The 2026 Robotics Summit & Expo kicks off tomorrow in Boston. The event will bring together more than 5,000 robotics experts and over 200 exhibitors over its two-day run at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center.
The show will have more than 50 sessions in tracks on artificial intelligence, design and development, enabling technologies, healthcare, and logistics. The Engineering Theater on the show floor will also feature presentations by industry experts.
More than 70 speakers are confirmed from companies such as Fictiv, Harmonic Drive, maxon, PickNik Robotics, RealSense, Tesla, the Toyota Research Institute, and more.
To help you keep track of everything going on, we’ve compiled a summary of all of the activities at the Robotics Summit & Expo. In addition, you can download the Robotics Summit App to plan your personal schedule, network with fellow attendees, find exhibits, and more.
Registration is available onsite.
Prepare for a busy first day of the show
The Robotics Summit will kick off with a keynote panel in Room 253 ABC titled “Building the Next Era of Robot Autonomy.” It will feature insights from Aaron Parness, the director of applied science at Amazon Robotics; Anders Beck, vice president of AI robotics products at Universal Robots; Hamid Montazeri, the senior vice president of software and AI at Locus Robotics; and John Wall, the president of QNX. The keynote will start after introductory remarks at 9:00 a.m. ET.
Next will come another keynote panel, “The State of Humanoids” at 10:00 a.m. It will include Al Makke, the head of humanoid robotics in North America for Schaeffler; Mike Nielsen, the chief marketing officer at RealSense; Aaron Prather, the director of robotics and automation systems programs at ASTM International; Alberto Rodriguez, the director of robot behavior for Atlas at Boston Dynamics; and Pras Velagapudi, the chief technology officer at Agility.
The expo floor will also open at 10:00 a.m. Presentations in the Engineering Theater will start at 10:15 a.m. In addition, look for the RBR50 Showcase.
MassRobotics will host its Startup Alley, Form & Function Challenge, and Physical AI Accelerator. Attendees can even play pickleball with Tennibot.
Breakout sessions will start at 11:30 a.m. in Rooms 251, 252A, 252B, 254A, and 254B.
After the show floor closes, the Mix & Mingle Networking Reception will begin at 5:00 p.m. in Exhibit Hall C. The reception will include drinks, light appetizers, and time to connect with other Robotics Summit attendees and speakers.
At 6:00 p.m., we’ll close the day with the ticketed RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Dinner in Room 253 ABC. The evening will honor winners of Robot of the Year, Startup of the Year, Application of the Year, Robots for Good winners, and more.
Day 2 Robotics Summit highlights
The second day of the Robotics Summit & Expo will start at 8:00 a.m. in Room 254 A-B with the sold-out Women in Robotics Breakfast. The breakfast will include a talk from Joyce Sidopoulos, co-founder and chief of operations at MassRobotics, and Mikell Taylor, head of robotics strategy at GM.
At 9:05 a.m., Brian Gerkey, the board chair of Open Robotics and chief technology officer of Intrinsic, will deliver the keynote “An Open Foundation for the Age of AI-Powered Robots.” This will be followed by a keynote from Taylor on “What Makes a Robot Worthy?” starting at 10:00 a.m.
On Day 2, the exhibit hall will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. At 3:30 p.m., the Robotics Summit will close with a final keynote, “Rewiring What’s Possible: A New Era of Human Potential.” During this talk, Noland Arbaugh will share what it means to become the first person to use a Neuralink brain-computer interface and how it has reshaped his independence, creativity, and connection to the world.
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