Boris Sofman

[Airicist]

Director Of Engineering, Head of Trucking at Waymo

Co-founder and ex-CEO of Anki, Inc.

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[Airicist]

Anki's Boris Sofman - "Artificial Intelligence and Robotics" - D.I.C.E. 2014 Summit

Published on Feb 12, 2014

As an engineer and researcher with experience in building diverse robotic systems — from consumer products to off-road autonomous vehicles and bomb-disposal robots — Boris is making it his life's work to create products that people would not expect to be possible. He earned a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Boris is an avid tennis player, but finds that anki doesn't allow him to play nearly as often as he'd like.

[Airicist]

Anki - Cozmo, Overdrive, Education, Healthcare and Animated Films

Published on Jan 20, 2017

I talk to Anki co-founder Boris Sofman about the direction of the company, venture capital investors, opportunities and risks in robotics and building technology that extends beyond entertainment to healthcare, research and education.

[Airicist2]

Boris Sofman: Waymo, Cozmo, Self-Driving Cars, and the Future of Robotics | Lex Fridman Podcast #241

Nov 17, 2021

Boris Sofman is the Senior Director Of Engineering and Head of Trucking at Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car project. He was also the CEO and co-founder of Anki, a home robotics company.

Outline:

0:00 - Introduction
1:08 - Robots in science fiction
6:49 - Cozmo
32:04 - AI companions
38:59 - Anki
1:04:33 - Waymo Via
1:36:10 - Sensor suites for long haul trucking
1:46:06 - Machine learning
2:04:03 - Waymo vs Tesla
2:14:38 - Safety and risk management
2:23:42 - Societal effects of automation
2:34:47 - Amazon Astro
2:39:12 - Challenges of the robotics industry
2:43:39 - Humanoid robotics
2:50:42 - Advice for getting a PhD in robotics
2:58:13 - Advice for robotics startups
3:09:19 - Advice for students