Registration is now open for the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum, a new event focusing on the development of robotics systems that address the many demands of the growing healthcare sector. The international forum will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center on Dec. 9-10, 2019.

The growth of healthcare robotics is being driven by aging populations, worker shortages, and cost pressures, as well as improvements in enabling technologies. The Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum will provide attendees a unique opportunity to learn from technology and industry experts and to meet with their peers. The conference and exposition will delve into the design, development, manufacture, and delivery of innovative healthcare robotics.

Business-to-business publisher WTWH Media, parent company of The Robot Report and the Robotics Summit & Expo, is the producer of the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum, which will be co-located with DeviceTalks West.

“The Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston this past June nearly tripled in attendance over last year’s inaugural event, demonstrating the need for a technical conference focusing on the development of next-generation systems, particularly in healthcare robotics,” said Dan Kara, vice president of robotics at WTWH Media. “With this new event, we invite the best minds in healthcare robotics — assistive, medical, therapeutic, and surgical — to share their experience and insights to help drive innovation forward.”

Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum speakers

Representatives from leading healthcare and robotics organizations are scheduled to speak in Santa Clara, Calif. They include the following:

• • Chun Hua Zheng, senior clinical development engineer at Intuitive Surgical
  • Brian Schmitz, senior director of surgical robotics research and development at Stryker
  • Corey Ryan, manager of medical robotics at KUKA Robotics
  • Corey Kidd, founder and CEO of Catalia Health
  • Dave Rollinson, co-founder, head of mechanical and controls at HEBI Robotics
  • Bob Mullins, vice president at Harmonic Drive
  • Tony Melanson, vice president of marketing at ST Engineering-Aethon
  • Charlie Kemp, chief technology officer at Hello Robot and associate professor at Georgia Tech
  • Carla Pugh, professor of surgery at Stanford University

The keynotes, sessions, and panels at the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum will discuss topics including the use of collaborative and mobile robots in healthcare settings and advances in robot-assisted surgery.

The speakers will also address human factors considerations, the importance of clinical design and new FDA guidelines, working with engineering services firms, and research and commercial opportunities around wearable and soft robotics. More speakers will be announced soon.

Conference tracks

Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum attendees can gain in-depth knowledge from sessions in four tracks:

• Enabling Technologies: The requirements for sensors, actuators, and other components are particularly stringent in healthcare. The sessions in this track will examine advances and ongoing challenges in robotic perception, cognition, manipulation, and mobility.
• Tools and Platforms: To build best-in-class systems, the people designing and building robots need to be aware of the state of the art in robotics development tools, simulation, languages, and libraries. This includes the Robot Operating System, the use of augmented and virtual reality, and various software developer kits.
• Design and Development: From methodologies to interoperability, this track will look at understanding use cases, designing for manufacturability, rapid prototyping, systems integration, and sensor fusion for healthcare robotics.
• Management and Opportunity: In the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) alone, spending on healthcare robotics will grow from $2.73 billion this year to $7 billion by 2022, predicts IDC Healthcare Insights. Both established medical device suppliers and robotics startups need to navigate the business challenges in this competitive market.

An updated agenda will be available soon on the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum site.

See the latest in healthcare robotics

The Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum will feature more than 20 exhibitors showing cutting-edge robotics components, integrated solutions, and essential products and services. They will include companies such as Harmonic Drive, Elmo Motion Control, and KUKA Robotics.

In addition, conference attendees will have an opportunity to network at the “Mix at 6,” which will include food and drinks, entertainment, more robots, and raffles.

Register now for the 2019 Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum in Silicon Valley. Early bird, full-conference registration is available for $395 through Oct. 31. Expo-only passes are only $75, and academic and association rates are available.

About WTWH Media

WTWH Media LLC is a business-to-business integrated media company serving engineering, business, and investment professionals through 40+ Web sites and five print publications, as well as many technical and business events such as the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum. The WTWH network includes MassDevice and The Robot Report, an online technical, business, and investment news and information portal focused on robotics and intelligent systems.