Robotics and the Quest for Smarter Machines

In this episode of The Interconnect, Stanford mechanical engineering professor Allison Okamura and OpenAI’s Kevin Weil discuss how artificial intelligence will transform modern robotics, where more capable robots will have a significant impact on the economy, and why the United States still lags behind China, Germany, and other countries in deploying robots in manufacturing.

Guest: Allison Okamura, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow and Science Fellow at the Hoover Institution

Guest: Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer of OpenAI and member at the Council on Foreign Relations

Host: Martin Giles, Managing Editor of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review

Read the 2025 Stanford Emerging Technology Review at https://setr.stanford.edu/