# Robots Are Taking Over Oil Rigs… But Not How You Think

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/energy-101-we-ask-the-dumb-questions-so-you-don-t-have-to-5658842/robots-are-taking-over-oil-rigs-but-not-how-you-think
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/energy-101-we-ask-the-dumb-questions-so-you-don-t-have-to-5658842/robots-are-taking-over-oil-rigs-but-not-how-you-think.md
Podcast: [Energy 101: We Ask The Dumb Questions So You Don't Have To](https://stenobird.com/podcast/energy-101-we-ask-the-dumb-questions-so-you-don-t-have-to-5658842)
Published: 2026-04-24T12:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://energy101.collide.io/episodes/robots-are-taking-over-oil-rigs-but-not-how-you-think
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/78b420ed/12b86114.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/energy-101-we-ask-the-dumb-questions-so-you-don-t-have-to-5658842/episodes/robots-are-taking-over-oil-rigs-but-not-how-you-think
Duration seconds: 2795

## Resource

Andrew Richard, CEO and Co-Founder of Automated Rig Technologies, flies in from Calgary to break down why the oilfield spent 70 years optimizing brute force instead of rethinking the process. He gets into the jointed pipe injector that strips 97% of operator input out, what rig hands call the "barbecue basket," why everyone in oil and gas wants to be first to be second, and the IKEA chatbot that accidentally solved the automation jobs debate. Click here to watch a video of this episode. Join the conversation shaping the future of energy. Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward. Apply today at collide.io Click here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Calgary, metaverse throwbacks, and meet Andrew 02:20 - What Automated Rig Technologies actually does 05:50 - Starting in the basement in 2009 07:44 - The jointed pipe injector breakdown 09:13 - Red zone risk and the barbecue basket 17:05 - From Energy Tech Night pitch to the Bakken trial 20:22 - How 15 people get in front of major operators 24:14 - Marketing, trust, and selling the sizzle 30:30 - The automation jobs debate, ATMs and IKEA 36:03 - The dangerous jobs that shouldn't exist 38:11 - Change management and first to be second 42:15 - Bad data is a platform problem 44:59 - What's next with AI and data https://twitter.com/collide_ai https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io https://www.facebook.com/collide.io https://www.instagram.com/collide.io https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

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