Machine Minds
Machine Minds - the minds behind the machines! This is the show where we dive deep into the intricate worlds of robotics, AI, and Hard Tech. In each episode, we bring you intimate conversations with the founders, investors, and trailblazers who are at the heart of these tech revolutions. We dig into their journeys, the challenges they've overcome, and the breakthroughs that are shaping our future. Join us as we explore how these machine minds are transforming the way we live, work, and understand our world.
Machine Minds
Building the Future of Robotic Workforce Enablement with Richard Petrazzini
In this episode of Machine Minds, we explore what it really takes to build the human infrastructure behind the coming wave of robots. CEO and co-founder Richard Petrazzini joins Greg to unpack how “robotic workforce enablement” can make or break uptime, customer trust, and the long-term success of robotics deployments—especially as robots leave cages, connect to the cloud, and move into human environments.
Richard brings an unusually layered background to robotics: he’s a third-generation biochemist who grew up watching labs evolve from manual rabbit and frog testing to fully automated, 10,000-test-per-day facilities. That firsthand view of how healthcare automated over decades now informs how he thinks about robotics support, standards, and scale. After building one of Argentina’s largest labs and co-founding a successful software company, he spent two years doing nothing but researching robotics before launching Robotic Crew, a nearshore “human in the loop” partner for robot fleets.
In this conversation, Greg and Richard get into:
- Why robotics is entering its “lab automation moment” – and what other industries can learn from decades of healthcare and manufacturing automation
- How Robotic Crew supports pioneers deploying robots in uncharted territory, from first unit to scaled fleets
- The logic of nearshore support for robots: Latin American talent, daylight operations, and why robotics can’t be treated like asynchronous software outsourcing
- “Robotears,” tiered support (Tier 1–3 and beyond), and how to build career paths for people who keep robots productive in the field
- The trade-offs founders face around uptime, ownership of incident data, and when to bring in a partner for support
- What it feels like when a startup hits real momentum—not hype—and why Richard believes robotics companies will run out of engineers long before they run out of demand
- A real-world case study improving response and resolution times for autonomous robot kitchens, and what that reveals about process, telemetry, and customer success in robotics
If you’re deploying robots, building them, or thinking about how to support a growing fleet without burning out your core team, this episode is a deep dive into the future of robotic workforce enablement—and the humans who will keep that future running.
Connect with Richard on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpetrazzini
Connect with Greg on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregtoroosian/