In this episode of Deep, Ben Kaplan sits down with Vijay Kumar, Dean of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and a global leader in robotics, to uncover the real-world barriers holding back industrial robots and AI systems.
They discuss why your toddler might be more dexterous than a factory arm, how aerial robotics drain energy but remain essential in high-risk environments like mines, and why true collaboration between robots is far more complex than it seems.
Kumar offers a grounded take on the gap between promise and reality — from autonomous vehicles to AI hype — and dives into how science fiction, military innovation, and academic research all collide in the robotics space.
If you want to understand the current state (and future) of robotics — without the hype — this episode is for you.
About Vijay Kumar
Vijay Kumar is a roboticist. He is a UPS Foundation professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. He was appointed Dean of Penn Engineering on 1 July 2015. Kumar was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.
