Can Automation Truly Transform Industries?
Travis Kalanick, CEO of Atoms, joins Ana Blanquart at the FII TV Studio during FII PRIORITY Europe 2026 in Rome to discuss how autonomous systems and "gainfully employed robots" are transforming industries from mining to transport, and what this means for the future of work and global productivity.
Watch the full interview for insights on automation, robotics, AI, innovation, and the future of industry.
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What Travis Kalanick said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Travis Kalanick, CEO of Atoms, discussed his company's focus on physical automation to transform industries one at a time, currently targeting food, mining, and transport. He emphasized a strategic choice for specialized robotics over generalized humanoid robots, aiming for efficiency in specific problems. On the AI race, he expressed respect for Chinese innovation and framed competition as one entrepreneur at a time. He criticized European regulation for being process-oriented, which can hinder innovation. He stressed the continued importance of physical clusters like Silicon Valley for talent and idea exchange. He highlighted excitement about deploying food production robots, a manufacturing line coming in Q4, and autonomous mining technology that has surpassed human productivity. Addressing job loss fears, he argued that automation creates more jobs until machines fully replicate humans, using a hypothetical about plumbers being paid like LeBron James.
Key takeaways
Atoms is focused on specialized robotics for food, mining, and transport, not generalized humanoid robots.
A manufacturing line for food production robots is getting up in Q4.
Kalanick believes automation will create more jobs until machines fully replicate humans, with humans as the 'long pole in the tent'.
Numbers and commitments
Figure
What it refers to
Type
At
20%
Potential increase in lithium production per year from automated mines
We're about physical automation that transforms industries. We do it one industry at a time where we think we can make a really big difference and sort of transform that industry. We go for it. The tricky part is that innovating in Europe, you run into regulation or regulatory environments where the process of regulation trumps the outcome.
There's terminology — autonomous, autonomy, autonomous systems. What does it mean? And it's really about how do things in our world, in our physical world, how do things move and act in the physical world, and can that be automated? That's kind of the area that I'm sitting in. Yeah.
Well, look, we're about physical automation that transforms industries. And what we do is we sort of go and don't just make robotics and AI just for anybody to tap into. It's more about we do it one industry at a time where we think we can make a really big difference and sort of transform that industry, we go for it. Right now, we're doing food, mining, and transport.
Like for instance, mining is very labor intensive and it's also, you know, there's a lot of safety issues etc. When you automate certain parts of the mining process, you make those mines much safer and you are able to make those mines more productive. So imagine a lithium mine where lithium is powering a lot of the technology we have, including like electric vehicles, mobile phones — I mean you kind of you name it — battery technology generally. What if a lithium mine could make 20% more lithium per year? That's a big deal. You don't have to then go carve up 20% more mines to get that same amount of lithium. You're getting it out of what exists. And if you could make those mines more safe at the same time, it's a big deal. So the mission is more productive mines to power Earth's industries, and we think we make a big difference in mining and that's why we're going for it.
