Ep 86 | It’s Not A Hardware Problem. It’s A System Problem (w/ Tom Zhang)

In this interview, Ilir Aliu interviews Tom Zhang, a robotics entrepreneur, about his life, academic journey, and career. Tom shares his upbringing in rural China, his experiences in boarding school and Singapore, and his education in the US, including his decision to pursue mechanical engineering and computer science at Cornell. He discusses his exploration through multiple internships and his eventual transition into entrepreneurship, driven by a desire for purpose and project ownership. Tom recounts the market discovery process that led him to his current venture, Daxo, where he and his team are developing a highly actuated robotic hand, and shares his philosophy on robotics, emphasizing the importance of complexity and a systems-level approach.