Jeff Frick

I am not telling you something to sell you something. I am sharing something to entertain, educate, and get you to stop and think for a minute. | Top Voice | Friday Five | Turn the Lens | Work 20XX

With over 30 years of experience in the media industry, I am a podcast host and a media entrepreneur who is passionate about the future of work, leadership, and innovation. I have founded and led Menlo Creek Media, a company that helps leaders, marketers, and communications professionals navigate and leverage an AI-driven asynchronous world, by offering executive training for podcast hosts and guests, content creation and media library curation and amplification programs, and community development programs.

I also host two podcasts, Work 20XX and Turn the Lens, where I facilitate the spread of best practices, insights, learning, and wisdom on topics that matter to the modern workforce and society. I aim to be a trusted source of information and inspiration for my listeners, by featuring smart and diverse guests, engaging in lively and thoughtful conversations, and sharing nuggets of knowledge. My goal is to help people get more impact with their communications and content investments and to empower them to thrive in a time of rapid change and uncertainty.

Founder & Principal

Please visit www.MenloCreek.com for a more comprehensive list of services and resources. 

Helping Leaders, Marketers, and Communications professionals navigate and leverage an AI driver asynchronous world. 

Host of 'Work 20XX'  with Jeff Frick show on the Future of Work 
Host of 'Turn the Lens' with Jeff Frick on Leadership and of other topics of interest.

Manipulation is about negotiating with the world. Whereas a lot of robotics, there's not much negotiation. If you're in its way, you better hope you're stronger. - Jeremy Fishel

Compliance is critical because when you bump into something you want time to react to that information. - Jeremy Fishel
-----
Collisions. 
It's robot industry vocabulary for bumping into things.

Feeling isn't only about control, 
it's also about reacting to the world, in time to prevent harm.

Jeremy Fishel: Nature's Best Manipulator, Man's Best Controller: Hands | Turn the Lens with Jeff Frick

Episode page with extensive show notes, transcript, links and references 
https://lnkd.in/gN9spBJb 
YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gdgMY8ie 
Spotify - https://lnkd.in/g9G8gbkM 
Apple Podcast - https://lnkd.in/gNZrG7tV
or where ever you podcast 

For more on Humanoids Summit, including May 2026 Summit in Tokyo visit 
https://lnkd.in/ga487tGq 

For more from Humanoids Summit SV 
https://lnkd.in/gyxXZcVT 

#Robotics #HumanoidRobots #Compliance #RoboticManipulation #EmbodiedAI #FutureOfWork #RobotSafety #AIRobotics #Innovation #HumanoidsSummit #TurnTheLens #EdColgate #HANDERC #DeepTech #TurntheLens #RoboticsEngineering #WorkplaceTechnology #SanctuaryAI #HumanoidsSummit #Robots #Hands

When you remove someone's sense of touch, their capabilities drop off tremendously. - Joe Michaels

Bringing that back into the robot equation and giving the human the feeling of what that robot is doing and creating a closed loop. - Joe Michaels

It makes a very natural and powerful control system. - Joe Michaels
--
Humans and machines working together for an enhanced version of both.

Teleoperation, for literal operation as well as fine grain training.

Feedback is an essential component to control, whether teleoperating from a distance in dangerous places, or rehearsing high-risk situations in the safety of digital worlds and simulation environments.

And yes, Sigourney Weaver and her P-5000 Powered Work Loader Exoskeleton from Alien immediately jumps to mind.

Joe Michaels: Teleoperation, Controlling Complex Robots by Feel | Turn the Lens with Jeff Frick
Episode page with transcript, show notes, links, and references
https://lnkd.in/eYVnUAdT
YouTube - https://lnkd.in/g8TytYCb
Spotify - https://lnkd.in/gvfDZsnX
Apple Podcasts - https://lnkd.in/gA4UeFSy
or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Released in collaboration with Humanoids Summit. Humanoids Summit is sponsored and produced by ALM Ventures.
For more on Humanoids Summit, including the May 2026 Summit in Tokyo, visit
https://lnkd.in/ga487tGq

For more from Humanoids Summit SV 2025 -
https://lnkd.in/gA4XmZiE

#teleoperation #touch #feel #feedback #training #remoteoperation #finegrain #1HMX #humanoidssummit #turnthelens 1HMX #robots #robotics #Robotics #HumanRobot #HapticFeedback #Dexterity #FutureOfWork #Teleoperation #RoboticsEngineering #AI #Automation #PhysicalAI #HumanMachineInterface #Innovation #EmbodiedAI #Work20XX

Visiting Pakistan, I was seven, the first time I met someone missing a limb. She was living in poverty in the streets, missing her right leg and using a tree branch as a crutch. - Aadeel Akhtar, PhD

That's what inspired me to go into this field. - Aadeel Akhtar
--
Moment of impression.

Call it a calling, an obsession, a mission.
In a world that feel anything but certain or stable,
some experience a moment of clarity that sets a course that will not be denied. 

Very helpful if you want to be an entrepreneur. This was the ninth version of Aadeel's hand. Some lessons can only be learned by doing, not drawing.

Transforming Lives and Robotics: Jeff Frick talks with Aadeel Akhtar, PhD, PSYONIC - via Humanoids Summit
https://lnkd.in/gjw5GeSV
For more on Humanoids Summit
https://lnkd.in/ga487tGq
#Robotics #BionicLimbs #Prosthetics #FutureOfWork #HealthTech #MedTech #Innovation #SocialImpact #Entrepreneurship #Founders #PurposeDriven #HumanAugmentation #EmergingTech #TechForGood #Robots #Hands #InclusiveTech #Humanoids #HumanoidsSummit #TurnTheLens #PSYONIC

For robots, we have a term in the industry. My robot 'collided.' — Bernt Børnich

Everything we do through our life is a collision. When I pick up this bottle, I'm colliding with it. If I put my hand on this table, I'm colliding with the table. If I take a step, I'm colliding with the ground. — Bernt Børnich

Humans don't collide. We just interact with the world.
I can do this in a very stable manner, very low impact, not dangerous to myself or the environment. — Bernt Børnich
----
High energy with gears and ratios.
or
Low energy that moves slowly and has time to
react before something significant happens.

Bernt and the team worked 10 years on the motors to bring low-energy capabilities to their humanoids.

Safety first. That includes 'collisions,' or as we say in the human world, bumping into things.

How 1X is Changing the Game: Jeff Frick Chats with Bernt Børnich, 1X
Humanoids Summit YouTube Channel
https://lnkd.in/g8jYtFjb

Who's going to Tokyo? 
https://lnkd.in/ga487tGq

#Robotics #HumanoidRobots #RobotSafety #FutureOfWork #Automation #AIHardware #Cobots #RoboticsDevelopment #EmergingTech #EnterpriseRobotics #ManufacturingTech #HumanRobotInteraction #TechInnovation #IndustrialRobotics #SafetyFirst #1X #HumanoidsSummit #TurnTheLens #Robots #Humanoids

Pursuing vertical integration for its own sake is actually to be a bit misguided. Vertical integration should always be in service of either making the best thing or actually optimizing in the short or the long term for iteration speed. - Evan Wineland

We're able to control that much more of the end user experience. - Evan Wineland 

We only do it as much as is necessary to make the thing right. - Evan Wineland 
----------------------
Vertical Integration

Guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Both Evan and Kaan Dogrusoz, his co-Founder at Weave Robotics were most recently at Apple.

But the specific qualifier, 'in service of iteration speed' 
is notable and a little counter intuitive.

Seems logical that off the shelf components from multiple suppliers would develop faster as a group. And Evan qualified, they only do as much as necessary. And necessary is that which interacts with the objective, and the environment. The OS, the grippers, and more, they write and develop from scratch to increase the iteration speed to accomplish their list of task objectives. A large part of at this stage, folding laundry.

Evan Wineland: Deploying is the Point. Affordable Robots that Work | Turn the Lens with Jeff Frick 
Episode page with transcript, show notes, links, and references https://lnkd.in/gZnpAQSc 
YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gb-HbVxZ  
Spotify - https://lnkd.in/gHtgWHYw 
Apple Podcasts - https://lnkd.in/gk3Mnzja 
or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Release in collaboration with Humanoids Summit. Humanoids Summit is sponsored and produced by ALM Ventures. 

For more on Humanoids Summit, including May 2026 Summit in Tokyo visit 
https://lnkd.in/ga487tGq 

For more from Humanoids Summit SV 2025 - 
https://lnkd.in/gHDGNhdX 

#VerticalIntegration #ProductStrategy #TechLeadership #Innovation #FutureOfWork #IterationSpeed #UserExperience #StartupStrategy #EnterpriseTech #WeaveRobotics #HumanoidsSummit #WorkTwentyXX #TurnTheLens #ProductDevelopment #TechInnovation #BuildingProduct #FounderMindset

People have been working on robotic hands gosh, for 40, 50 years, really as long as we've been thinking about robots. What's new? AI. - Ed Colgate

The ability to take something so complicated as this hand and actually do something useful with it. That wouldn't be possible without AI. - Ed Colgate
--
AI, GenAI, Foundation Models, Transformers, and the relentless pace of better, faster, cheaper hardware (from GPU to mechanical parts) means robotic hands finally have the potential to mirror the performance of the most dexterous manipulator in nature, the human hand.

Ed Colgate and the extended HAND ERC community are building the foundational technology for the next decade's technological advances in robotic hands, including sensing, actuation, design, simulation, learning, control, social, legal and industrial studies.

Ed Colgate: Soft Hands, Dexterous Robots | Turn the Lens with Jeff Frick
Transcript and Show Notes https://lnkd.in/grjhZf2y 
YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gsv4UKKs
Spotify - https://lnkd.in/gTCHeBx2 
Apple Podcast - https://lnkd.in/ghkjsVgY 
Substack - 
or wherever you podcast 

HAND ERC 
The National Science Foundation 'Human AugmentatioN via Dexterity' Engineering Research Center (HAND ERC)
https://hand-erc.org/

Released in collaboration with Humanoids Summit. Humanoids Summit is sponsored and produced by ALM Ventures. 
For more on Humanoids Summit, including May 2026 Summit in Tokyo visit 
https://lnkd.in/ga487tGq 

For more from Humanoids Summit SV 2025 - 
https://lnkd.in/gPcYu2Xt 

#Robotics #Robots #PhysicalAI #Hand #Hands #RoboticHand #HANDERC #ProstheticHand #Humanoids #HumanoidsSummit #TurntheLens #AI #GenAI #EmbodiedAI #RoboticHands #AIInnovation #FutureOfWork #ManufacturingTech #Automation #HumanoidRobots #MachineLearning #RoboticsEngineering #DeepTech #AIApplications #IndustrialRobotics #EmergingTech #TechLeadership

Nikolas Badminton, Chief Futurist / Futurist Speaker

Nikolas Badminton is a world-renowned futurist speaker and Chief Futurist that mentors top executives and the highest levels of government to explore desirable futures, anticipate unforeseen risks, and strengthen strategic planning to drive growth.

He has spent 30+ years working with leadership at over 500 leading organizations at the frontline of futures, strategy and disruption - including NASA, Disney, Google, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, WM, JP Morgan CHASE, VISA, TD Bank, American Express, AtkinsRéalis, Thales Group, BISCI, ISACA, Rolls Royce, Procter & Gamble, US Department of State, UK Home Office, United Nations, and many more. 

Facing Our Futures: How foresight, futures design and strategy creates prosperity and growth - is Nikolas’ number one best selling book and has been selected as JP Morgan’s ‘Next Gen Pick’ for their prestigious Summer Reading List to guide new leaders to ignite curiosity and embrace futures thinking. It has also been named as the Next Big Ideas Club Top-50 Business Books.

Nikolas’ essential research has been featured by the BBC, VICE, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Business Insider, Forbes, Sunday Telegraph and many others.  He appears on SIRIUSXM and CTV regularly, was a key advisor to the ‘Age of AI’ series with Robert Downey Jr, and appears in the Franklin Institute's series ‘2050’.

Happy to connect to discuss futures thinking and how we can make your event incredible :: https://futurist.com/futurist-speakers-booking/

Chief Futurist at Futurist.com

AI is changing the…

Some sobering research from The National Bureau of Economic Research just surveyed 6,000 executives and the results are shocking. 90% of CEOs say AI had zero impact on productivity, yet corporate AI spending hit $250 billion in 2024. Economists say a 40-year-old paradox explains exactly why this is happening.

In 1987, Nobel laureate Robert Solow wrote a famous line: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."
Back then, companies poured billions into mainframes and PCs. U.S. productivity growth actually slowed, dropping from 2.9% per year to just 1.1% despite massive IT investment.

Link in the first comment -

Nikolas Badminton

Futurist Speaker | Futurist Keynote Speaker | Chief Futurist & Hope Engineer at Futurist.com | AI, Climate, Geopolitics & Innovation | 500+ orgs advised

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