So, Luke, it's great to have you here in Ann Arbor up from Austin, Texas.

Luke Schnieder: That's right.

It's fantastic to be here and, and to be on the show.

Kristi K: Yes.

Glad to have you with us.

You've been involved, Luke, in eight startups in this at this intersection that we're talking about with autonomous vehicles and technology and transportation.

Tell us a little bit more abou perhaps some of those startups.

Luke Schnieder: you know, for 25 years, maybe 25 years ago, you know, I was working in the auto industry.

I was doing some pretty core mechanical engineering work on powertrains, on engines and transmissions.

and just came to the conclusion that, there is a better future for transportation.

So with companies you know, like Zipcar, where we, you know, we're we're trying to make transportation more, more affordabl for people who live in cities.

so it's very expensive to own a car in a city, between fuel and maintenance and garaging it and the payment itself.

So share a car with other folks in the city and just use it when you need it from there.

You know, another company that I just, I really love.

We started up Silver Car, in 2012, which was really more of a platform for distributing transportation.

Krist K: And we're here at refraction.

I this is an autonomous vehicle company.

But I want you to tell me more about the actual description of the company and what the technology is.

Luke Schnieder: Yeah.

So refraction AI is a last mile delivery company.

we, are different from other last mile delivery companies in that we use autonomous or self-driving robots to actually perform the deliveries.

There's a lot that's involved with that.

Kind of the core of it is a technology that is an artificial intelligence.

it's the AI which allows the robot to drive itself.

And, it's similar to what you find in autonomous cars, which are finding their ways onto our streets in some major cities all over the country.

but it's differen in some pretty special ways in that the delivery category, has special requirements.

It has different ways of executing its tasks.

And so the robots we build are purpose built for that.

Kristi K: So describe for us a little bit more about what that technology is and how you utilize that for, advancemen of delivery and transportation.

Luke Schnieder: As we move into a next generation, next era, a next chapter of technology for transportation cars and other vehicles that can drive themselves, that can enhance the safety of thos who are in them and around them, as well as cars that can make i less congested on our streets, make them more walkable, make our cities more livable.

and, and, you know sort of at the pinnacle of that is make goods and services more accessible.

So what refraction AI focuses on is taking a specific category of transportation, the transportation and deliver of goods, applying technologies that really weren't around more than, you know, 20 years ago.

and allowing those things to happen more safely, more cleanly and with less congestion in our cities.

Kristi K: So refraction AI is specifically in what industries in terms of distribution.

Luke Schnieder: We focus on three, the restaurants, grocery stores, and retailers.

So primarily food.

Food has been the early adopter here.

people have delivering pizzas for, you know, I don't know, a century.

so that's an easy place to start.

groceries became much more popular righ around the turn of this century, with companies in the dawn of the internet, ubiquitous broadband and technologies that allowed people to order remotely and then have fulfillment happen through a truck or a van or something else.

we look at refraction.

AI is really the latest evolution of that trend, which began, you know, maybe 25 years ago.

but in a way that is both economically sustainable and also more palatable to th city infrastructure as we have.

Kristi K: Luke.

Fascinating.

Let's go take a look a one of your autonomous robots.

Luke Schnieder: Sounds great.

Let's do it.

Kristi K: I would love to know how you incorporate AI into the everyday usage of this particular robot.

Luke Schnieder: Yeah, well so we're looking at Maximilian, a, a delivery robot.

that is a third generation robot, from refraction AI.

And, you know the general construction of this is pretty evident by looking at it.

It is a four wheel, road goin robot that's designed to travel in the margin of the road, a bike lane if there is one.

The shoulder.

but sort of like a bicycle.

And it is in fact based o a recumbent or, an e-bike frame.

So, there are two doors, which, can open in the rear, in the front for access to the payload within.

And we're looking at an Uncon figured robot.

So right now, you're seeing sort of the guts of, of one of these delivery robots, depending on the application, whether it's for the delivery of, food, or restaurant or, or groceries, or just some retail item.

we will configure these, with specific panels to allow for either the suctioning or, the, the the use of the entire payload.

So, there are a number of different pieces that are required to do this.

we've got, sensors that are around the perimeter of the vehicle, some lights in the front.

we use a combination of different optoelectronics, and other kinds of sensors.

and then up top, which is this, this, this piece that sits above everything, which.

Kristi K I'm told is called the top hat.

Luke Schnieder: We call it the top hat.

The top hat contain most of the complex electronics and what we call the sensor stack.

The sensor stack is what, in fact, senses what's around the robot.

and then computes and tries to decide, you know, what the appropriate action is for driving and, and, and to proceed through the delivery.

so that's, yo know, kind of an overview of it.

They're all electric.

so there is zero emission at the tailpipe.

Kristi K: Now, do you envision the general consumer on a regular basis, being able to call, pick up the phone, go through an app?

how how does one acces the capabilities of this robot?

Luke Schnieder: Yeah.

So, the way one typically would experience, one of our robots is by going through, a restaurant or a merchant's website directly.

those merchant then use our robots as a sort of native delivery option for their products.

and so the robo kind of lives at the merchant, and then makes its deliveries out to the public from there.

Typically that's through an app.

you choose the delivery option, it informs you that it's going to most likely come by robot.

and then the robot, is loaded when the order is produced, and it's, you know, the appropriate compartmen opens to, to accept the order.

and then the the robot is dispatched and shortly before it arrives for the delivery, the consumer will get a text message or some other notification through the app that their order is approaching by robot.

and they will be given, yo know, instructions to come down and simply show their phone, in this case, to the robot.

there's a window in the top hand where they do that.

and, and that opens the appropriate compartment.

Kristi K: Luke, give us an example of someone using a robot like Maximilian in everyday life.

Luke Schnieder: Sure.

well, one of my favorite examples, is of someone.

Somebody that, who uses this, she's she's well, she just turned 90, and, she has a difficult time getting out of the house, to do some basic things like shopping for groceries or other things.

And, so somebody like that, in recent weeks, you know, ordered groceries, from a local grocery store, which then use this robot to pick them up and, and bring them to her.

And it it essentially work the same way as curbside pickup.

It's just that the robot, is the curbside pickup vehicle.

and why that's so special is, is that in this case, you know, that woman is, someone who really wanted to retire in place.

She really wanted to, to stay in her neighborhood with her neighbors.

there were a lot of young families, and.

And when we think about things like that, when we think about cases like that and this ability to to make our communities richer and healthier and happier, you know, the wisdom of that particular woman, you know, I think is something that we all treasure, and the ability to allow her to remain in the community is something that we all really are happy and thankful about.

Kristi K: It's easy.

Makes her life better.

All the things that you said were your goal when you started the company.

Luke Schnieder: That's right.

Healthier, happier, safer communities.

And we're doing that by helping those producers and consumers connect.

Kristi K: Luke, thank you fo the explanation on the robots.

It is fascinating and how AI is being used.

That refraction, I hear.

And I'm going to head back to the studio.

Luke Schnieder: Sounds Great.