A Theory of Mind for Robotics

How can we intuit our new mechanical friends in the same shared space as us?

Oct 2 • David Watkins and Stefanie Tellex

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September 2026

The Law of Leaky Abstractions and Robotics

Still Leaky, Even with AI

Sep 25 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

10

3

Robotics Really Is Harder

Bigger input spaces, hard-to-verify rewards, and a world of atoms.

Sep 18 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

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The Bottleneck in Robotics Is the Reward, Not the Policy

What would a ChatGPT moment for robotics look like?

Sep 15 • David Watkins and Stefanie Tellex

9

The Reward Is In There

Can we derive what drives animal behavior?

Sep 1 • David Watkins and Stefanie Tellex

3

July 2026

Diffusion Policies are Fancy Lookup Tables

Reading a diffusion policy as coverage, and using it to plan your data collection

Jul 21 • David Watkins and Stefanie Tellex

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1

6

We Got a New Nine

Breakthrough and Bubble, Simultaneously

Jul 11 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

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3

I Need Space

If a robot is strong enough to help, it is strong enough to hurt.

Jul 6 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

10

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June 2026

Why Robotics is a Pre-Paradigm Field

Towards a Grand Unified Theory of Robotics

Jun 6 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

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15

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May 2026

I Got Sycophanted

Review is critical.

May 20 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

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2

How to Build Safe AI (Without Making the AI Safe)

Lessons from aviation, manufacturing, and the 16-year-old driver

May 13 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

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The First Hit is Free

Using AI freely while staying in the driver's seat.

May 7 • Stefanie Tellex and David Watkins

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