The Value of the AI Orchestrator
An Interview with Brady Watkins, President and GM of SoftBank Robotics America.
Helen Dwight (Helen): Hi Brady and thank you for joining me today. You joined SoftBank Robotics America (SBRA) at the start of operations in 2016. Can you tell us about your journey, and what excites you about leading this company?
Brady Watkins (Brady): It’s great to be here. My career has always been about leading with the art of the why — designing commercial strategies and leading teams that drive clear business outcomes. I started in marketing, brand, and strategic sales in the video game industry, which was a great intersection of storytelling, tech, and business-to-consumer engagement. When robotics came into focus in 2016, I saw an opportunity: robotics had long been industrial, but what if we applied it to service industries to reshape outcomes? That challenge was compelling, and it led me to SBRA at its inception. My leadership philosophy is to align top talent, and the right clients and partners, with a clear purpose to deliver results today while building for the future. Ultimately, I’m motivated by leading towards the why and delivering performance in dynamic, fast-changing markets.
HUMAN CENTRIC AI AND ROBOTICS
Helen: SoftBank Robotics’ vision is “the power of robotics to benefit humanity.” During your time at SBRA, what lessons stand out about robotics and human interaction?
Brady: The biggest lesson is the importance of a long-term vision. Masa Son’s long-term, multi-horizon vision, which spans from 300 years all the way down to a one-year view, underpins an amazing human-centric approach to AI and robotics: inspiring us to design for today while planning for tomorrow.
In robotics, it’s not about chasing the latest form factor but rather, about outcomes: how we redefine work and orchestrate technology to deliver real value. Early on, we focused on robots’ form factor—how they look and move because we thought that would create better connections with humans—but we’ve learned it’s the outcome that matters. Success comes from designing backwards: start with the outcome, then apply technology.
The recognition that robotics is the tangible expression of AI, is unlocking opportunities across virtually every industry. SBRA’s focus is to equip clients—wherever they are in their automation journey—with the talent, tools, and teams to solve their most pressing challenges and deliver defined outcomes. By aligning people, processes, and technology around the why, the organization stays consistent yet dynamic, absorbing new technologies and market shifts while maintaining a clear, outcome-driven north star.
Helen: What is your view of human-centric AI and robotics?
Brady: A lot of discussions have been about robots vs. humans, but we’re moving past the “robots take jobs” debate. It’s about elevating human work. Most of our deployments are in service industries – airports, offices, hospitals, hospitality, senior living – where people are the core asset and where value is created and received through human interaction. Rather than “replacing jobs,” we are redesigning work, so technology elevates the human touch—automating dull, repetitive and dangerous tasks, equipping frontline teams with better tools, and using data to validate results. This approach creates a snowball effect of how we’re able to be more efficient and create value. It improves environments (e.g., cleaner, more efficient airports), boosts employee pride, retention, and effectiveness, and enhances the end-customer experience. Human-centric robotics is about augmentation.
Our vision at SBRA is a physical AI model in which people manage fleets of robots and data-informed workflows. While frontline workers increasingly want these tools, consistent deployment is challenging; the mission is to build programs that reliably deliver and sustain this empowerment at every human touchpoint.
ORCHESTRATING THE PHYSICAL AI ECOSYSTEM
Helen: SBRA is sometimes labeled as a manufacturer or distributor, but you’re neither. You describe SBRA as an “orchestrator”. What do you mean by this? And why is it the best role for SBRA?
Brady: Think of an orchestra: each instrument can produce sound, but only together under an orchestrator do you get music. In robotics, OEMs, distributors, and integrators all play roles, but someone must connect the dots of all the different layers and focus on outcomes, not innovation for its own sake. That’s where we have found value, results, and success with our clients. We don’t just sell robots. We design outcomes, coordinate human workflows, and align technologies. We orchestrate the people, processes, and technologies needed to deliver value. That’s why the term is so important—it captures our unique role in making automation adoption successful.
SBRA’s orchestrator model fills a market gap: many players produce strong “individual sounds,” (e.g., functional capabilities of a product), but few companies can deliver the full harmony of the orchestra. SBRA brings first-hand experience across the value chain (having been an OEM, distributor, and integrator) to understand each specialty instrument and leverage it effectively to deliver music. The result is a dynamic, end-to-end approach that produces consistent performance and outcomes across industries with our customer partners. Essentially, we have harmonized the people, processes, and technology to deliver a higher value outcome.
Helen: Why should executive leadership pay attention to AI and robotics now?
Brady: We are at a leap moment where digital technologies are rapidly moving into physical formats, demanding a corresponding transformation in how work, tasks, and value are defined and managed. Organizations that focus on an outcome and allow robotics and AI into their workflows will be best positioned to absorb change and create future value. Others risk falling behind.
I believe the market is at an inflection point where the biggest risk is failing to evolve how work is done. My observation is that too often businesses focus on price or a single piece of tech, trying to fit it into yesterday’s box. That approach fails. The real risk is not evolving the way we think about work. Leadership should be asking: What’s the outcome we’re designing for? Who are the partners to help us achieve it?
Given high failure rates in robotics and software, durable value comes from investing in outcome-driven partnerships and workflow design tailored to each company’s stage, selecting partners who can genuinely help orchestrate workflows and deliver the desired results.
DELIVERING NOW, DESIGNING FOR THE FUTURE
Helen: A lot of companies talk about partnership, but few rarely walk the talk. How do you make sure you deliver?
Brady: Robotics is the physical manifestation of AI, and the physical dimension forces mastery of supply chain, deployment, logistics, on-site operations, data insights, and change management as tasks are redesigned. Because such changes can be perceived as disruptive, success depends on a trusted partner with real-world experience, committed to managing the transition and delivering outcomes through hands-on execution.
Our team combines in-market, industry hands-on experience with forward-looking design. You will often hear “yes, and”. So, we deliver now and design for the future. “Yes, you can be on-site delivering value, and we can think about what the future holds”. Our goal is to understand how we create the desired outcome with permission to consider multiple options to get there, that gets us to “Yes, and....“. As technology enables this dual mode and as organizations humanize how tech is deployed among employees and customers, those who solve the integration challenge will create durable value across industries.
Helen: What does the future hold for SBRA as an Orchestrator?
Brady: We scan the global landscape to curate technologies with real, near-term value, fill go-to-market and data-to-insight gaps and only bring solutions to market when they can redesign work and deliver measurable outcomes.
A lot of people will send me a link to a cool thing, whatever that cool thing is, and say, why aren't we bringing it to market? The future is about deploying AI and robotics to redefine work, not just innovating for innovation’s sake. Generative AI, on-site compute, and robotic fleets will all play a role—but only if they drive outcomes. The next 3–5 years are going to focus on commercial deployment at scale: integrating technologies into workflows, proving ROI, and building adoption. Companies that embrace this will see valuations rise; those that don’t will fall behind.
DE-RISKING INVESTMENTS, WHILE DRIVING LONG TERM ADOPTION
Helen: Everyone wants results yesterday. How do you balance quick wins with long-term adoption – especially for executive leadership?
Brady: When we co-own outcomes and time the components correctly, ROI converges in practice: stronger service levels, efficiency, and bottom-line impact. Companies that lean in will see their valuations rise; those that stall on integration will lag. SBRA’s role is to orchestrate the ecosystem, select and sequence the right pieces, and commercialize deployment, so partners deliver more value to their end customers, whether the lever is robotics, software, or both.
It starts with aligning outcomes. Every partner (or customer) has annual goals and 3–5-year goals. Warp speed for us means aligning fast – top down - to the right outcomes, not just deploying tech in 30 days and stopping there. We can scale quickly—5 sites, 100, even 1,000—but we always hold each other accountable for outcomes tied to sustainable long-term success. Without that, you may achieve today but more than likely fail tomorrow.
Our philosophy at SBRA is simple: partner-first to build trust, align on outcomes and timelines, and design backward so we can deliver durable value now and over the next 3–5 years.
Helen: Technology is evolving at warp speed. How does SBRA consistently stay ahead and deliver new value?
Brady: We stay close to customers in the field and pair that firsthand understanding with deep data ingestion across SBRA’s ecosystem. My focus is to be fast to outcomes, not fast to tech, and to build shared programs that scale over time; after 2–3 years of aligned execution, adding new capabilities becomes easier and more impactful.
Durability comes from orchestration: integrating technology, speed, change management, and the redefinition of work into a coherent path that fits each company’s timing and industry. We avoid innovation for its own sake and guide partners through complex shifts, so the shifts feel digestible. This in turn enables continuous delivery of value as markets evolve.
ORCHESTRATING DURABLE VALUE
Helen: What makes SBRA uniquely positioned as a great Orchestrator?
Brady: I believe there are three main areas that position SBRA for the role of Orchestrator:
Experience and longevity: long-term success requires a long time in market. Since 2016, SBRA has been in robotics (and earlier globally). We’ve cycled through supply chain, form factor, value propositions, and data-to-insight challenges—failing more than most and learning faster.
SoftBank Ecosystem: With access to SoftBank’s Ecosystem, we see more products, trends, and capabilities, which gives us a unique vantage point and reinforces our conviction that an orchestration layer is essential to make automation work in the real world.
Talent: We hire intentionally for orchestration—building diverse, cross-functional talent that can integrate technology, operations, and change management. My focus is to translate that capability into partner success: applying our hard-won lessons, timing, and ecosystem leverage to reduce friction, align to outcomes, and help partners achieve durable value.
Helen: To close, how would you summarize the value of an AI Orchestrator?
Brady: We see the orchestrator as the bridge between digital intelligence and physical work – it's how AI gets off the screen and into the real world. We are able to de-risk investments in new technologies by partnering to redesign how work is done and integrating the right tools to create durable value or outcomes.
Anyone can access new technologies. The challenge is knowing where to start, how to integrate, and how to sustain value.
At SBRA, we prioritize outcomes over siloed debates about speed and price. While cost and speed matter, they are only meaningful if they contribute to a clearly defined, shared outcome. An AI orchestrator ensures you’re not relying on a single point of failure. Instead, you’re leveraging a trusted and experienced partner who can design workflows, align technologies, and navigate change. The result? Real outcomes, faster adoption, and long-term business value.
Helen: Thank you very much, Brady, for a super insightful discussion.
Brady: It’s been a pleasure.
More Information:
For more information about solutions and services offered by SoftBank Robotics America, please visit the website.
