From big tech to robots: Cobot founder Brad Porter and the race to robotics
Before founding Cobot, Brad Porter held senior roles at Amazon, Scale AI, and even helped pioneer voice applications at Tellme and Netscape. But it was a walk with his father through the halls of Mayo Clinic that planted the seed for something radically new. In this heartfelt and insightful episode, Brad shares how a personal loss became a professional mission to build collaborative robots that enhance human work instead of replacing it.
With over $150M raised in just three years and clients like the Mayo Clinic, Maersk, and the US Department of Defense, Brad has done what few in hard tech manage to do: build, fund, and deploy a real solution in record time. You’ll hear how digital twin technology and fast iteration allowed Cobot to deliver results before having a fully built prototype, and why design decisions like swappable batteries and swerve drives matter more than buzzwords.
If you’re a founder, investor, or just fascinated by where robotics is headed, this episode delivers hard-won insights and inspiration in equal measure.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
- (02:35) Why Brad Porter left a high-flying career to start something from scratch
- (06:10) Timing the AI and robotics wave
- (08:45) From Scale AI to Cobot: building the product he truly believed in
- (11:45) Identifying Real-world problems to be solved by your new start-up
- (19:45) Why top investors believed in him before a prototype even existed
- (27:00) Selling the vision before building the robot
- (32:45) MVP success, user feedback, and building trust with early adopters
- (40:00) What “everyday work” means for Brad and how Cobot improves lives
- (44:00) The next 10 years of robotics and physical AI
- (52:00) Brad’s proudest moment and how it ties back to a promise to his father
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Host: Peng Cau
Peng Cau is a seasoned entrepreneur and innovation leader in advanced manufacturing and industrial automation. She co-founded Transformix Engineering, scaling it into a global automation powerhouse acquired by ATS Corporation in a substantial eight-figure valuation deal. Today, she leads the Startup Program at Siemens Digital Industries Software, supporting deeptech and hardtech founders in scaling transformative technologies. A recognized voice in Canada’s tech ecosystem, Peng serves on several boards, including Reko International Group and the Kingston Economic Development Board. A refugee from Cambodia, her journey from survival to success has earned her national accolades and a respected place in Canada’s business and innovation landscape.
Guest: Brad Porter
Brad Porter is the CEO and Founder of Collaborative Robotics (Cobot), a robotics company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, backed by Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Clinic, and more. Before founding Cobot, Brad was Vice President and Distinguished Engineer at Amazon, where he led a global team of 10,000 people overseeing robotics for all of Amazon’s logistics network. He also served as CTO of Scale AI, was Platform Architect for Tellme Networks, and began his career as an engineer at Netscape. Brad holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from MIT.
Cobot is pioneering advanced robotics that integrate AI, hardware, and software to serve critical sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics. Material movement is one of the most critical yet overlooked aspects of our global infrastructure.
Cobot’s robot, Proxie, is the most intelligent collaborative robot on the market. Proxie works alongside humans, using vision-language models and generative AI to adapt to real-world environments. These systems help fill labor gaps and boost productivity in essential industries. Learn more here.
Pioneers: Startups from Dreams to Reality
Ideas alone can’t change the world. It takes grit, and serious funding. In Pioneers, host Peng Cau sits down with startup founders to discuss the startup lifestyle— from concept to execution— and the big ideas that fuel these pioneers. From the future of farming to autonomous flight, there’s no frontier too far.
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