inside, fearing the fast-moving traffic passing on both sides.
  • Response Delays: In-car displays instructed passengers that staff would arrive within five minutes; however, some passengers reported that help did not arrive in that timeframe, prompting them to use SOS buttons.

Context and Background

  • Operator Info: Baidu is a leading Chinese AI firm currently expanding its Apollo Go service to international markets, including the Middle East and Europe.
  • Regional Fleet: Baidu operates a fleet of over 1,000 robotaxis globally, with hundreds stationed in Wuhan, one of its primary pilot cities.

Precedent: A similar incident occurred in San Francisco in December 2023, when a power outage caused multiple Waymo self-driving cars to stop simultaneously.

About the Robotics Summit

Registration is now open for the Robotics Summit & Expo, the world’s leading technical event for commercial robotics developers. The event is produced by The Robot Report and WTWH Media.

>> LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE FOR A DISCOUNT CODE TO REGISTER! <<

The show will have more than 50 sessions in tracks on artificial intelligence, design and development, enabling technologies, healthcare, and logistics. The Engineering Theater on the show floor will also feature presentations by industry experts.

More than 70 speakers are confirmed from companies such as AWS, Brain Corp, Fictiv, Harmonic Drive, maxon, PickNik Robotics, RealSense, the Robotics and AI Institute, Robust AI, Tesla, Toyota Research Institute, and more.

The Robotics Summit will also feature a number of networking opportunities. They include a Mix & Mingle Networking Reception after the first day of the show and the ticketed RBR50 Awards Dinner.

The Robotics Summit & Expo is co-located with DeviceTalks Boston, which focuses on medical devices.

SITE AD for the 2026 Robotics Summit save the date.

The post The future of RealSense 3D vision with Chris Matthieu appeared first on The Robot Report.



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