Hiten Sonpal, Rise Robotics' CEO says electrification is the future

If you care about where robotics and AI are actually heading, this podcast is a must-listen.Rise Robotics set a Guinness World Record for the strongest robotic arm ever built, lifting 3,181 kilograms, smashing the previous 2,300 kg record held by Fanuc Corporation. That alone should grab your attention. What follows is even more interesting.This episodes offers a rare operator-level view of robotics. George Mathew sits down with Hiten Sonpal, CEO of Rise Robotics, an MIT-affiliated company with over $5M in US Air Force contracts, 20+ granted patents, and $24M+ raised from top-tier investors. Hiten agrees that AI is moving out of the screen and into the real world through robots. The challenge is not intelligence, it is action. Turning language model outputs into real-world motion still breaks down at manipulation, tactile sensing, and power delivery for large humanoid systems.Small humanoids can do backflips. They cannot lift meaningful weight for long. Rise Robotics invented “beldraulics”, a fluid-free linear actuation system that is:3x faster3x more efficient3x more durable than hydraulicsUnlike hydraulics, their systems are inherently digital, providing position, force, health monitoring, and safety data by default. That is what makes heavy machinery AI-capable.From Air Force munitions handling and airfield operations to electric truck lift gates, this is deployed technology. One lift gate customer saves around 30 minutes per route per day, enough for an extra delivery or less overtime. Installation drops from 30 person-hours to 5. Maintenance falls sharply. No hydraulic oil, no spills, no cleanup. Customers see payback in roughly six months, driven by both cost savings and higher revenue.Rise Robotics is scaling across oil and gas, marine, and food and agriculture, with interest in Europe and active openness to Australian partners. They are also experimenting with an uncommon funding model, opening institutional rounds to the public via regulated crowdfunding.If you want a grounded, engineer-led discussion on the future of robotics, AI-enabled machines, and why hydraulics are on the way out, this episode delivers.Highly recommended listening.