#03 - Robotics + AI That Works: Peter Haas’ Roadmap to Abundance

Smol Der - The Professional's Applied AI Podcast

Peter is a Roboticist and a robotics consultant with Vairc, and as you will hear, he has a ton of experience and expertise across a wide range of disciplines in the field. He shares insight into what is happening on the bleeding edge of robotics and physical and artificial intelligence.

Peter traces a nonlinear path into robotics: early exposure building ultra-precise gyroscopes for NASA’s Gravity Probe B, a decade running an NGO supporting local infrastructure businesses in Haiti/Guatemala, then roles across lidar drones, Brown’s Humanity + Robotics Initiative, and statewide ecosystem building with MassRobotics and companies like Amazon Robotics and Boston Dynamics.

Thesis: we’re at an “Easter parade 1900 → 1913” inflection—robots will diffuse into everyday life like electricity and the Model T did, shifting from labs to streets, warehouses, homes, and services. Expect new institutions (e.g., robot operator licenses) and rapid infrastructure/policy catch-up.

Humanoids and autonomy: Haas counters Rodney Brooks’ skepticism, arguing we’re “moments” from AI capable enough to unlock practical humanoids and safer autonomy (cars included). Today’s transformer era may look like the “vacuum-tube ENIAC phase” in hindsight.

Near-term enabling tech: smaller, cheaper, privacy-respecting edge models with better interpretability/logging; explorations beyond transformers (e.g., biologically inspired “neuroethology,” connectome-guided architectures). These will sit inside apps/devices and support planning, decision-making, and on-device control.

“Extreme affordability”: much of the world’s next wave of robots will be built around ultra-low-cost compute (ESP32-class successors) and local manufacturing. As LLMs reduce hallucinations and accumulate practical know-how (energy, water, ag), they become catalysts for grassroots engineering and development.

Dystopia vs. abundance: the same tooling enables authoritarian surveillance (face/audio tracking, credit-score heat-maps) and weaponized platforms (wheeled shock bots, quadrupeds), potentially entrenching regimes for centuries; or it can deliver cheap goods, local food, routine surgeries, and higher global living standards. Which future arrives is a policy and culture choice, not a technical inevitability.

Autonomous weapons: swarming drones are coming to every military; norms and treaties should stigmatize fully autonomous “hunt and kill” systems akin to chemical weapons. The genie (open models, CAD, 3D printing) is out; defense must emphasize alignment and global guardrails before a World-War-I-style shock.

Political economy: as AI/robots outperform most human mental/physical tasks, societies may need transitional universal basic income (simple, dividend-style) to avoid a brittle, highly unequal order that demands coercion. Longer-term, a post-monetary “Star Trek” equilibrium is conceivable if we expand the pie and broaden participation. Taste, aesthetics, and human curation remain valuable cultural signals.

Civic aesthetics & the “Commonwealth”: investing in shared spaces and beauty (trees, clean streets, welcoming public realms) measurably improves safety, education, and economic prospects. Haas contrasts insular, security-maxed enclaves with places that cultivate common goods; the latter raise overall prosperity and resilience.

Model of hope: Gaviotas (Colombia) as a story of neutral, service-first institution-building—running a hospital open to all sides during conflict, seeding industry (pine resin), and unintentionally fostering rainforest regrowth under planted canopies. With AI/robotics, similar circular, ecological communities could scale—and show a path where technology and stewardship reinforce each other.

Bottom line: Robotics + AI are accelerating toward ubiquity, but outcomes hinge on taste, norms, and governance. If we pair extreme affordability and edge intelligence with human-centered aesthetics, pro-commons policy, and hard red lines on autonomous lethality, we can choose abundance over control—and build a future we actually like.

It was one of the best conversations I’ve ever had, and I hope you enjoy it.

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