The Thinking Machine

Going deep with the researchers, founders, and engineers building the infrastructure stack behind Physical AI

Recent Episodes

How Lightwheel is Building the Simulation Infrastructure of Physical AI with Steve Xie
March 14, 2026

How Lightwheel is Building the Simulation Infrastructure of Physical AI with Steve Xie

Steve Xie spent years leading simulation at Cruise and NVIDIA before founding Lightwheel — and in that time he watched simulation go from a tool that was "great for showcasing to investors" to what he believes will become the...
Why Robotics Is Harder Than It Looks with Chris Paxton
Feb. 24, 2026

Why Robotics Is Harder Than It Looks with Chris Paxton

Robots can walk. They can dance. They can even do backflips. But can they reliably fold your laundry, make coffee, or recover from mistakes in your kitchen? In this episode, I sit down with robotics researcher Chris Paxton to...
Modeling the Real World with Tolga Kart
Feb. 10, 2026

Modeling the Real World with Tolga Kart

Tolga Kart spent seven years building massive 3D worlds for Call of Duty at Sledgehammer Games. Then he left gaming for Tesla Autopilot, led simulation at Parallel Domain, and now he's the CEO of Third Dimension AI, a company...
Building the Android OS for Robotics with Kimate Richards
Jan. 31, 2026

Building the Android OS for Robotics with Kimate Richards

In this episode, Jonathan Stephens sits down with Kimate Richards , founder of 10Things , to explore what it really takes to deploy robots safely, reliably, and at scale. With decades of experience across robotics, control sy...