 |
Turn the Lens with Jeff FrickAuthor: Jeff Frick
Turn the Lens is about exploring the people, topics, and pieces of media that help shape my perspective on the world. The concept behind 'turn the lens' is to look beyond the foreground, beyond the obvious, to see things in a different context, to see things that you might have missed before. Let's get past our own bias and point of view to try and look from a broader point of view, to expand our learning beyond the obvious. Language: en Genres: Business, Technology Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
Jeff Burnstein: Robotics Imperative, Standards, National Strategy | Turn the Lens Ep49
Episode 49
Friday, 30 January, 2026
Jeff Burnstein, President of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), reveals why eight countries have national robotics strategies while America doesn't—and what four decades of industrial robot history teaches us about humanoid adoption. In this interview from Humanoids Summit SV 2025, Jeff explains the critical role of safety standards in commercialization, why Japan's 1960s strategy created sustained leadership while China dominates today, and how A3 is reframing "robotics" as "embodied AI" to gain traction in Washington D.C. Key Topics: • Why national robotics strategies drive competitive advantage • Safety standards: from 1986 industrial robots to 2025 humanoids • Cultural barriers: Hollywood's Terminator vs. Japan's friendly robots • Hospital robotics: the under-recognized opportunity beyond manufacturing • Historical lessons: hype cycles, dark periods, and realistic timelines • Data privacy and AI training data issues for home robots About Jeff Burnstein: Jeff is President of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), leading the organization's standards development, industry advocacy, and policy work including the push for a National Robotics Strategy. A3 developed the first American national robot safety standard in 1986, which became the basis for international ISO standards. With four decades in the robotics industry, Jeff witnessed the first industrial robot revolution and brings essential perspective on adoption cycles and commercialization barriers. Resources: Association for Advancing Automation (A3): https://www.automate.org World Robot Conference (Beijing): https://www.worldrobotconference.com This interview is co-released by Turn the Lens and Humanoids Summit. Humanoids Summit is organized and hosted by ALM Ventures. Recorded at the Humanoids Summit SV 2025, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California. For more on Humanoids Summit, including May 2026 in Tokyo visit https://humanoidssummit.com/ For more from Humanoids Summit SV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRz7mBlytVs&list=PLJCOPK6OJb1CLbLLXmBCS9sQPTj3kyE-F Jeff Burnstein: Robotics Imperative, Standards, National Strategy | Turn the Lens with Jeff Frick Ep49 Disclaimer and Disclosure All products, product names, companies, logos, names, brands, service names, technologies, trademarks, registered trademarks, and registered trademarks (collectively, *identifiers) are the property of their respective owners. All *identifiers used are for identification and illustrative purposes only. Use of these *identifiers does not imply endorsement. Other trademarks are trade names that may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and/or names of their products and are the property of their respective owners. We disclaim proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. No representation is made or warranty given as to their content. The user assumes all risks of use. © Copyright 2026 Menlo Creek Media, LLC, All Rights Reserved
