And now let's check back in with the CEO of a fraction AI to see what this innovator doe when he isn't developing robots to make the world a better place.

So, Luke, it's great to be with you here.

Enjoying some outdoors with you.

Luke Schnieder: Yes.

Beautiful today.

Kristi K: Wondering what the CEO of refraction AI does in his spare time while not impacting the transportation and innovation world.

So what is it that you do for fu outside of work when you are not developing, Luke Schnieder: Robots to try to keep everything grounded and centered?

I like to do a lot of things outside.

I love places like like this where, you know, the natural landscape provide that sort of beautiful backdrop.

And, and you can kind of just come in and disconnect and disengage, and, you know, your subconscious is always processing, you know, but to the extent you can appreciate something of visual beauty, and also a little bit of the wonder of nature.

So, I spend a lot of time working on, landscape and all kinds of things.

I love to fly fish because you can spend a day outside and just sort of enjoy the weather and enjoy the, the natural environment.

but all of those things kind of help me keep it together, when I'm not, in the office.

Kristi K: And you are flying in toda to Ann Arbor from Austin, Texas.

Tell us about some of the hobbies and the interest that you have there.

Luke Schnieder: Yeah.

well, you know, Austin's a fantastic place.

So much going on there and so much in the news these day for lots of different reasons.

you know, one of the big things that, that that takes up a lot of my time is working with, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which is the State Botanic Garden of Texas.

It's, affiliated with th University of Texas at Austin.

but it's dedicated to th preservation of, native species.

And so, Mrs. Johnson herself really had a, a rich legacy of, beautification, and and protecting th environment and sustainability.

and so the center, that is her namesake is a place that a lot of us feel very passionate about.

And we work pretty hard to try to improve it and, make it a plac that's accessible to everybody.

but it's also just a astonishing place to spend time.

no matter what season of the year, wildflowers do not have to be in bloom.

Kristi K: It's really awesome.

And I know and I find fascinating the fact that you have an interest in classic cars and from where you are today, doing autonomous robots and all such things, I' intrigued by that progression.

So how did it start?

Way back in the young Luke days when you got interested in classic cars?

Luke Schnieder I actually did start my career, in the auto industry.

as a, as a mechanical engineer, a powertrain engineer working on engines and transmissions, very close to her and just sort of I always have had a love for, for cars, the cars that kind of were built in, let's say the, you know, the first century, in the early first century of the U.S. auto industry, and in the global auto industry, I guess, are just particularly beautiful, the combination.

Kristi K: So.

Luke Schnieder: Yeah, sure.

I mean, the combinations of, of, of body panels and curvatures of the use of chrome of the first attempts at trying to do human machine interface for something that travels that fast.

you know, a particular passion of min are, are early 1970s, Porsches.

The 9/11 I think were just such a unique product and, you know, such a, a focus for this company.

All that's ever produced are sports cars.

and these are sor of the very earliest examples, and the ones that honestl became accessible to everybody.

they weren't just restricted to people, you know, who wanted to race them.

and so the restoration, process, thi idea of looking at a car that, you know, has been beat up over 50, 60 years, and just going in and kind of carefully, thoughtfully, sometimes painstakingly cleaning, you know, removing corrosion, repainting, even sometimes rebuilding and, and, you know, things like welding and fabrication, it's therapeutic.

Kristi K: I was just going to say that that sounds like very therapeutic.

work life balance kind of really getting back to wha it means to be sort of peaceful.

Luke Schnieder: That's right.

And so much of how we work today, even compared to, you know, a couple of decades ago when I first got started, you know, we spent so much time communicating and on so many different forms of media.

You know, we have, you know, it used to be telephones and in person, discussion and sometimes writing a letter.

but now you have, you know, everything in between instant communications, electronic communications, video meetings and the like.

and so a lot of you know, how we, you know, how we kind of keep our our mental health and wellness.

I think, you know, for me is about, taking that time and, and recharging by just sort of doing something physical, you know, working with your hands, thinking about a problem, and just you know, being with yourself.

Yeah.

Kristi K: For sure.

Don't stop innovating.

the world needs more growth minded people like you.

Luke Snyder, thanks so muc for being on business life 360.

Luke Schnieder: It's bee an absolute pleasure, Christi.