Lex Fridman PodcastSimone Giertz: Queen of Sh*tty Robots, Innovative Engineering, and Design | Lex Fridman Podcast #372
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 2:10
Proud Parent Machine & setting the tone for human-robot emotion
Simone describes one of her favorite "shitty robots": a coin-operated arm that pats you and says "Proud of you, son." Lex riffs on how adding modern AI could turn a simple gag into something psychologically powerful.
- •Coin-operated "proud parent" concept and why it’s funny
- •Creepy/handmade aesthetic as part of the charm
- •Lex’s idea: fine-tuned ChatGPT + parental voice as emotional tech
- •A preview of the episode’s recurring theme: machines and human connection
- 2:10 – 7:13
Early maker pride: woodworking class to a DIY electronics leap
Simone traces her love of making back to Swedish school woodworking and the pride of showing parents something tangible. She then tells the story of her first ambitious electronics build: an iPhone guitar-string case that actually worked.
- •Early joy: making physical objects you can show others
- •Frustration vs. mastery as skills grow
- •First big electronics project: retractable guitar strings + phone app
- •How capacitive touch and Bluetooth made the idea feasible
- 7:13 – 16:36
Finishing hard projects: deadlines, obsession, and problem-solving momentum
Lex probes why Simone didn’t quit on a complex first project despite limited programming experience. Simone explains the motivational pull of believing something might be possible, plus a tendency to obsess over problems until they’re solved.
- •Deadlines as a forcing function (school project pressure)
- •Motivation spike when the “horizon” becomes visible
- •The fun of persistent rumination on a technical problem
- •Tease of long-form product obsession (the coat hanger project)
- 16:36 – 24:08
Impostor syndrome, asking “stupid” questions, and being a woman online
Simone reframes insecurity as a useful role: being a translator between engineers and everyday users. She also discusses how self-deprecation can both empower creativity and act as armor—especially navigating a male-dominated field and internet scrutiny.
- •Turning “lack of expertise” into customer empathy and clarity
- •Habit of always asking questions in intimidating classrooms
- •Self-deprecation as anti-perfectionism—and as defense mechanism
- •Gendered tightrope: attractiveness, competence, and being taken seriously
- 24:08 – 31:29
Origin of the ‘Queen of Shitty Robots’: GIF-first engineering and Reddit
Simone explains how her projects were designed to be instantly legible as short looping GIFs, which helped them spread on /r/shittyrobots. She recounts the toothbrush helmet and how a failed pitch for Swedish TV pushed her toward YouTube.
- •Designing builds to be explainable in a 7-second silent loop
- •Posting to /r/shittyrobots and getting traction fast
- •Toothbrush helmet: kit robot arm + Arduino + trial-and-error control
- •Finding her on-camera voice by creating independently
- 31:29 – 36:09
Spectacular failure as a craft: breakfast robots, feeding humans, and endearing flaws
They discuss early builds like the breakfast robot and why “good failure” is more entertaining than a robot that simply doesn’t work. The conversation expands into why imperfect robots can feel more alive and emotionally engaging.
- •Breakfast robot challenges: alignment, repetition, and messy takes
- •Feeding/serving as a deceptively hard robotics task
- •The art of failing in a watchable, comedic way
- •How flaws help us anthropomorphize machines (Roomba rescue moments)
- 36:09 – 41:21
Dating AI and loveable machines: manipulation, intimacy, and the Roomba problem
Lex and Simone explore emotional entanglement with machines—from Replika-style relationships to AI versions of ourselves “dating” at scale. Simone notes she doesn’t love her devices, but sees how companies could engineer attachment—and abuse it.
- •AI clones dating each other as a matchmaking filter (and its weird risks)
- •Why constant-use devices (phones) can still feel unloved or hated
- •The business and ethical stakes of making robots “pet-like”
- •Emotional harm as a real safety issue, not just physical harm
- 41:21 – 48:06
Creative process & the bubble-wrap music box: rabbit holes and weird engineering
Simone contrasts her “shitty robot” era—ridiculous solutions to everyday problems—with her current product-design mindset. She then dives deep into the bubble-wrap music box: feeding, alignment, CNC barrel design, and pop reliability physics.
- •Turning everyday annoyances into either absurd robots or real products
- •Bubble-wrap instrument insight: pops triggering tones in a pan flute
- •Engineering hurdles: straight feeding, precise alignment, CNC rotary setup
- •Materials experimentation: squishy interfaces to improve pop reliability
- 48:06 – 53:43
School, MIT FOMO, and who college is (and isn’t) for
Simone reflects on studying physics, chasing grades as validation, and realizing she’s a generalist. She suggests trying the real workplace before committing to expensive education and separating the “what” you do from the “context” you do it in.
- •Grades as a “number for intelligence” and why that can hijack motivation
- •Generalist vs. specialist: why physics felt too narrow
- •Advice: test careers in real settings before paying for training
- •Two-part career question: what you do vs. where/how you do it
- 53:43 – 1:01:22
Hard builds and public speaking: puzzle table mechanics and the TED Talk cut
Simone describes difficult but satisfying projects like a dual-surface puzzle table using a tambour mechanism. She also revisits her TED Talk props and tells the story of her favorite joke being cut for classroom-friendliness—plus thoughts on being mislabeled as “for kids.”
- •Puzzle table engineering: tambour surface, cams, crank mechanism
- •Why difficult builds feel worth it: pride from pulling it off
- •TED Talk prop design and performance pressures
- •Crude-but-wholesome stance; resisting the “made for children” framing
- 1:01:22 – 1:10:08
Brain tumor diagnosis after TED: surgery, radiation, and trusting doctors
Simone recounts discovering a golf-ball-sized brain tumor after noticing a swollen eyelid—pushed by her mother to get scanned. She describes the shock, surgery, radiation’s nonlinear recovery, medication side effects, and how she coped by trusting her medical team.
- •Symptom: swelling eyelid → MRI → ER referral and diagnosis
- •Surgery vs. radiation: intensity vs. unpredictability of recovery
- •Feeling “high” from preventative Alzheimer’s medication; finding validation online
- •Reluctance to seek second opinions as a way to manage fear and uncertainty
- 1:10:08 – 1:14:32
Mortality, gentleness, and redefining what it means to be ‘good’
Lex asks about fear of death; Simone says the experience changed her relationship to life more than death. Illness forced her to replace self-punishment with self-care, and she gained deeper empathy for how health limits what “pushing harder” can mean.
- •Loss of youthful “bad things happen to others” innocence
- •Healing mindset: rest and listening to the body as a new discipline
- •Gratitude for physical resilience built from prior healthy habits
- •A surprisingly vivid detail: her brain re-settling toward normal shape
- 1:14:32 – 1:22:08
Mass production reality: Everyday Calendar, Kickstarter delays, and manufacturing paranoia
Simone explains how the Everyday Calendar evolved from a personal habit tool into a mass-manufactured product. She details the brutal differences between prototypes and production: tooling, cost constraints, QA, timeline slips, and the stress of disappointing paying customers.
- •Everyday Calendar concept: 365 touch points as “accountability art”
- •Prototype-to-product redesign: switches replaced by capacitive touch PCB front
- •Kickstarter lessons: optimistic timelines, shipping a year late, QA challenges
- •Why she’s building a product business to diversify beyond “influencer” fragility
- 1:22:08 – 1:29:49
Yetch brand strategy: products that can outlive her face (and the incomplete puzzle)
Simone describes Yetch as a brand separate from her personal identity—distinct from merch—so it can stand on its own. She shares early catalog items (including an officially incomplete puzzle) and the longer-term vision: unique solutions with strong functional design.
- •Brand separation: not “Simone merch,” discoverable without knowing her
- •Launching small due to heavy upfront product development costs
- •Incomplete puzzle idea: 499/500 pieces and the “missing piece” archive
- •Design philosophy: make the best version first, then compromise for cost
- 1:29:49 – 1:32:34
Truckla: converting a Tesla Model 3 into a pickup truck
Simone tells the story of wanting an electric pickup before the market offered good options, so she built one by cutting and reengineering a Model 3. She emphasizes the need for a serious team, safety constraints, and how the final result surprised her aesthetically.
- •Motivation: desire for a small 90s-style electric pickup
- •Project realities: year of planning, month of teardown and rebuild
- •Safety and expertise: large team and dedicated project management
- •Why Truckla still stands out even with newer electric truck options
- 1:32:34 – 1:40:50
Robots, sex jokes, weapons, and AI: the darker edges of tech culture
They move from workshop habits (reusing parts) to internet comment culture, including sexualization and requests for outrageous modifications. The conversation turns serious with weapons, military contracts, drones, and worries about powerful AI tools shaping beliefs and behavior.
- •Early budget constraints: disassembling builds for parts; later preserving for legacy
- •Parasocial dynamics: admiration of a woman filtered through sexual framing
- •Weaponization fears: industrial robots, drones, and “fun” tech turning lethal
- •ChatGPT-era risks: manipulation, radicalization, and centralized worldview shaping
- 1:40:50 – 1:44:53
MMA reporting detour: training, journalism, and getting kicked out by UFC PR
Simone recounts becoming an MMA reporter through sheer enthusiasm, alongside her own martial arts training. She shares a striking story: being ejected from an interview for asking about a fighter’s past violent crimes—and the family parallel of her mom being kicked out of the same hotel.
- •Hobby intensity: Muay Thai, some BJJ, deep UFC fandom
- •Cold-emailing into a reporting gig and being underestimated as “Simon”
- •The Gustafsson/Jon Jones context and the forbidden question
- •Concerns about brain health impacts of combat sports post-surgery
- 1:44:53 – 1:49:46
Living across China, Kenya, Sweden, and the US: belonging and restlessness
Simone describes moving to China at 16 and later Kenya, including the shock of returning home to learn her parents had separated. She reflects on how constant relocation changed her sense of home—able to feel at home anywhere, but never fully at home anywhere.
- •China as a teenager: language barriers, being visibly foreign, constant scrutiny
- •Kenya move decision and the emotional aftermath of family change
- •The relief of “passing” linguistically/culturally in the US
- •Tradeoff of mobility: adaptability vs. a persistent lack of rootedness
- 1:49:46 – 1:59:13
Advice, integrity online, and a meaning-of-life grounded in love and community
Simone advises young people to prioritize enthusiasm over duty and define success internally rather than by metrics. She rejects a single grand “meaning,” focusing instead on relationships, community, and being “alone together” in everyday life.
- •Enthusiasm as stronger fuel than obligation; fun can still be important work
- •Experiment widely: try on jobs like pants to find the right fit
- •Internet integrity: content as permanent “tattoos” and long-term career thinking
- •Meaning without “grand meaning”: love, passive togetherness, and teamwork pride
