Explore every episode of the podcast The Asiabits Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ep. 6: He's 23 and Visited 500 Robot Companies in China | 18 Feb 2026 | 00:59:33 | |
"Look for a really honest team that is iterating fast. A lot of demos are fake." - Francesco Crivelli Francesco (23) grew up between Switzerland and Chile, had 30% school attendance, slept in immigrant housing as a teenager - and ended up at UC Berkeley building robots. In 2 months in China, he visited over 500 robotics companies and now builds a platform to deploy robots in the real world. What we cover:
About Francesco Crivelli: Francesco's company - Intuition Core: Links: | |||
| Ep. 5: He Used ChatGPT to Build the Smartest Dog Toy at CES | 11 Feb 2026 | 00:56:14 | |
"My dog is so lonely at home. I want to fix that." Jacky is 24. He scraped 1 million social media comments, fed them to ChatGPT, and built a smart remote-control ball for dogs in Shenzhen. Featured at CES 2026 and covered by CNET, PePeHola lets you play with your dog from anywhere in the world. Kickstarter launches February 26. In this episode, we discuss: • AI-powered market research: How ChatGPT analyzed 1 million comments to find the real problem About Jacky & Jay: --- asiabits is on a mission to bridge the gap between East and West. We provide non-biased, on-the-ground insights into technology, innovation, and the future of business in Asia. Subscribe to the asiabits newsletter: asiabits.com Follow us on LinkedIn: Watch the video version on YouTube: youtu.be/0s3nQ50ZWiY | |||
| Ep. 4: Why Your $500/Month Pilates Studio Is A Scam | 04 Feb 2026 | 00:39:59 | |
"It's a rich people sport." Pilates sessions cost $100 each. Monthly memberships run $500. Eric, a designer from Shenzhen, said: "We could do better." He built a smart, foldable Pilates reformer in his apartment. 48 hours after launching on Kickstarter: $400,000 raised. In this episode, we discuss: • The "rich people sport" problem: Why Pilates costs $500/month and how Eric is changing that About Eric & Tintin: --- asiabits is on a mission to bridge the gap between East and West. We provide non-biased, on-the-ground insights into technology, innovation, and the future of business in Asia. Pavo Fitness Kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/pavofitness Subscribe to the asiabits newsletter: asiabits.com | |||
| Ep. 8: He Designed Robot Labs for MIT. Then Realized All the Parts Came from China. | 03 Mar 2026 | 00:49:55 | |
"Guess how many companies in the US make actuators for robots? Zero." - Tuo Liu, Robotuo Tuo grew up in Shenzhen, spent a decade in the US designing robotics labs for MIT and Harvard, and moved back to build the largest open-source robotics community connecting global founders with Shenzhen's hardware ecosystem. His maps of 150+ humanoid companies in China went viral. His verdict: the next decade of robotics will be built in the Greater Bay Area. In this episode:
Connect with Tuo:
About Asiabits: Weekly insider stories from Asia's tech & startup ecosystem. Subscribe: asiabits.com | |||
| Ep. 7: He Borrowed $300,000 to Build a Physical AI Tamagotchi | 25 Feb 2026 | 00:47:47 | |
"I believe I will do it." - Irving Gao, Sweekar 200 people received Irving's first AI robot. One month later, only 1 was still using it. He crashed, pivoted, took out ¥2,000,000 (~$300,000) in personal loans, and built Sweekar – the world's first physically growing AI pocket pet. CES media called it "breaking news." In this episode:
About Irving Gao (高鸿志): Follow Sweekar: Links: | |||