Episode Details

Stuart Lawrence, founder and CEO of Titan Robotics, joins Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo from the Huntington Bank Studios to share the remarkable story behind his Pittsburgh-based robotics company.

What started as a Carnegie Mellon / Air Force Research Lab project to strip paint off fighter jets with high-powered lasers became a 14-year journey of grit, pivots, and breakthroughs. Stuart walks us through:

• The origin story: How a torpedo defense engineer turned robotics builder landed at Carnegie Mellon's NREC, got hooked by 25-ton robots with 40-foot reach and lasers, and spun out Titan Robotics

• The near-death moment: When a three-star general blocked $75 million in contract awards, forcing a years-long pivot from government-only work to commercial manufacturing

• Solving "dull, dirty, and dangerous": How Titan's autonomous systems tackle weld removal, grinding, and sanding of composites without requiring a programmer to operate them

• The labor gap advantage: Why the welding skills shortage is Titan's biggest commercial opportunity, and how adaptive robotics empower operators instead of replacing them

• 14 years, zero fundraising: How Stuart bootstrapped Titan to ~70 employees on government contracts alone, and why now is finally the time to consider outside capital