From disaster response inspiration to reimagining the backbone of global manufacturing, GrayMatter Robotics is tackling one of the largest untapped opportunities in automation: bringing true autonomy to the 90% of factory work still done by hand.

Ariyan Kabir, co-founder and CEO of GrayMatter Robotics, joins Greg to share how a firsthand experience with an earthquake in Bangladesh sparked his mission to build intelligent machines that can take on dangerous, tedious work. What started as a question about why robots were not helping in high-risk environments has evolved into a company building “factory superintelligence,” a full stack physical AI platform designed to transform how goods are made.

In this conversation, Ariyan breaks down why traditional robotics has struggled in high variability environments, how GrayMatter is bridging the gap with multimodal sensing and foundation models for manufacturing, and why solving these challenges is critical not just for productivity, but for economic resilience and national security.

Highlights:

• Ariyan’s journey from aspiring astronaut to robotics founder, and how a real world disaster shaped his mission to build intelligent, helpful machines
• The hidden reality of manufacturing, with nearly 90% of production still manual despite decades of automation
• The core problem GrayMatter is solving, enabling robots to adapt to high variability in materials, environments, and processes
• Why physical AI requires more than vision alone, and how multimodal sensing unlocks real world autonomy
• Starting with sanding as a strategic wedge, then expanding into grinding, painting, blasting, and inspection through transferable learning
• The power of data, building one of the largest manufacturing datasets to train foundation models for materials and processes
• Robot scientists and domain specific AI agents that compress process optimization timelines from months to days
• How optimizing human, robot, and AI workflows can drive massive gains, including tripling throughput without adding robots
• Lessons from early deployment challenges, from consumables to real world variability, and how they shaped more intelligent systems
• The importance of an adoption playbook, and why deploying robotics successfully depends on process and people as much as technology
• Ariyan’s perspective on talent, why high agency and system level thinkers are the most valuable builders in the age of AI
• What is still missing in robotics today, and why domain specific intelligence layers are the next frontier
• A vision for the future, rapidly reconfigurable, fully autonomous factories that can adapt in real time to new products and global needs

For founders, engineers, and operators thinking about the future of manufacturing, this episode offers a deep dive into how physical AI will reshape the industrial world and why the race to build intelligent factories is just getting started.

Learn more about GrayMatter Robotics:

• https://graymatter-robotics.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/graymatter-robotics/posts/?feedView=all
• https://x.com/GrayMatterRobot

Connect with Ariyan Kabir:

• https://x.com/ariyankabir
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariyankabir/

Connect with Greg Toroosian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian/

Warehouse automation is no longer a question of if, but when. As supply chains face growing pressure from labor shortages, unpredictable demand spikes, and rising customer expectations, robotics is becoming a critical lever for speed, accuracy, and resilience.

Kait Peterson, VP and Head of Marketing at Locus Robotics, joins Greg to break down how modern warehouse automation is evolving from rigid, capital-intensive systems into flexible, scalable solutions that can adapt in real time. Drawing on 15 years in supply chain technology, Kait shares how robotics, data, and physical AI are reshaping fulfillment operations and why the next wave of adoption will look very different from the last.

Kait brings a unique perspective at the intersection of marketing, robotics, and human-centered leadership. From making hundreds of cold calls selling warehouse software early in her career to helping scale one of the most recognized brands in warehouse automation, she has seen firsthand how the industry has shifted from skepticism to rapid acceleration. Now at Locus Robotics, she helps translate complex automation systems into clear business value while championing greater inclusion across the tech ecosystem.

In this conversation, Greg and Kait explore:

• Kait’s journey from supply chain SaaS into robotics and how early exposure to warehouse operations shaped her approach to marketing and leadership
• Why flexibility is becoming the defining advantage in warehouse automation, especially for brownfield facilities that cannot afford disruption
• How Locus Robotics differentiates through its Robots as a Service model, combining deployment, maintenance, and continuous optimization into a single offering
• The role of physical AI and why data from billions of robot interactions is becoming a competitive moat in modern automation
• What success looks like for customers, from improved throughput and accuracy to better worker retention and operational scalability
• Why marketing in robotics is fundamentally different from traditional B2C and SaaS, and how understanding customer problems outweighs technical specifications
• The shift from early skepticism to ROI-driven adoption and why automation decisions are now tied to short-term financial performance
• How category creation is shaping the market, including Locus’s push toward a new “robots to goods” paradigm
• The importance of change management and why the most successful robotics deployments focus as much on people as they do on technology
• Why warehouse automation is still in its early innings, with the vast majority of facilities remaining unautomated
• The debate between humanoids and purpose-built robotics, and why solving specific problems may matter more than mimicking human form
• Kait’s leadership philosophy, from building teams rooted in curiosity and collaboration to avoiding common hiring pitfalls
• Her perspective on increasing representation in robotics and why creating inclusive environments is critical to the industry’s future

For anyone building, deploying, or evaluating automation in supply chain operations, this episode offers a practical and forward-looking view of where warehouse robotics is headed and what it takes to succeed in a rapidly evolving market.

Learn more about Locus Robotics: https://locusrobotics.com/

Learn more about The Feminist Exec: https://www.feministexec.com/

Connect with Kait Peterson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitvinson/

Connect with Greg Toroosian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian/

A rare in-person episode brings together four founders building at the frontier of drones, autonomy, and physical AI. Recorded live from the Drones and Robotics AI Summit in New York, this conversation spans search and rescue, wildlife protection, aerial logistics, and next-generation drone platforms—offering a real-time snapshot of where the industry is heading.

From detecting phones in disaster zones to decoding animal communication, deploying drone delivery networks at city scale, and rethinking the cost-performance curve of aerial systems, each founder shares how they are tackling hard, real-world problems—and what it takes to move from prototype to deployment.

In this conversation, Greg speaks with Manny Cerniglia (Flyhound), Sara Nozkova (Flox Intelligence), Santiago Barrera (Aerialoop), and Justin Call (Modovolo) about:

• How Flyhound is turning everyday devices into life-saving signals by enabling drones to locate and identify phones, even without cell service, for search and rescue and disaster response
• Why radio frequency complexity remains one of the hardest challenges in real-world deployment, and how environmental factors shape system performance
• How Flox Intelligence is using AI to decode animal communication and prevent human-wildlife conflicts across airports, railways, and industrial sites
• The shift from drone-based systems to edge-deployed stationary units, and what it takes to move from research to validated, real-world impact
• Why physical AI startups face unique hurdles in funding, scaling hardware, and bridging the gap between prototype and production
• How Aerialoop built a “metro system in the sky,” operating high-frequency drone logistics networks and moving everything from food to medical samples in dense urban environments
• Lessons from scaling to hundreds of daily drone flights, including what breaks first in operations, manufacturing, and training
• The importance of regulatory collaboration—and how working alongside governments can accelerate deployment instead of slowing it down
• Why finding the right early customers is as critical as finding the right investors when building frontier technology
• How Modovolo is rethinking drone design to dramatically improve performance while reducing cost, unlocking new use cases across defense, public safety, and commercial sectors
• The growing demand for modular, payload-driven drone systems—and why enabling customer innovation is key to long-term adoption

This episode is a fast-moving look at the builders pushing drones and robotics out of the lab and into the real world—one deployment, one partnership, and one hard-earned lesson at a time.

Connect with Manny Cerniglia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mannyce/

Learn more about Flyhound: https://www.flyhound.com/

Connect with Sara Nozkova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sára-nožková-91339685/

Learn more about Flox Intelligence: https://floxintelligence.com/

Connect with Santiago Barrera: https://www.linkedin.com/in/santiagobarrerav/

Learn more about Aerialoop: https://www.aerialoop.com/

Connect with Justin Call: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincall/

Learn more about Modovolo: https://modovolo.com/

Connect with Greg Toroosian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian/