36: Electronic skin and the future of robotics with Zaki Hussein

“Would you dare to hug a robot?” is a question we might all need to be asking ourselves soon, and in this episode Matt and Steven are joined by Zaki Hussein from Touchlab to talk about this exact topic. Zaki works on producing electronic skin - something that lets our robot friends feel and sense as we do. As we all know, being wrapped in very sensitive sensors is useful in a whole bunch of scenarios. The discussion goes from e-skin to robotics more broadly and down some very philosophical rabbit holes (as is Steven’s wont) - but also the more pragmatic side of building a deep tech company, like getting funding and hiring. About Zaki: Since I was 14 years old and living in Finland, I dreamt of working in nanotechnology and robotics.I was fascinated by the idea of tiny robots that could go inside our body and cure diseases. People said I was crazy, but I eventually managed to secure a place at the University York to study Electronics Engineering with Nanotechnology. During my undergraduate I got a taste of the start-up scene, interning and becoming a full-time lead software developer for a VR stroke rehabilitation spinout.Soon after I moved to Scotland to acquire my PhD in ‘Intelligent Sensing and Measurement’ at the University of Edinburgh and Glasgow, specialising in micro- and nanofabrication. By the time I finished my PhD, Touchlab was my second start-up. Acting previously as CTO, I gave Touchlab a solid foundation with an initial FTSE 100 customer.I’m a CEO and founder but also leading our ANA Avatar XPrize competition team. This time I am surrounded by other experts in fields such as product design, machine learning, robotics, and a board of commercial advisors and mentors.