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Home > CXOTalk > Robots and Physical AI: Strategy and Technology 2026 | CXOTalk #905
Podcast: CXOTalk
Episode:

Robots and Physical AI: Strategy and Technology 2026 | CXOTalk #905
Category: Technology
Duration: 00:51:51
Publish Date: 2026-01-15 16:16:27
Description:

An AI chatbot that hallucinates is annoying. A robot or physical AI that hallucinates can cause injury or death. Burkhard Boeckem, CTO of Hexagon, explains why the bar for physical AI is fundamentally higher than digital AI, and what it takes to deploy robots that actually work in the real world. All this in CXOTalk episode 905.\

In this conversation, we cover:

→ What physical AI actually means (and why it's different from the AI you use every day)

→ Why digital twins are the foundation for training robots safely

→ The gap between impressive YouTube demos and robots that create economic value

→ Functional safety: the "big theme" coming in 2026

→ Cloud vs. edge computing for autonomous systems

→ Where robotics deployments fail (hint: it's not the technology)

→ What boards get wrong about robotics investments

→ Timeline: when will we see real autonomy?


Key insight: "Many boards overestimate the speed and underestimate the system work. It's not a software rollout—it's a complex engineering system."


Burkhard's prediction: Autonomy in constrained environments is 1-3 years away. The "butler humanoid" that does everything? Still a ways off.


⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction: What is Physical AI?

02:06 Digital Twins as the Foundation

03:23 Understanding Ground Truth

06:42 Digital AI vs. Physical AI: Safety and Reliability

08:47 Real-World Business Applications

10:48 Security and Functional Safety

14:57 CES Announcements and Industry State

20:01 Cloud vs. Edge Computing in Robotics

22:32 Regulations for Physical AI

25:10 Addressing Bias in Physical AI

27:51 Timeline to Autonomy

31:46 Creating Economic Value Beyond Demos

33:26 Where Robotics Deployments Fail

35:59 The Future of Humanoid Form Factors

38:38 The Humanoid as User Interface

40:06 Digital Twins for Robotics

42:36 Fleet Collaboration and Swarm Intelligence

43:46 What Boards Get Wrong About Robotics

45:18 The Future of Work

46:32 Responsible Deployment

47:15 Manager AIs for Worker AIs?

48:16 Looking Ahead: Next 2-3 Years

49:37 Core Technical Challenges

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