I’m a mechanical engineer by training. I learned technical drawing with pen and paper, then CAD. Seeing AI move from work on a screen to work in the physical world made me want to get my hands on the hardware.

The moment that got me.

In a robot demonstration, I watched AI use a camera view to guide robot arms through a pick-and-place task. A block going into a bowl sounds small. Watching it happen made the possibilities feel different from another software demo.

A wireframe part in an older CAD interface: the drawing becomes a digital model.
EP01 · 0:21 · Commentary / source footageA wireframe part in an older CAD interface: the drawing becomes a digital model. Watch this moment ↗

Episode 1 is my commentary on that moment. The interview and robot demonstration are source footage from Y Combinator, not a robot system I built.

Y Combinator source video discussed in Episode 1▶ Watch source video
Source: Y Combinator. Third-party footage discussed in the episode; this demonstration was not filmed by The Tech Storyteller.
An industrial robot model inside CAD, shown as context for the move from design to action.
EP01 · 0:42 · Illustration / designAn industrial robot model inside CAD, shown as context for the move from design to action. Watch this moment ↗

One demo. Plenty of questions.

A successful pick-and-place doesn’t tell me how reliable a system is outside a carefully arranged demonstration. I want to find out what I can make this technology do myself — with small experiments, mistakes and the occasional working result.

The Y Combinator interview and robot demonstration that prompted this series; source footage, not my own robot test.
EP01 · 0:53 · Commentary / source footageThe Y Combinator interview and robot demonstration that prompted this series; source footage, not my own robot test. Watch this moment ↗
Two physical robot arms, a block and a bowl in the Y Combinator demonstration.
EP01 · 1:57 · Recorded evidenceTwo physical robot arms, a block and a bowl in the Y Combinator demonstration. Watch this moment ↗

So I’m starting in public.

This series follows that curiosity from AI agents into robotics and hardware. The next step was closer to hand than a pair of robot arms: an old phone, a room map and a virtual robot.

The gripper lifts the block during the source demonstration. Credit: Y Combinator.
EP01 · 2:08 · Recorded evidenceThe gripper lifts the block during the source demonstration. Credit: Y Combinator. Watch this moment ↗

Documentary commentary by Lukas Timm. AI-assisted production, including my own cloned voice and an AI-generated illustrative thumbnail. Original robot demonstration: Y Combinator.

Watch episode 01 on YouTube ↗