James Naylor

I had zero experience when I dropped out of university to build my startup. I would get on a sales call with an exec. in America and the attitude was 'how can we get this done!' In the UK (with some exception), and even more so in mainland Europe , the attitude I've generally found is 'What are the risks of doing this?' You don't realise the difference in mindset between the US and UK/Europe until you've done business in both. When you're young, smart and ambitious, and you're constantly hearing why you shouldn't do something, it makes it a lot less likely you take the risk and instead end up with the safe choice. (consulting, banking, law etc...) If we want the brightest ppl in the 🇬🇧 to work on the problems we face, we need the mindset to shift.

WebRTC is designed for Video Conferencing, not Robotics. This is @IlirAliu_ teleoperating from SF -> London using our software. At @Adamorobotics, we are able to teleoperate across the Atlantic with 0 buffering using our custom protocol and dedicated network. Most teleoperation is done through WebRTC. WebRTC-based applications usually add a buffer to smooth out issues from dropped packets and network jitter. In teleoperation, adding latency through a buffer is not an option. We have to find alternative ways of providing a stable connection. The solution is a custom protocol and dedicated, globally distributed infrastructure.

@thejesonlee @SandorFelber

Is anyone building / exploring robotics for dangerous jobs where safety is critical? DM me.

"Dude, the customer could not care less." Thiel Fellow @victorwboyd, who's building autonomous forklifts with the ultimate goal of being able to get anything anywhere in under 5 hours, says "teleoperation" has become a dirty word for no good reason. "[Teleoperation] is extremely valuable... customers don't care, guys. The customers don't care if you're fully autonomous. Customers care if the work is done." "If you're over here stressing, 'Oh, dude, we're only 10% autonomous,' but you're getting the job done every single time, and you're profitable — obviously keep going for more autonomy. Push those margins. But, dude, the customer could not care less."

@DominiqueCAPaul Will DM

@jh_naylor Yes I’d be curious. Have a quest here.

Thoughts from a teleop session today:
 1/ Teleop is painful. UMI-style grippers are making more and more sense to me: shorter per-episode execution, more data, and more intuitive for factory workers who will be the ones with my product eventually. Wondering if PI resists this because researchers aren't the ones collecting the data? 
2/ The take-away of the HF shirt folding post stuck with me: data quality matters most of all. I'm 30 minutes into this task and still making mistakes with teleop. What’s the perspective for non-roboticists? Maybe VR headset is better. Want to try that next. 3/ I’m noticeable better at teleop even when I’m just 15cm closer. 4/ Double-close gestures for re-record (left) and early episode end (right) are a game changer. Credit @neurosp1ke. 5/ Want to gamify my own collection more: thinking of a daily target dashboard. 6/ I’d like to rate each episode with a 1-5 data quality score. Don't wanna throw away bad data away, but still be able to filter top-quality. Maybe possible with foot pedals?

@shcallaway @brexHQ DM’ing your engineers now!

I got my payout from @brexHQ acquisition today! Now that I am filthy rich, I am shutting down Sazabi and retiring to the Caymans. Farewell everyone

Stadia was one-way game streaming. WebRTC’s TURN fallback drops to TCP (head-of-line blocking = stale control signals to a robot), and its priority order is audio > video > data channel (incl. control in robotics), meaning control packets get dropped first on a bad connection. Also, not lower latency than what we’ve built.

@IlirAliu_ Stadia used WebRTC and likely had lower latency than any teleop stack that exists today.

Teleoperation today relies on WebRTC. That works for Zoom. Not for robotics. Is that statement provocative? WebRTC works for video calls. But not really for robots. I’m teleoperating from SF → London using Adamo’s stack. Zero buffering. No lag smoothing… just real-time control. Because WebRTC apps add buffers to handle: • packet loss • network jitter That’s fine when you’re talking. Not so much when you’re controlling a robot. Even small delays kill precision. So instead of adapting WebRTC… Adamo built a custom protocol + dedicated global infrastructure. Without buffering or artificial delay. A stable, real-time connection across the Atlantic. This is what people underestimate about robotics: Models are just one piece of the puzzle. But looking at the entire stack, there is so much more. And Sometimes you can’t reuse what exists. You have to build it from the ground up. Thank you, Sam Considine for letting me try, it nice seeing you during GTC last week! 👋 ——- Weekly robotics and AI insights. Subscribe free: 22astronauts.com

@IlirAliu_ It was awesome having you try out our software!

40ms glass to glass teleoperation

The bridge between where we are today and robot autonomy is bridged my teleoperation. More companies will follow 1x’s lead

1x Neo pre-ordered. Let's go!

Friendship

In 2023, China installed 276,000 robots. America installed 38,000. We can't let China win the robotics race.

@kscalelabs @Harryoc493 Congrats Ben! 🚀

First K-Bot delivery, to @Harryoc493

@Founder_Ash @Merch @JNeedem may be able to help

@Jarrad_Hicks There will be a selection bias. Happy/mentally healthy people are less likely to go to therapy, but physically healthy people are more likely to go to a gym.

Those I know that go to the gym are physically healthier than those don’t don’t But the people I know that go to therapy are less happy than those that don’t. Anecdotal, but why? Seeing therapy as treatment rather than prevention? Therapy quality?

This stat is so incredible, it's actually hard to believe that it's true

Britain was built on industry. It’s time to restore that legacy! 🇬🇧

None of that foreign muck. Just traditional British kebabs and pizza for me!