Core Insights - Coco Robotics has appointed Bolei Zhou, a UCLA associate professor, as the Chief AI Scientist to lead the newly established Physical AI Lab, focusing on autonomous sidewalk delivery solutions [2][3][5] - The company aims to achieve full automation in last-mile delivery, leveraging the extensive operational data collected over the past five years to enhance their robotic systems [4][5][7] - The Physical AI Lab is an independent research initiative, separate from Coco Robotics' collaboration with OpenAI, and will focus on improving the company's automation capabilities and operational efficiency [8][9] Group 1: Company Overview - Coco Robotics, founded in 2020, specializes in last-mile delivery robotics and initially relied on teleoperators to navigate obstacles [4] - The company has accumulated millions of miles of data in complex urban environments, which is crucial for training reliable AI systems [7] - The goal is to reduce overall delivery costs while improving service quality for businesses and consumers [9] Group 2: Leadership and Research Focus - Bolei Zhou's expertise in machine perception and intelligent decision-making aligns with Coco Robotics' objectives, particularly in micromobility [7][8] - Zhou has a strong academic background, having published over 100 papers with significant citations, particularly in explainable AI and scene understanding [12][14] - The Physical AI Lab will utilize the research findings to enhance Coco's local models and potentially share insights with operational cities to improve infrastructure [9] Group 3: Data Utilization and Future Plans - Coco Robotics plans to use the data collected to improve its automation levels and operational efficiency, rather than selling it to competitors [9] - The success of the Physical AI Lab will be measured by the company's ability to provide high-quality services at lower costs, which could drive significant growth in the ecosystem [9]

Core Insights - Coco Robotics has appointed Bolei Zhou, a UCLA associate professor, as the Chief AI Scientist to lead the newly established Physical AI Lab, focusing on autonomous driving for sidewalks [1][2][4] - The company aims to achieve full automation in last-mile delivery, leveraging the extensive operational data collected over the past five years [2][4][6] Group 1: Company Overview - Coco Robotics, founded in 2020, specializes in last-mile delivery robotics and initially relied on teleoperators to navigate obstacles [2][4] - The company has accumulated millions of miles of data in complex urban environments, which is crucial for training reliable AI systems [4][6] Group 2: Research and Development - The Physical AI Lab will utilize the data collected to enhance automation and operational efficiency, focusing on local models used by their robots [6] - The lab operates independently from Coco Robotics' collaboration with OpenAI, which allows the use of OpenAI's models while sharing data for mutual benefit [5][6] Group 3: Bolei Zhou's Background - Bolei Zhou holds a PhD from MIT and has a strong research background in machine perception and intelligent decision-making, with over 100 publications and significant contributions to explainable AI [9][11][13] - His notable works include Class Activation Mapping (CAM) and the creation of the Places database, which contains over 10 million labeled scene images, enhancing scene recognition capabilities [11][18][20]