Dr Colm Flanagan - AI Robotics Expert, Life as a Founder, From Ireland to Iran to Australia

In this extended episode of Natural Light, we sit down with Dr Colm Flanagan — AI and robotics expert, and founder of Hiroco — to explore the journey from Dublin to Tehran to Sydney, and the unconventional path that led to solving one of the world’s most overlooked problems: how we move things around.

Colm shares how working in a robotics lab under sanctions in Iran taught him the real meaning of first principles — a mindset that’s now baked into Hiroco’s AI technology, which helps global logistics teams reduce wasted cost, time, and effort at scale. From cognitive robotics and episodic memory to warehouse automation and multi-agent systems, this is an honest, insightful look at how innovation actually happens.

We also cover:

• What’s holding household robots back

• The $2.3 trillion gap in supply chain planning

• Why most companies are using AI completely wrong

• How to think practically about integrating AI in your business

🎙️ Presented by Sales Inc
Welcome to Natural Light.

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro – Meet Dr Colm Flanagan
00:12 - Early Days in Dublin & First Exposure to AI
00:57 - Starting with Autonomous Sailing & Robotics
01:33 - Global Work Experience & AI Awareness
02:56 - Studying & Working in Iran
04:17 - Constraints & First Principles Thinking
06:15 - Innovation from Scarcity in Robotics Labs
07:17 - PhD in Australia – Starting Cognitive Robotics
09:52 - What is Cognitive Robotics?
10:54 - Episodic vs Semantic Memory in Robots
12:03 - How Robots Learn from Experience
13:45 - How Far Off Are Domestic Robots?
15:17 - Where Robots May Be Used First
15:40 - Transition from PhD to Founding Hiroco
17:15 - How Hiroco Got Its Name
18:00 - What Problem Does Hiroco Solve?
20:19 - $2.3 Trillion Problem in Logistics
21:25 - Butterfly Effect in Warehouse Planning
22:07 - Common Supply Chain Failures
23:07 - How Tech Can Solve Logistics Challenges
24:45 - Why Traditional Solutions Fail
26:00 - What Are Agents in AI & Warehousing?
27:11 - Planning for Agent Coordination
27:37 - Hiroco’s Impact – Cost Reductions
29:03 - The Future of AI in Warehousing
30:39 - Can AI Help Australia’s Productivity?
33:22 - Australia’s Risk-Averse Tech Culture
34:18 - The Real Risk of AI Isn’t Sentience
35:00 - Misusing AI – The Bigger Danger
36:00 - How Small Businesses Should Use AI
37:58 - Identifying Your AI Use Cases
38:52 - Will AI Cause Job Loss?
40:14 - New Roles & Sectors After AI Adoption
41:48 - Synthetic Data & AI Model Training
43:08 - AI Model Bias & Data Challenges
43:49 - Living in Sydney & Work-Life Balance
44:36 - How to Contact Hiroco & Final Thoughts

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