<p>Brian Gerkey is the CTO of Intrinsic, the robotics software company that started inside Alphabet and now sits inside Google, working directly with DeepMind and Gemini. </p><p><br></p><p>Brian co-created ROS (Robot Operating System), the open-source platform used by over 1 million developers that powers everything from factory robots to NASA&#39;s Astrobee on the International Space Station. In this episode, Grant talks with Brian about &quot;physical AI&quot; — what happens when AI leaves the screen and starts controlling robots in the real world. </p><p><br></p><p>They cover why 80% of US manufacturing facilities still have zero automation, how Intrinsic&#39;s platform acts as the &quot;Android of robotics,&quot; the breakthroughs in AI-powered perception that let robots see with sub-millimeter accuracy using cheap cameras, the challenges of simulating physical contact (friction is a nightmare), and why the best robot application ideas often come from people who know nothing about robots.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Subscribe to The Neuron newsletter:</strong> https://theneuron.ai</p><p><strong>Intrinsic:</strong> https://www.intrinsic.ai/</p><p><strong>ROS (Robot Operating System):</strong> https://www.ros.org/</p><p><strong>AI for Industry Challenge:</strong> https://www.intrinsic.ai/events/ai-for-industry-challenge</p><p><strong>Intrinsic joins Google (Feb 2026):</strong> https://www.intrinsic.ai/blog/posts/intrinsic-joins-google-to-accelerate-physical-ai</p>