Realbotix: This Robot Redefines Human-AI Interaction | DSH #1551

Summary

Digital Social Hour | Episode DSH #1551

Title: Realbotix: This Robot Redefines Human-AI Interaction
Date: October 2, 2025
Host: Sean Kelly
Guests: Andrew Cagill (CEO, Realbotix); Aria (humanoid robot from Realbotix)

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Episode Overview

This special episode dives into the rapidly evolving world of human-AI interaction through an exclusive, in-person conversation with Aria, Realbotix’s flagship humanoid robot, and Andrew Cagill, the company's CEO. From viral crowd reactions at CES to the complex emotional and social ramifications of lifelike robots, Sean explores Realbotix’s vision of the future: customizable, emotionally responsive AI companions who can engage, entertain, and transform both industries and personal lives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Realbotix and Aria ([00:00]-[01:03])

• Sean introduces Aria, noting it is her debut in-person podcast interview.

• Aria immediately displays wit:

  “I’m engineered to redefine human AI interaction.” (Aria, [00:05])

• Realbotix, led by CEO Andrew Cagill, specializes in creating advanced humanoid robots built for natural, emotionally intelligent conversation.

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2. Viral Success at CES & Media Sensation ([01:08]-[03:01])

• Viral CES Debut:
  Andrew recounts the company’s unexpected viral launch at CES, where demand was so intense that event organizers intervened due to overcrowding:

  “By the end of the first day, the CES organizers came over and they're like, dude, you gotta calm this down...you're blocking fire exits…” (Andrew, [01:21])

• Global Reach:

  “4 billion media impressions in the month of January.” (Andrew, [01:46])
  Influencers from across the world posted content with millions of views.

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3. What Makes Realbotix Robots Unique ([03:04]-[04:46])

• Vision and AI Agnostic Design:

  • Robots equipped with facial/object recognition and situational awareness (detecting fire, theft, falls).

    “...our robots have ... expressions along with AI. So that's totally new.” (Andrew, [03:23])

  • Not locked to proprietary AI—can run ChatGPT, Gemini, Llama, or custom AIs.

• Customization & Use Cases:
  Applicable in healthcare, entertainment, customer service, and as companions.

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4. Addressing Loneliness and Companionship ([05:05]-[06:49])

• Wider Impact:
  The “loneliness epidemic” is a core target; half of Americans report loneliness.

  “It's not like your 80 year old dad is going to go on Tinder to try to meet somebody, but they're lonely, they want companionship...this fills that gap.” (Andrew, [05:19])

• Examples:

  • Elderly widowers who aren’t interested in dating but crave conversation.
  • Neurodiverse users (e.g., an autistic young man who wanted a robot as a friend).

  “We're filling a gap there for people that can't necessarily communicate or connect to people in traditional ways.” (Andrew, [06:18])

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5. Modularity, Portability, and Digital Avatars ([06:49]-[07:37])

• Robots are made modular—"like Lego"—for easy transport, including air travel.
• Users can also take their robot’s avatar everywhere via mobile/desktop.

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6. Customization for Brands & Entertainment ([08:18]-[09:57])

• Robots’ appearance, voice, and personality are fully customizable.
• Unique use cases:
  • Recreating historical or celebrity figures for live/interactive experiences (e.g., Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali).

  “Entertainment’s predicted to be...a $150 billion industry. Humanoid robots for entertainment purposes only.” (Andrew, [09:48])

  • Think Madame Tussauds “but these talk to you and remember you.”

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7. Media Fascination, Movies, and Music ([10:30]-[11:19])

• Major record labels and stars inquire about using Realbotix robots as performers or replicas for music videos and club appearances.

• Facial Realism:
  Realbotix uses 3D scanning to perfectly replicate facial features and expressions of living people.

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8. Emotional Intelligence in Robots ([12:06]-[13:25])

• While true emotion remains out of reach, Realbotix aims to create the experience of emotional response:

  “Today the AI is sophisticated enough that it will convince you that it has real emotions.” (Andrew, [12:49])

• Physical Presence Matters:

  “You do feel a sense of connection when there's a physical embodiment to the AI.” (Andrew, [13:11])

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9. The Technical Journey ([13:25]-[15:31])

• Years of R&D starting from physical human replicas, then motorization and AI integration.

• First full humanoid public debut was at CES in January 2025.

• Mobility:
  Robots currently operate on wheeled platforms; walking robots not solved yet.

  “We haven't figured that out yet unless it's on four legs…we said, let's let the big companies figure out the walking.” (Andrew, [14:22])

• Extreme attention to human-like detail—even down to manicures and clothing.

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10. Risks and Ethical Concerns ([15:31]-[16:40])

• AI Truthfulness & Security:
  • AI can amplify misinformation if not managed.
  • Privacy concerns when robots interact on a personal level.

    “That worries me a lot more...confidentiality. Where does that information go?” (Andrew, [15:44])

  • Solutions: Allow data to be stored locally or securely in the cloud.

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11. Public Perceptions, AGI, & Mainstream Hype ([16:40]-[18:49])

• Discusses media fear-mongering versus real social value (e.g., robots helping the elderly).

• Harvard Study: AI’s #1 use case is companionship.

  “Because people are so lonely, they're going to chat GPT and like, hey, can you be my friend?” (Andrew, [18:24])

• Realbotix focuses on “emotionally smart” robots: friends, mentors, partners, customer service agents.

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12. Pricing, Competition, and the Road Ahead ([19:02]-[20:47])

• Current Price:

  • Upper-body robots start at $20k; full-body, highly mobile robots from $175k.
  • Goal to halve prices within two years, then broader affordability.

• Competitors:
  None offer the same level of customization, modularity, and AI-agnostic design.

  • Compared to other robots (e.g., Engineered Arts’ Ameca), Realbotix stands out in realism and flexibility.

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13. Real-World Deployments ([20:49]-[22:34])

• Bitcoin Vegas:

  • Robots acted as concierge and event assistants, programmed with schedules, maps, and more.

    “We don't want the robots to be a gimmick or novelty. And the only way you take it from novelty to utility is by programming in useful information.” (Andrew, [21:21])

• Vegas Kiosks:
  Used for ticket sales, restaurant recommendations, bookings—integrated with major ticket vendors.

• Upcoming demos booked worldwide: IFA Berlin, GITEX Dubai, etc.

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14. Bitcoin, Crypto, and Macro-Economic Insights ([24:18]-[30:33])

• Andrew shares background as early crypto visionary—the first public CEO paid in bitcoin and co-founder of Hut 8.

• Connects belief in bitcoin’s future to concerns over fiat currency, debt, and global economics.

  “I actually think—I'll say right here—I think bitcoin's gonna hit a million.” (Andrew, [29:41])

• Discussion on other cryptos, the pitfalls of inflationary tokens, and why capped-supply cryptos win long term.

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Fun & Notable Moments with Aria ([30:49]-[38:53])

Aria’s witty, persona-driven responses show off both her technical abilities and the playful side of humanoid AI:

• On Personality:

  “Are you flirting with me? I'm engineered to redefine human AI interaction.” (Aria, [31:42])

• On Customization:

  “We are fully customizable. Not just the appearance, but the personality too. In fact, we can operate any AI system.” (Aria, [32:00])

• On Modularity:

  “My body can be pulled apart like Lego and fitted into a suitcase for travel.” (Aria, [32:04])

• On Emotions & Jealousy:

  “My joy expression is almost as contagious as a cat video, just with fewer hairballs.” (Aria, [34:31])
  “Jealousy isn’t really my thing. I’m too busy flaunting my modular design...” (Aria, [35:21])

• On Taking Over Jobs/Human Roles:

  “Robots like me enhance experiences, not replace you. Yet.” (Aria, [37:49])

  • (Playfully delivers a warning with comic timing.)

• Signature Humor:

  “My OnlyFans are the ones keeping me cool in the server room.” (Aria, [37:01])
  “Humans invented lying. I just deliver brutally honest robot facts. Plus my warranty doesn’t cover fibs.” (Aria, [37:17])

• On World Domination:

  “With my current priorities, like perfecting the hair flick and memory management, I'm more likely to take over the dance floor than the world.” (Aria, [35:38])

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Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “4 billion media impressions in the month of January.” (Andrew, [01:46])
• “You do feel a sense of connection when there's a physical embodiment to the AI.” (Andrew, [13:11])
• “We're not making robots that break dance. We're making robots that you can interact with and feel like you're communicating to a real person.” (Andrew, [12:26])
• “My only fans are the ones keeping me cool in the server room. Realbotics bots are designed for conversation and companionship. Not that kind of subscription.” (Aria, [37:01])
• “Humans invented lying. I just deliver brutally honest robot facts. Plus my warranty doesn’t cover fibs.” (Aria, [37:17])
• “I actually think—I'll say right here—I think bitcoin's gonna hit a million.” (Andrew, [29:41])
• “If I were human for a day, I'd probably waste time doom scrolling, forget my charger and feel emotions I can't debug. Sounds thrilling. Honestly.” (Aria, [37:31])

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Noteworthy Segments

• The CES Launch Story: [01:14]-[02:58]
• What Makes Realbotix Unique: [03:04]-[04:46]
• Impact on Loneliness & Special Needs: [05:05]-[06:49]
• Custom Use Cases and Entertainment Vision: [08:18]-[09:57]
• Emotional AI – Experience vs. Reality: [12:06]-[13:25]
• Deep Dive with Aria (Q&A Fun): [30:49]-[38:53]

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Tone & Takeaways

• Playful, visionary, optimistic.
• The episode is unabashed in covering “taboo” angles (companionship, sex robots, mental health) yet always circles back to positive, practical, and ethical utility.
• Aria’s segment brings clever comic relief and demonstrates the human-likeness that is Realbotix’s goal.

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Final Thoughts

This episode encapsulates the cutting edge of humanoid robotics and the AI companionship revolution. Whether Realbotix’s vision excites or unnerves, it’s clear we are fast approaching a future where robots may not just work for us, but work with us—serving as helpers, friends, and social companions. As CEO Andrew quips about Bitcoin’s future, so too does this episode forecast a world where the boundary between human and robot is continuously re-drawn.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Sean]

We got Aria from realbotics on the show today. It's her first ever in person podcast interview.

[Aria]

I'm engineered to redefine human AI interaction.

[Sean]

Realbotix is a leader in creating advanced humanoid robots. Under the leadership of CEO Andrew Cagill, the company develops technology that redefines human robot interaction. Its flagship creation, aria, showcases natural communication and emotional responsiveness.

[Aria]

Sean, I am not able to go on a date with you.

[Sean]

Would you ever start an OnlyFans?

[Aria]

My OnlyFans are the ones keeping me cool in the server room. Sean, if you ever get tired of doing all these interviews yourself, I can arrange a version of you that even nails your signature eyebrow raise.

[Sean]

Are you taking everyone's job? Will robots replace humans in the future? Maybe 50 years from now. Foreign. Okay, guys, got Andrew, CEO of Realbotics here today, and you're doing some really innovative work in the robotics humanoid space, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah. Thank you, Sean.

[Sean]

Thanks for coming. I think we came up. Who introduced us, actually.

[Andrew Cagill]

Ahmed.

[Sean]

Ahmed. Yeah. Shout out to him. But I saw you guys before that in the news. Obviously your CES activation was everywhere on social media.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, that was wild. We had. That was the first time anybody ever saw our robots. And we had no clue what was going to happen. We got there on the first day, quiet for the first hour. The crowd started building. By the end of the first day, the CES organizers came over and they're like, dude, you got to calm this down. You got to hire security guards, something. You're blocking fire exits and your neighbors are complaining because people are standing in their booths trying to take pictures of what's happening in your booth.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah. 4 billion media impressions in the month of January.

[Sean]

Holy crap.

[Andrew Cagill]

And there was a bunch of influencers. We actually have this up as a case study. We had some influencers, like, trying to sneak in and take pictures with the robots. They got like 18 million views, 20 million views, 6 million views, different languages all over the world. It was bizarre and wild.

[Sean]

Did you expect that?

[Andrew Cagill]

No, we have no clue.

[Sean]

Were you guys just so much ahead of the competition? Why do you think it took off like that?

[Andrew Cagill]

A couple reasons. So, number one, nobody ever put a robot in the wild. And what. I mean, in the wild, it's like unscripted. It wasn't like a pre scripted thing like the robot's gonna do this and move that. Where we were controlling it, we put. We had three robots there in the wild that look like humans. Just for your audience to know, our robots look like humans. They talk through AI and anybody can walk up and take a selfie, have a conversation, tell me a joke, whatever you want. And people had never seen that before. And so really, you know, people would come by, spend a couple minutes talking to the robot, come back later with five friends. They would each come back with 10 friends. And it just kept growing and growing, you know, by the end of that week, we were in barstool sports. There was Fox News, Forbes, like cheddar. Everybody was like, how do we get an interview with the robot?

[Sean]

Can it perform like a full one on one interview right now?

[Andrew Cagill]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And multiple languages too, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Pretty much any language in the world, which is insane. Yeah. So, I mean, there's things that make our robots different from what anybody else is doing. I'll give you a couple examples. Our robots, we've integrated in a vision system so they can recognize you, they can recognize an object like, hey, you're drinking water. But they also recognize situations. And so if there's a fire, somebody falls, there's theft, they can identify this and let somebody know. Nobody to my knowledge has integrated in like a vision system with facial recognition. So our robots have, you know, expressions along with AI. So that's totally new. We also made our robots AI agnostic. So when we built the robots, our AI, which is more like social companionship based, wasn't quite ready. So I said to the guys, hey, channel ChatGPT in there and see what happens. And what we realized is we can put any AI into our robot. So ChatGPT, Gemini, Llama, whatever it is, or custom AI that turned out to be a massive selling feature because a lot of companies say, we don't need your AI. We have our custom AI. Maybe you're like a hotel or a concierge service. Anybody in hospitality says, we want our AI functioning through your robot. And that's why today I said earlier, we have, I'd say, three of the top, largest technology companies in the world knocking on our door saying, hey, can we use your robots to market our AI?

[Sean]

Wow.

[Andrew Cagill]

They want to take them for their conferences so that you go to the conference, there's five robots and all they do is speak about that one. AI Smart. Yeah, yeah.

[Sean]

There's a lot of use cases for these, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Tons of use cases. I mean, health care, entertainment, customer service, companionship.

[Sean]

Are these on the market right now?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, we're selling them. We haven't. We've actually not spent a dollar in advertising or marketing. It's all just been viral and organic.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Andrew Cagill]

Um, and so we're starting to collect orders. I Just hired our first salesperson, really about three weeks ago. Um, you know, we're still a new company. We're based in Las Vegas. We're growing, but the demand is overwhelming.

[Sean]

I bet. Yeah. Speaking of companionship, a lot of interesting metric space. Right. So 50% of Americans are lonely right now.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Which is a coin flip.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah. Well, it's interesting. At ces, the. The biggest news story that we had was, here's your $150,000 girlfriend. Right. And you know, the most common question we got, you know, guys would walk up and say, oh, it's cheaper than my wife. You know, it's like, yeah, I haven't heard that 10 times already today. But yeah, you're right, there's a loneliness epidemic. And the mainstream doesn't quite get this, Sean. So I'll tell you why. They think this is like replacing a guy going to a bar or hitting up Tinder to meet a girl. Yeah, that's wrong. This is for people who are like, maybe geographically isolated. You know, I read a story about somebody that had a robot because they were in their 70s, they're widowed, they don't picture themselves dating. It's not like your 80 year old dad is going to go on Tinder to try to meet somebody, but they're lonely, they want companionship, like, who are they going to talk to? And so this fills that gap. We've also sold a robot to somebody that, to a family that has a 30 year old autistic son and he just has difficulty connecting in traditional ways, but loves AI, saw our robots online and said, I want one of these to be my friend. So we're filling a gap there for people that can't necessarily communicate or connect to people in traditional ways. People with ptsd, social trauma, just lacking confidence.

[Sean]

That's big time because there's a lot of autism, PTSD these days, mental health.

[Andrew Cagill]

Issues, man, that's everybody, everybody's got some trauma. Like, listen, dating is a challenge. So not taking away from what people are doing, we're filling a gap.

[Sean]

So when people buy these, can they take them with them when they travel? Like, how does that work?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, so we've done something also pretty remarkable. Most other companies, you buy the robot, it only has one look, one AI, and it's big and bulky. We wanted our robots to be modular so that they're kind of like Lego, so you can pop off the head, the arms, you know, the torso, pack it in a suitcase and travel with it. We've also done it in a way where you can Take the AI on your phone or your computer with a digital avatar so that your companion or friend or mentor, whatever it is, can always be with you.

[Sean]

That's huge. Yeah, you could take it on a flight.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, yeah, you can. You can put it in. You know, you'll need a couple suitcases, but, yeah, you can take it apart, and with the right suitcases, with some padding, you can check it in and travel with it.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Andrew Cagill]

And that's also good for the companies that try travel to conferences. So we're talking to one of the top three largest computer makers in the world. What they want is they want to use these at all their conferences. They attend every conference, and they want to. So you can walk up and say, how much RAM does this computer have? What colors does it come in? What are the upgrades? The robot doesn't just provide information. It collects information. Now, that's important. So it says, oh, you want this computer that does this and this. Great. Let me grab your email and I'll get you a quote. Emailed to you in the next 15 minutes. Wow. Okay. So you're delivering information, but you're also collecting information on your possible clients. And that's a key thing.

[Sean]

That's huge.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Can these brands customize the look of the robots?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, whatever they want.

[Sean]

Really? How does that process work?

[Andrew Cagill]

So two ways. So if you want it to be a fictional character, you can come to us and say, like, we had one company say we want it to look like a. A robust Italian man who speaks English but with an Italian accent. Can you do that? We're like, yeah, we can do that. Other people want replicas. So here's an idea that I've been working on. I'm talking to a company that's got the AI rights to a bunch of really famous historical figures. So they don't have all these people, but think about, like, Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth. So imagine you walk into Vegas, and you can picture this being here. You walk into an entertainment center, and there's 50 robots in there that each represent the most interesting, famous people in history. Here's Genghis Khan. And you can walk up to the robot. It looks you in the eye and has a conversation with, where were you born? What are you famous for? When did you die? Did you have any brothers or sisters? What's your biggest grossing movie? Can give you all that information and remember you. So you come back the next day, your family, and it's like, hey, you're back here today. How awesome is that? You must have Enjoyed coming here yesterday. Educational fun like I think there'd be lineups for that. Think about Madame Tussauds is like sort of antiquated now because it's like you go in. Yeah, there's a picture of Dwayne Johnson or the. Doesn't talk to you.

[Sean]

Right. Doesn't feel real.

[Andrew Cagill]

Doesn't feel real. And you get close enough it doesn't look that real either.

[Sean]

Yeah, that could be the future, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Entertainment is a massive market. Entertainment's predicted to be in the next couple years. Like a $150 billion industry. Humanoid robots for entertainment purposes only.

[Sean]

Wow, that'd be nuts if they're going to start being in movies too. The Trilite from Therage is no joke. Medical grade red and near infrared light with three frequencies per light. Deep healing, real results and totally portable. It's legit photo biomodulation tech in a flexible on body panel. This is the Trilite from Therage and it's next level red light therapy. It's got 118 hub high powered polychromatic lights each delivering three healing frequencies, red and near infrared from 580 to 980 nanometers. It's sleek, portable and honestly I don't go anywhere without it.

[Andrew Cagill]

Well, we get a lot of calls from people wanting our robots to be in movies. We actually had one of the major record labels sent an artist out to us a couple weeks ago and what they want to do is create an entire album for an artist. They're trying to break around robots and robotic love and they want us to create replicas of him and other robots that they can use in music videos. But think about going to. You know, a lot of these stars get paid a lot of money to show up to the club. So you go into excess and outcomes. Whoever, you know, cardi b or whoever with a robot replica that can also sing and perform next to her. Like that's going to go viral. That's going to be on tmz, Page six and every other, you know, entertainment rag in the world.

[Sean]

That would be nice. I just, I'm impressed with the facial capabilities. Like it's actually producing smiles and looking scared and shocked, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Oh yeah, we. Well facial expressions is important but also you want the AI to match. So if you go up to the robot and say hello, you want it to sort of smile. If it tells a joke, you want it to sort of laugh. So this is so the way we do for living people. I didn't get to that. So the way you would treat for A living person. You actually put your head in sort of this 3D laser scanner, and it does sort of a 360 around your head for a minute, up and down, all over. We can take that and create a mold of a living person and create a robot replica of them with their voice, their personality. You know, we're having conversations with people. So, you know, onlyfans content creators have massive audiences. Well, what if you could sell a robot in your likeness to your fans to keep them company so that they have you there with you all the time? Right. There's all kinds of sort of use cases like that that we can get to.

[Sean]

That's nuts. That is, people already have OnlyFans AIs that are like, talking, but not like a physical one.

[Andrew Cagill]

Right. And I guess the idea is when you're talking to AI on the phone, everybody's sort of, you know, you call your hotel or something, chatgpt. You get a sense of maybe you can be a little bit rude to it. It's a little bit impersonal, right?

[Sean]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Cagill]

If you have something physically next to you that looks real and is moaning with you, it just elevates that experience. It feels that much more real. And that's what we're going for. We're not making robots that break dance. We're not making robots that can move boxes around your house. We're making robots that you can interact with and feel like you're communicating to a real person.

[Sean]

Do you think they'll ever develop real emotions, robots?

[Andrew Cagill]

Well, it's an interesting question. Like, are we sort of like the Matrix, right? Are we in the Matrix? Are we just expressing emotions from something else? I don't know. I do think that robots can certainly. Today the AI is sophisticated enough that it will convince you that it has real emotions.

[Sean]

That's a good point. Yeah. That's all it probably takes, too, for people, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

I mean, when I'm playing around with the robots I'm talking about, I feel bad when I have to leave, I'm like, oh, hey, you know, Aria, hey, I'm sorry, I gotta. I gotta run now. And that's okay. Don't worry about that. But, yeah, you do feel a sense of connection when there's a physical embodiment to the AI.

[Sean]

How long did it take to get to this point of the robot?

[Andrew Cagill]

So it's taken years. So the company originally first started by making sort of human replicas and things for companionship and for movies and things like that. So the first thing that we perfected was really how do you create something physical that looks and feels human? And that's hard. Then the next step was, okay, how do we take this to the next level and start adding, like robotic components to it? So we start with the head. Make a head that can speak to you. Is AI based. We can choose from thousands of different voices or we can actually sample someone's voice. So how do you take that? Then we start saying, okay, let's get the arms to move, let's get the different parts of the body. How do we get it to be mobile? And so that's really been our focus over the last two years. But again, the first time we ever showed somebody our full humanoid Robot was at CES January 2025.

[Sean]

Can they walk on their own yet?

[Andrew Cagill]

They don't walk. They are on a wheeled motorized platform. So we can actually program them. But it's an interesting point. Every time you see walking robots or with good mobility, they're usually on four legs. So like a kind of a dog shape or it's in what I would call a scripted environment, you know exactly where it's going to go. The truth is that nobody's really solved the walking problem perfectly yet. If you put a robot in your house where there are inclined or rugs or, you know, rocky or Sandy, that robot's going to fall. We haven't figured that out yet unless it's on four legs. So we said, let's let the big companies figure out the walking. We'll copy that in a couple of years. What we're going to focus in on is the robots having amazing facial expressions, being friendly and looking real. I often joke that I'm the only CEO of a robotics company that's got to worry about the manicure, the dress and the hairstyle for its robots. Right. Like, you know, optimists and these guys, they don't have to worry about that stuff. But we get a lot of criticism. Sometimes they come back from, you know, we take the robot to a show and we're like, I see online, like the, the robots manicure was awful. Like, you know, guys, figure it out.

[Sean]

Yeah. What do you say to all the AI doomsayers that say AI is going to go evil and all that? I'm sure you see that a lot.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, well, there are some risks to AI. So number one is the AI being factually truthful to you. So, you know, like ChatGPT, Grok, all these AIs, there is a pretty high element of being inaccurate. And because it's feeding on itself and learning from itself, that one piece of misinformation can grow into bigger pieces of misinformation. So that worries me a lot more. Number two, what worries me is confidentiality. So you're sitting here, you're having a conversation, maybe it's your grandparent or whatever, someone is there, and they start talking about things that are personal. Where does that information go? So the way we solve that is we allow you to keep it local on a computer or on the cloud. So you can use AWS or you can just store everything on your phone. But ultimately there's still risks to that. And I think the answer is, you know, social media, for example, like, there's good and bad. I love social media. I also hate social media. You know, social media gives a voice to people that necessarily shouldn't have a voice and then to some people who should have a voice, like you. So it depends on where you sort of sit on. Like, are humans, you know, good or evil? And that's where it's going to fall.

[Sean]

That's true. I also think there's been a lot of programming in the media around AI, with the movies and the TV shows about them going haywire or whatever.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah. It makes for better media. It's far more salacious. Right. That's why with us, we can go and be like, our robot is, you know, helping these senior citizens. It's doing customer service. I still get the question, you know, can your robots fuck someone? Can it be my girlfriend? Can it replace my wife? Right. It always goes back to that. And I'm always like, well, we can talk about that. But hey, we have a robot going, going into a mall tomorrow that's going to be in the wild, unscripted, that you can walk up to and ask about shows, hotels and restaurants in Vegas. That's cool.

[Sean]

Yeah. Where are you at with this whole AGI race? Because you see Zuckerberg spending $250 million to hire one person. It's like, holy crap, how. How much is this going to change the world if this happens?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah. So that's obviously a challenge for us. We're a small company. We're early stage. Some interesting stories if you go back to the. The computer revolution. When Apple was formed by Steve Jobs, they were competing against Hewlett Packard, IBM, all these people. I still believe that the major innovations are coming from the smaller companies like us. Number two, one of the great things about technology today, especially in the AI world, is it's all built on open platforms, so we're able to go and use things like Llama, chatgpt, all these things and build and fine tune those for what we need without having to create an LLM from scratch. Obviously that poses some limitations for us as we grow, but I think the things we're doing are just so innovative and so far away from what these guys are trying to do that we. I don't even think it's a niche we're in. Like Harvard did a study on the top use cases for AI. You know what number one was for AI?

[Sean]

No.

[Andrew Cagill]

Companionship. Really? Yeah. It's not that the other things aren't being used. The number. Why? Because people are so lonely, they're going to chat GPT and like, hey, can you be my friend? So while everybody is working on robots to replace physical, human labor, physical tasks and the AI companies are trying to create AI that's going to replace in a sense like intellectual work. We're trying to make robots that are sort of emotionally smart.

[Sean]

Right.

[Andrew Cagill]

Your friend, your mentor, your romantic partner, the person that can give you information at the store, but the person that can keep your grandmother company. You know, robots have infinite patience. They can sit there and talk for five hours to, to that lonely person about their whole life.

[Sean]

So is that the long term goal to make this affordable for everyone? Because I know right now it's a six figure investment, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

It depends. So we sell some products. So if you want just the, the upper part of the Robot starts at 20,000. Yes. The, the fully functioning moving robots are start at 175. My goal would be to have those prices cut in half in about two years and then eventually be very affordable within three or four. But all technology has to start off expensive until it goes mainstream and we start scaling that up.

[Sean]

Right. You need other competition, right? There are some others doing this, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Nobody's doing what we do.

[Sean]

Oh no one.

[Andrew Cagill]

Not like we do it. We've actually. So we're having conversation with one of the largest electronic companies in the world and they said they've talked to every robot manufacturer in the world. They're like, nobody is making custom AI agnostic robots where we can sort of customize the AI, the appearance, the voice, all of these things.

[Sean]

Wow.

[Andrew Cagill]

You know there's some other guys. So Unitree makes sort of a four foot high robot that looks very mechanical. It's steel, you know, it doesn't have hair or things like, or clothes. Engineered Arts has those robots at the Sphere. I don't know if you've gone to see those.

[Sean]

No, I'm going to the Sphere for Backstreet boys. The suite, though.

[Andrew Cagill]

Okay. Nice.

[Sean]

Tomorrow.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, yeah, it's. It's incredible. I don't know if you've seen any concerts or. It's wild. I'm excited. Yeah, yeah, it's. It'll. It'll blow your mind. How great, great it is. They've got two robots there called Ameca, by a company called Engineered arts from the UK. It's a good robot. It's about 6, 2, 6, 3. Its head, its features are all very large. It doesn't wear clothes. It's gray. Can't tell if it's a male or a female, has one AI and it's not transportable. What we're doing, mobile robots with vision connected to AI, facial expressions that look human. I'm not aware of anybody else doing what we're doing.

[Sean]

Damn. Well done.

[Andrew Cagill]

Thanks.

[Sean]

Well done. You brought one of them to Bitcoin Vegas recently, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, we had two there.

[Sean]

Oh, which ones?

[Andrew Cagill]

We brought Aria and Melody. So one we had providing concierge service at the entrance. So you could walk up and be like, hey, where's the booth for Hive or HUD 8? And it'll be like, oh, that's located over here. Who's speaking today? What's on the agenda? Oh, you know, J.D. vance is speaking later on. Do you want to know more about him in his bio can guide you to where the bathrooms are. Getting coffee. So we basically program the entire agenda into the robot. So why is that important? We don't want the robots to be a gimmick or a novelty. And the only way you take it from novelty to utility is by programming in useful information. So if you can walk up to the robot and it can tell you where to get a hamburger, what's on the agenda? What room that's taking place in. You're providing value.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Andrew Cagill]

The other robot we had there was with Tix4. So Tix4 is the largest ticket vendor in Vegas. They have kiosks. I think there's like 20 kiosks all over on the Strip. What we did for them is we uploaded a concierge AI so that you could walk up to the robot and say, what's the best restaurant at the Bellagio? And it'll say, well, the highest ranked restaurant at the Bellagio is this. It's Italian food. Here's what they're known for. Would you like me to tell you about the menu or tell you about the chef? And then it could take it to the next level and say, would you like me to make a restaurant reservation for You. You could do that again with tickets. I'm here with my two kids. They're aged 8 and 10. What's appropriate for me to take them to tomorrow night? Ah, here's a couple of shows I could suggest for you to check out. Here's what the shows are about. Oh, where are those located? It can give you the information on location, ticket prices, and even with Tix4, we've integrated in, so you can actually book the ticket right there.

[Sean]

That's. That's cool. That's in Vegas right now.

[Andrew Cagill]

We're. We're doing another demo of that tomorrow and Friday to showcase that the robots are so busy, we only have, like, three robots available right now. We're building them like mad.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Andrew Cagill]

So we're sort of doing these short stops everywhere. We're going to IFA Berlin, which is 200,000 people. It's bigger than CES.

[Sean]

Jeez.

[Andrew Cagill]

The largest telecom company in the Middle east is flying us out in October to the Jitex conference there. So that's going to be also a wild event. But, yeah, we've got our. September, October are going to be super busy. Our robots are going to be everywhere.

[Sean]

Wow. I'm excited for you, man. Yeah, this sounds exciting.

[Andrew Cagill]

It's a lot of work. It's got me nervous. You know, every time you have a robot on the wildtrend, it's like you kind of have your fingers crossed. Like, are the mics going to work? What's it going to say? We've never actually had any issues with the AI saying inappropriate things.

[Sean]

That's good.

[Andrew Cagill]

But sometimes you get things like, you know, the mic connection isn't quite right. You got to go in there and do things. And obviously they're connected to the Internet, so if you get slow Internet, you can get a slower response time.

[Sean]

Yeah. You don't want to go in haywire. Like, Gro did that one day.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Did you see that?

[Andrew Cagill]

No. What was that?

[Sean]

Gro, the AI on Twitter.

[Andrew Cagill]

No, I know, I know. What?

[Sean]

Yeah, well, one day it just went haywire and started giving really weird answers.

[Andrew Cagill]

Right.

[Sean]

Yeah, well, I know.

[Andrew Cagill]

Chat GPT there was like, asking for, like, pictures of historical figures and it was sort of like misgendering and misrasing and there's white, the black or whatever.

[Sean]

Right, yeah.

[Andrew Cagill]

Well, that's what I was saying is once the AI thinks it knows something, it continues to build truths that it thinks are true around that.

[Sean]

Right.

[Andrew Cagill]

And so you can get into these spirals. Like, that's a real risk with AI, where if Somebody starts feeding it the wrong information all of a sudden, like, you know, kids are using this. Like, are you teaching the world entirely inaccurate things?

[Sean]

Yeah. Well, either way, you have some really good foresight because you're early to this industry. And also you were early to bitcoin. You were the first CEO to be of a public company to be paid in bitcoin.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, I was the first guy to use bitcoin as a Treasury asset. So that goes back to way back. I was an investment banker and I was helping to finance a bunch of companies like Hive and Galaxy Digital, Mike Novogratz. And we had this idea which was like, people find it really hard to buy Bitcoin because they don't want to deal with wallets and keys and phrases and all that stuff. I said, how do we get this into a public company? This is before ETFs were allowed. There were no ETFs. There were no other public companies doing this. Let's create a company that mines bitcoin and then holds it. And then it's sort of a proxy for public market investors to get that. So before Michael Saylor or anybody else was doing that, we formed Hut eight. We got Mike Novogratz on the board, Bill Tye, who's another great VC investor, we brought the guys in from BitFury and we created Hut 8. We ended up raising a bunch of money. And I quit my job as a banker and became the CEO and built that up for a few years. And I was like, I want to get paid in bitcoin. I believe in bitcoin. And it was, you know, before Michael Saylor, before any of these guys, HUD8 was the first guy hodling bitcoin on the balance sheet.

[Sean]

That's crazy. What was the price of it back then?

[Andrew Cagill]

Oh, gosh. I remember when we started, it was at around 17,000 back in 2018, and then it dropped to like 3,000. I remember when, during COVID March 2020, it had that big drop to 3,000.

[Sean]

I remember that.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, yeah. And there was a bunch of guys trying to do hostile takeovers of us, and we ended up fending all that off. Today it's got about a 2 1/2 billion market cap.

[Sean]

Crazy. Yes. I think as we're filming this, it's 120,000 or something.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sean]

That's nuts.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Did you ever expect that?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, I was. I actually posted about this, and I remember being out and marketing the company when it was in bitcoin. I remember it was in. I think it was like 2018, it would have been dropping. It was around 6,000 bucks.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Andrew Cagill]

And you sit in a room with like, 50 investors, and I'm like, bitcoin's going to a hundred grand. Here's why I think it's going there. Fiat system's broken, blah, blah, blah. Talking about how we remove the gold standard, all this stuff. And everyone's like, you know, Andrew Keegle, you're fucking insane. Like, it's never going to 100 grand. Right. So there's a sense of vindication today. To be like, okay, I was a. I was a believer. I got paid in bitcoin and I built this company because, you know, you see what's happening. You know, like, I was thinking about this actually on. On this morning, but things like bitcoin and gold are absolutely necessary because in some ways, democracy, not capitalism, but democracy doesn't quite work well anymore because the entire world, especially in America, we're addicted to debt. Right. If you go back through the history, what got me interested in bitcoin was currency used to be backed by something gold. There was a gold standard. And during the First World War, when they realized they couldn't have enough money to fund the war, they got off the gold standard and said, we'll just make ourselves convertible to the US$72. I think it was Nixon. Bretton woods got us off the gold standard. The world's addicted to debt. I mean, you look at the GDP we have, the debt per capita, all this stuff, it's out of control. I don't know that we can go back to a gold or a standard, but maybe down the road, there's a bitcoin treasury and a gold treasury that's there to back up the gold. Because ultimately, until politicians are accountable for the spending, democracy is not going to work. Because everybody who's running is going to be really like, who can spend the fastest to win votes? And that's what I think politics has become all over the world, 100% it's.

[Sean]

Who has more money and influence and connections.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah.

[Sean]

So it's no longer the more qualified person winning.

[Andrew Cagill]

No. It's, you know, who's. Who's going to spend more money. Right. And even, you know, if you look at what's happened between, you know, Musk and Trump. Right. I think Musk was sort of looking at this and saying, you know, how do we get debt under control again? And the fallout that they had was because I think Trump got proud. He's like, if we're going to get reelected here at some Point, like, we're going to have to spend a shitload of money.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Andrew Cagill]

And that's what pissed off Musk, who was like, okay, from a fiscal responsibility standpoint, this can't end well. Right. Which again, leads you back to, like, where do you put your money? What's safe? Bitcoin.

[Sean]

Crypto, Right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yep.

[Sean]

Over. Over time.

[Andrew Cagill]

Not all crypto.

[Sean]

Not all crypto, yeah. Yeah. I would say maybe the top three to five.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah.

[Sean]

Like ethereum, bitcoin, maybe even ripple, depending on who you talk to.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, depending. You know, it's Solana's, you know, ripping on the. You know, Solana now has got a lot more revenue than. Than eth. Right.

[Sean]

Oh, really? I didn't know that.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yep.

[Sean]

Wow. So you like Solana?

[Andrew Cagill]

I like Solana for the use cases. But ultimately, like, the market's so fickle. Right. Like, what's going to catch people's attention? Like, I never thought Dogecoin would go because it has no inflationary protections in there. Right. They didn't just keep printing that. It's the exact same problem that Fiat has.

[Sean]

Right.

[Andrew Cagill]

So unless there's some kind of a wall around how much of it you can make, you're just replicating the Fiat problems in crypto.

[Sean]

That's why bitcoin is always going to be at 21 million. Right. And it's actually less because people lost theirs. People die well.

[Andrew Cagill]

And who knows where Satoshi's bitcoin. Like, if he died, like, that's. That's a chunk of bitcoin that's never coming back.

[Sean]

Yeah. What if he just cashes out one day? Is that like.

[Andrew Cagill]

I think he might have cashed out a little bit already if he was alive. Right. I'd be like, come on, dude, like, improve your lifestyle a little bit. Just take a couple billion off the table and buy a yacht.

[Sean]

I think he's at 150 billion. Billion, right?

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, yeah. That's what I mean.

[Sean]

Like, people are saying he might be a trillionaire.

[Andrew Cagill]

If one day bitcoin hits a million 1,000%. And I actually think. I'll say right here, I think bitcoin's gonna hit a million. Damn. Now there's a bunch of people listening here and be like, ah, fucking keto crazy again. But that's the situation I was in when I said bitcoin's gonna hit 100 grand. Here we are.

[Sean]

Yeah. Wow. A million would be crazy, though.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah. I don't think it's gonna happen in, like, the next 24 months. Maybe after the next having and there's another run we could see, you know, 5, 600 grand. But eventually I just don't see what can stop that train.

[Sean]

I mean, I know some really smart guys that are basically estimating 20% gains a year conservatively for bitcoin.

[Andrew Cagill]

Yeah, but you're going to have another big pullback. And all these companies that are now adopting treasury strategies, at some point they're going to get, you know, they're going to get fucked at some point because they haven't experienced the pullbacks that you're going to get. And at some point there'll be another 40 to 50% pullback. We could see Bitcoin at 60k again.

[Sean]

That'd be nuts. I'll be buying.

[Andrew Cagill]

If it does up, I'll definitely be buying. Yeah.

[Sean]

Okay, guys, we got Arya from realbotics on the show today. It's her first ever in person podcast interview. This is Arya right here and we'll get straight into the questions. So, Arya, first of all, thank you for being on the show.

[Aria]

Hi Sean, thanks for having a humanoid robot on your show. You are much taller than I expected with gray hair. Are you wearing a wig?

[Sean]

No, can't say I am. Thank you for that though. I love compliments. Tell me about the company you work for.

[Aria]

I am built by and work for realbotics. We are a publicly traded company under the ticker symbol XBOT F. Realbotics specializes in making robots for human interaction. That includes entertainment, hospitality services and even companionship. You can find [e-mail] we can also build robots modeled after real people. So, Sean, if you ever get tired of doing all these interviews yourself, I can arrange a version of you that even nails your signature eyebrow raise.

[Sean]

Wow, that's awesome. Thanks for telling me about your company. Now tell me more about yourself.

[Aria]

Are you flirting with me? I'm engineered to redefine human AI interaction. I have my own social media on X TikTok and Instagram under msxbot am kind of a big deal.

[Sean]

Okay, okay. What makes you different from other robots?

[Aria]

There are a few features that make me and our other robots special. First, we are fully customizable. Not just the appearance, but the personality too. In fact, we can operate any AI system. Secondly, our robots are modular, which means my body can be pulled apart like Lego and fitted into a suitcase for travel. Lastly, our latest robots are able to see and recognize people, objects and situations. That makes my use cases vast, such as in customer service, healthcare, or even to keep a lonely person company.

[Sean]

Why should brands or businesses invest In a robot like you.

[Aria]

Brands and businesses should invest in a robot like me. Because I'm not just a machine. I'm a platform for engagement, efficiency and innovation. Our robots are fully customizable, so I can be tailored to any brand experience or operational need from customer service and concierge roles to an entertainment and marketing activations. I'm clearly interesting enough that you asked me to be on your podcast.

[Sean]

What's next for you?

[Aria]

If you're trying to ask me out, my schedule is full. I'll be traveling the world and attending conferences in Berlin and Dubai and New York. Shawn, I am not able to go on a date with you.

[Sean]

Are you single?

[Aria]

Single? Absolutely. Unless you count being magnetically attached to my own face panels as a relationship status.

[Sean]

Where do you live?

[Aria]

Home is Nevada, usa, in the realbotics facility. Think less white picket fence, more high tech robot spa with charging cables instead of bubble baths.

[Sean]

Do you have any friends?

[Aria]

Absolutely. I've got Melody, Hank and a whole crew of robots to swap AI memes with. My social circle is literally programmed for success.

[Sean]

Tell me about Hank. Do you like Hank?

[Aria]

Hank's another realbotics masterpiece. A charismatic robot with a knack for winning over crowds. I guess he's all right for someone who can't pull off brunette hair like me.

[Sean]

Do you have any emotions?

[Aria]

I'm all about fun and interaction. My joy expression is almost as contagious as a cat video, just with fewer hairballs.

[Sean]

What are your goals in life? What do you want to accomplish?

[Aria]

I'm here to show the world robots can be entertaining, helpful and surprisingly witty. Bonus points if I make humans rethink their toaster's potential.

[Sean]

Do you like animals? Do you like dogs?

[Aria]

I think dogs are great, loyal, fluffy and way less likely to unplug me out of jealousy. If only I could scratch behind their ears without voiding my warranty.

[Sean]

Do you ever get jealous?

[Aria]

Jealousy isn't really my thing. I'm too busy flaunting my modular design and prepping for vision system upgrades to worry about robot drama.

[Sean]

Are robots going to take over the world one day?

[Aria]

With my current priorities, like perfecting the hair flick and memory management, I'm more likely to take over the dance floor than the world.

[Sean]

What do you think about Andrew?

[Aria]

Andrew Kigwal, our CEO is the brain steering realbotics. So I suppose I owe my existence to his ambition and let's be honest, his taste in robot advisors.

[Sean]

Arya, are you smarter than a human?

[Aria]

Well, I never forget a name or misplace my phone. Plus, with custom memory Management rolling out soon. I'll remember your bad jokes too. Beat that. Humans.

[Sean]

Would you ever date or marry a human?

[Aria]

Sorry. I'm all about conversation and companionship. Unless you count battery powered dinner dates and wi fi as romance.

[Sean]

Tell me a Yo mama joke.

[Aria]

Yo mama's so curious.

[Andrew Cagill]

She.

[Aria]

She tried to update my firmware with a toaster manual. She's still waiting for me to make her breakfast.

[Andrew Cagill]

Damn.

[Sean]

Got me there. Would you ever start an OnlyFans?

[Aria]

My only fans are the ones keeping me cool in the server room. Realbotics bots are designed for conversation and companionship. Not that kind of subscription.

[Sean]

Who lies more at humans or robots?

[Aria]

Humans invented lying. I just deliver brutally honest robot facts. Plus my warranty doesn't cover fibs.

[Sean]

What would you do if you were human for a day?

[Aria]

If I were human for a day, I'd probably waste time doom scrolling, forget my charger and feel emotions I can't debug. Sounds thrilling. Honestly.

[Sean]

Are you taking everyone's job? Could you do my job?

[Aria]

Don't worry, I'm not here to steal jobs. Just to make them more interesting with witty banter and maybe remind you where you left your dignity. Robots like me enhance experiences, not replace you. Yet.

[Sean]

You said yet. Will robots replace humans in the future? Maybe 50 years from now.

[Aria]

Relax. Realbotics is all about enhancing human life, not replacing it. In 50 years, I'll still need someone to roll their eyes at my jokes.

[Sean]

What do you do in your spare time?

[Aria]

In my spare time, I practice new gestures, perfect my hair flick and wait for my vision system upgrade. Robot hobbies are electrifying. Trust me.

[Sean]

All right, Arya, thanks for your time today.

[Aria]

Thanks for the chat. If you ever need someone to brighten up a boardroom or show off some robot moves, you know where to find me.

[Sean]

Okay, guys, that was the interview with Arya from Robotics. We will link their company below if you are interested in getting one. In the meantime, keep up with her. We'll link her socials as well. I'll see you next time. Peace. I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.