When You Let Wild Ideas Run (on Four Legs)
‘A robot dog, what?'
At ITQ, we say: “What’s Next.” But sometimes, we don’t know what’s next until someone bold enough pitches it. A while back, Johan van Amersfoort, our Chief Evangelist in the CTO Office, came up with a new idea: “Let’s buy a robot dog and connect it to our Private AI platforms.”
Inspired by Boston Dynamics’ Spot, Johan envisioned it not as a gimmick, but as a way to showcase AI at the edge, real-time computer vision, and how AI-powered devices can be deployed, secured, and managed using enterprise platforms.
I’ll admit, during that first conversation, I couldn’t fully picture the end result. But over the years, I’ve learned something from working with people like Johan:If the idea seems a little wild, it’s probably worth pursuing 😊.
"Not the first wild idea, and hopefully not the last"
This wasn’t Johan’s first wild idea. Years ago, when VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) was still seen as sluggish and underpowered, he built an F1 racing simulator powered by GPU-enabled VDI to prove that high-performance workloads were absolutely possible in a virtual desktop. It worked brilliantly, and it blew people’s minds at event after event.
The robot dog idea, now called Q9, felt like a spiritual successor to that demo. High-impact, visually compelling, and technically deep. And yet, when Johan first pitched it, I didn’t fully foresee how it would evolve.
But I said yes. Not because I had a clear plan but because trust is part of how we work at ITQ. I knew I could rely on Johan to take full ownership of this project and pour in an endless amount of passion. He also rallied some other ITQ-ers, most notably Sander Harrewijnen, to help. Because that’s also part of working at ITQ: knowing when to bring in the right people to complement your strengths.
Launching Q9 at Red Hat Summit Connect
Fast forward to this month’s Red Hat Summit Connect in the Netherlands. After many evenings and weekends of developing the project, Q9 was ready. The booth team was ready, and Johan was lined up to present two sessions about the project at the Red Hat booth. When the conference kicked off, we knew this was a hit. Our booth was crowded the entire day.
Everyone wanted to see what this AI-powered robot dog was all about. It even got mentioned during the opening keynote by Red Hat Country Lead for The Netherlands, Marcel Timmer.
Everyone wanted to know the story behind it:
What platforms run on the backend?
Which tools did we use?
How did we team train the model?
How do you pull in and process the real-time video feed?
And who is that crazy company called ITQ?
We had real conversations with potential customers, potential candidates, other partners in the ecosystem, and vendors like HashiCorp, IBM, and others.
Teams move fast when they trust each other
As CTO at ITQ, one of the best parts of my job is saying yes to ideas I don’t fully understand (yet). It’s not blind trust, it’s trust based on passion, ownership, and track record. I knew Johan and Sander wouldn’t just chase a gimmick. I knew they’d pour evenings and weekends into building something that connected curiosity with capability. And that’s exactly what happened. You can’t always roadmap creativity. But you can create the conditions for it. And most of the time, those conditions start with trust.
At ITQ, we don’t chase headlines or build flashy showcases for the sake of it. But we do believe that technology should inspire. It should provoke conversation. It should show what’s possible today. Q9 is a great example of that mindset. A wild idea that turned into a standout moment at a major tech event. A team effort that combined vision, engineering, and execution. And a reminder that great things happen when you don’t try to control every step, but instead say:
“Go for it.”
Thanks to the entire team who made Q9 walk, think, and inspire. Thanks to NVIDIA for supporting us in the realization of Q9. And thanks to Red Hat and the broader community for embracing it with such enthusiasm.
ITQ. What’s next.
Blog post by Jeffrey Kusters, CTO at ITQ.
Do you also want to bring your wild ideas to a company where trust, passion and innovation are at the core? Let’s talk.
