DIY Robotics and AI: The Age of Mini-Models and Swarms

Resources

Resources & Recommendations

Books

• "The Besieged Fortress" by John Cusack (Narrator) - A documentary from 2006 about driver ants, specifically highlighting their swarming behavior and resilience.

People Mentioned

• Jared Santo - Co-host of The Changelog podcast and a friend of Chris Benson.
• Adam Stacoviak - Co-host of The Changelog podcast and a friend of Chris Benson.
• Daniel Whitenack - Co-host of the Practical AI podcast, described as one of the data/AI people in the Go community.
• Jeff Bezos - Founder of Amazon, mentioned in the context of his new AI startup, Project Prometheus.
• Elon Musk - Referenced in the context of a "pissing contest" with Jeff Bezos and his AI venture, xAI.
• Vic Bajaj - Co-founder of Project Prometheus with Jeff Bezos.
• Joanna Stern - Wall Street Journal reporter who reviewed a general-purpose robot.

Organizations & Institutions

• The Changelog - A popular open-source and software development podcast that previously housed Practical AI.
• OpenAI - An AI research and deployment company, often referenced for its GPT series models.
• Google - A major player in AI, known for its TPUs and AI investments.
• Meta - A company making significant investments in AI talent.
• Nvidia - A company that became a key hardware provider for AI, especially with its GPUs.
• AMD - A competitor to Nvidia in the chip-making industry.
• xAI - Elon Musk's AI company, mentioned as working on a model with a trillion parameters.
• Lockheed Martin - Chris Benson's employer, mentioned in the context of military intelligence.
• Zipline - A startup that delivers medical supplies and small packages using drones, moving into commercialization in the US.
• IKEA - A furniture and home goods retailer that recently announced a line of smart home products.
• Mattel - A toy company, mentioned as a Shopify user.
• Gymshark - A fitness apparel and accessories brand, mentioned as a Shopify user.
• Amazon - An e-commerce and technology company, mentioned in discussions about Jeff Bezos and online shopping.
• Wall Street Journal - A newspaper that published a video review of a general-purpose robot.

Tools & Software

• ChatGPT - An AI chatbot, mentioned as a widely known example of AI.
• Claude - An AI chatbot, mentioned in the context of scattered feedback.
• Miro AI - An AI-powered innovation workspace that helps teams streamline workflows and generate insights.
• GitHub - A platform for software development and version control, likened to "GitHub for AI" when discussing Hugging Face.
• ROS 2 (Robot Operating System) - An open-source software framework for robotics development.
• Tokio - A Rust runtime for writing asynchronous applications, useful for multi-threaded programming in robotics.
• Embassy - A Rust runtime for embedded systems, allowing development for small, OS-less hardware like Raspberry Pi Nano.
• Home Assistant - An open-source home automation platform, increasingly leveraged for local control and privacy.
• Alexa - Amazon's AI-powered virtual assistant, mentioned in the context of home automation.

Websites & Online Resources

• PracticalAI.fm - The website for the Practical AI podcast.
• The Changelog (changelog.com) - The website for The Changelog podcast.
• Merch.changelog.com - The Changelog's storefront, powered by Shopify.
• Miro.com - Website for the Miro innovation workspace.
• Shopify.com/practicalai - Shopify's trial offer for Practical AI listeners.
• Hugging Face - A platform for AI models and datasets, described as "GitHub for AI."

Other Resources

• Project Prometheus - Jeff Bezos's new AI startup.
• Matter - An open standard for smart home communication, enabling interoperability between different devices.
• TP-Link Kasa - A brand of smart home devices.
• Lutron Caseta - A brand of smart home light switches.
• Raspberry Pi - A series of small, single-board computers, mentioned for embedded projects.