We're back with a new season of Conversations at the Edge (CATE), and this time we’re diving into the fast-moving world of mobile robotics. Last season, we stirred the pot with Matter in smart homes, but now we’re diving deep into the machines that are rolling into warehouses, hospitals, farms and maybe even your local delivery service.
And what's our first mobile robotics topic for discussion? The distributed revolution in mobile robotics. If that sounds grand, it’s because it is. Centralized “brains” are giving way to distributed intelligence where sensors, processors, and controllers all share the load. For developers, this shift changes how you design architectures, plan for safety and think about scaling your platform.
And I’m not alone on this journey.
To keep it fresh, I’ve got two brilliant co-hosts on board.
Altaf has more than 30 years of experience in applications engineering, product marketing and business development roles for enterprise, service provider and industrial applications. He is the segment lead at NXP for Transportation and Mobility which includes Mobile Robotics, Machine Vision and warehouse logistics automation and responsible for defining system solutions to accelerate automation using Autonomous Mobile Robots. He graduated from the University of South Bank in London, UK with a BS in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Iain Galloway, P.Eng., holds an Electrical Engineering Degree from University of New Brunswick, Canada, and has more than 25 years of hands on experience as an electronics embedded designer and field support engineer. You can connect with Iain on Twitter at @iafgalloway.
Together, Altaf and Iain keep me honest by challenging my assumptions and providing decades of insight into what it really takes to build robots that move, think and survive in the wild.
Read our new whiteppaper: From Stationary Arms to Humanoids: The Journey of Mobile Robotics.
We poked the bear in our kickoff episode. Minimum viable products (MVPs) may sound harmless, but in robotics, they can trap you. If you design for “just enough to demo,” you’ll hit a wall when it’s time to scale.
Instead, look to platforms. Here, modularity and scalability let you add new sensors, swap in higher-performance compute, and layer on revenue-generating features without having to start over. In this episode, we showcased our B3RB buggy reference design, which runs ROS 2 and demonstrates how distributed compute between a main processor and companion microcontrollers create a scalable platform. The takeaway for developers: rather than build one-off products, build architectures that can evolve for years to come.
Watch Now: Conversations at the Edge Season 2, Episode 1
We love Raspberry Pi for tinkering, but this is not the path to production robotics. The truth is, industrial robots need long-term supply, safety certifications, and hardened security. Prototyping boards for consumer applications won't provide that.
Why? Developers need silicon that’s designed for real environments. For example, i.MX RT crossover MCUs for drones, automotive-grade processors with lockstep cores and secure elements and full reference designs integrate motor control, battery management and connectivity. These give you a launchpad for market-ready systems without the headache of trying to scale hobby boards.
Watch Now: Conversations at the Edge Season 2, Episode 2
Yes, we really went there. As in, Iain tied a lesson from his mom, “be home by dark,” to AI. The analogy? Let your AI explore but always set boundaries.
The three trends we called out in this episode are shaping robotics today:
For developers, this translates to designing systems where intelligence is layered, supervised and distributed across the architecture. And if you still think AI is “just software,” our NavQPlus reference design — running Linux, vision pipelines and dual neural accelerators — proves otherwise.
Watch Now: Conversations at the Edge Season 2, Episode 3
Yes, we compared today’s mobile robotics to Star Wars. Just look at the movie’s R2-D2, BB-8 or even those mouse droids scurrying around: each has one job that they do really well. This is the essence of distributed robotics and this episode.
For developers, the takeaway is to architect platforms that scale across robot types. A humanoid assistant, a four-wheeled warehouse rover and a quadcopter drone may seem different, but they all need distributed decision-making. NXP solutions like the i.MX 8M Plus (for vision and neural acceleration), the S32K1 (for real-time motor control) and Automotive Ethernet (for lightweight, deterministic networking) provide those building blocks. The challenge is to assemble them in the right distributed mix.
Watch Now: Conversations at the Edge Season 2, Episode 4
We opened this episode with a warning: robots are no longer confined or limited to a specific area anymore. They’re now navigating warehouses, rolling through loading docks and interacting with humans. However, a centralized architecture simply can’t equip robots with what they need to keep up with unpredictable hazards.
The main takeaway? Safety has to be distributed. That means embedding perception directly into a robot's sensors (vision, LiDAR and radar) and backing them with supervisory processors that can overrule the main brain if an when it makes a bad call. Think of it like a reflex: your hand pulls away from a hot stove before your brain can even process it. For developers, that means working with platforms like NXP’s edge processors this enable this kind of local intelligence and fail-safe behavior.
Watch Now: Conversations at the Edge Season 2, Episode 5
Among these first episodes, one theme stands out: distributed intelligence isn’t a buzzword. It’s a critical strategy.
The reality is that robots are leaving the lab and entering messy, unpredictable environments. For this reason, developers need to build with architectures that perceive, decide and act locally, without waiting for a central brain to figure it out. This requires modular platforms, scalable hardware and robust safety frameworks.
This is exactly what we explore in NXP’s new white paper, From Stationary Arms to Humanoids: The Journey of Mobile Robotics. It examines control complexity, AI adoption, and modular robot architectures to offer distributed intelligence as the path forward.
These five episodes are just the first segment of our mobile robotics discussion. Each month, we’ll release a new set of episodes tackling another facet of robotics. So, if you liked our mix of bold statements and grounded engineering insights, stay tuned for more (and let us know what you think).
And seriously, don’t just take my word for it. Head over to YouTube to watch the full conversations, see our demos and maybe even laugh at our analogies (yes, your mom really does belong in this discussion).
Sujata Neidig has over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and is currently Director of Marketing for Wireless Connectivity where she drives product marketing and standards efforts for IoT connectivity. She also represents NXP on the Thread Group and Connectivity Standards Alliance’s Board of Directors as well as serving as Thread Group’s VP of Marketing. She is based in Austin, TX.