Retrofit AI and automation: the future of construction and mining

Lexicon by Interesting Engineering

Our guest in this episode is Bibhrajit Halder, the founder and CEO of SafeAI, a world leader in heavy equipment automation.

In this episode, we’ll explore Bibhrajit’s journey from childhood to founding one of the most exciting tech AI and automation companies in the world. SafeAI retrofits heavy vehicles with autonomous technology to make sites safer, more productive, and more cost-effective.

The retrofit approach enables companies to upgrade their existing vehicles, lowering the barrier to entry for autonomous deployments. The company is currently focused on the mining and construction industries but has the potential to automate pretty much any industry that relies on large vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

Bibrajit explains how this is done, on which types of vehicles it is appropriate, and gives us a glimpse into a future where the cradle-to-grave lifecycle of many products could, in theory, be fully automated, freeing human beings from the drudgery of manual jobs in fields like mining, construction, and delivery.

We shared some nostalgia about the 1980s Transformers series and also looked into the deep future where SafeAI could help humans expand beyond our planet.