Listen now (28 min) | Even before the rest of us were blown away by the Maps app, David Mindell was working on delivering even more precise location information. In addition to his various appointments in aeronautics and robotics at MIT, David has been involved in dozens of underwater research explorations, including the search for the Titanic. It was the navigational challenges that come with being underwater — where GPS can’t reach you — that inspired him to find a better way to help everyone figure out exactly where we are at all times, by mapping every single section of space, down to the cubic millimeter. This isn’t just for humans: David and his company Humatics are focused on developing technology that will help robots better understand where they are, which can help make their movements more precise, and their interactions with other robots and humans more efficient and even safer.