The Robotics Summit & Expo, produced by The Robot Report, has announced the keynote lineup for the June 5-6 event at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center. The Robotics Summit focuses on the technical issues involved with the design, development, manufacture and delivery of commercial-class robots.

Click here to see the Robotics Summit speaker lineup. Registration for the Robotics Summit is also open. Register by March 29 to take advantage of the early bird discount of $495 for full-conference passes. Academic registration is $295 and expo-only passes are just $50. Discounted group rates are available. Email scrowe@wtwhmedia.com for more information.

Robotics Summit & Expo Keynotes

Bringing AI-Powered Robots to Life

Deepu Talla, VP and GM, Autonomous Machines, NVIDIA
June 5: 9-9:45 AM

Artificial intelligence is the most powerful technology of our time, giving machines the ability to sense, perceive, and interact with the world. AI is driving an exciting new era of robotics and high-performance computing platforms are critical to the creation of tomorrow’s machines — both big and small. And with new tools powering the future of autonomous machines, there’s no limit to what’s possible.

During this keynote presentation, Talla will dive into the elements required to bring a product to life — embedded hardware, flexible software, and a strong ecosystem. He will also review some of the latest advancements in robotics research and provide examples of commercially successful robotics systems.

Examples include cobots that can work alongside humans in manufacturing, last-mile delivery robots that bring food and products to consumers, and agricultural robots that will help feed Earth’s growing population. Talla will also describe how it is now faster and easier than ever for companies, researchers, developers, and makers to get up and running with robotics.

The Role of the Cloud in the Future of Robotics

Roger Barga, GM, AWS Robotics and Autonomous Services, Amazon Web Services
June 5: 9:45-10:30 AM

Barga will discuss the role cloud services will play in the future of robotics, allowing developers to partition functionality between their physical robot and the cloud, in particular compute intensive functionality such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.

He will also describe how artificial intelligence can enhance collaborative, consumer and personal assistant robot capabilities, with examples including face and object recognition, as well as voice command and response.

Examples of using machine learning and simulation in the cloud to successfully train a robot to navigate through a new environment without writing a line of code will also be provided. In addition, drawing upon robotics experiences in fulfillment centers, he will discuss the role of the cloud to monitor, control and manage fleets of robots in production.

The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier

Dawn Tilbury, Head of the Directorate for Engineering, National Science Foundation and Professor University of Michigan
June 5: 10:45-11:30 AM

Robots are moving into workplaces, replacing some people while helping others to accomplish their goals. NSF has been funding research in The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier, with a goal of ensuring that the robots of the future are beneficial for both people and jobs.

One of NSF’s Ten Big Ideas, the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier will require cross-disciplinary and convergent research, as well as collaborations between universities and industries. Through these collaborations that will define and develop new technologies, we foresee significant progress being made on many important societal challenges.

What to Expect for 2020?

Henrik Christensen, Qualcomm Chancellor’s Chair of Robot Systems, UC San Diego and Director, Institute for Contextual Robotics
June 6: 9-9:45 AM

Over the last decade we have witnessed tremendous progress on robotics. Collaborative robotics has come of age, vision is finally viable as a feedback modality, grippers have moved beyond parallel kinematics, and so on. We have also seen major advances in modern machine learning techniques, modern control theory and human-robot interaction. But what does the future hold for the robotics sector, and where can opportunities be found?

To answer exactly those questions, governments and business development groups often turn to technology roadmaps – formal documents generated every few years by a combination of experts from business, academia and government that systematically describe goals for research, technology, products, applications and industries, and outline the most efficient and economic path to those goals, including hurdles that must be overcome.

In this keynote session, Christensen will describe the development of the current US National Robotics Roadmap, and discuss both emerging robotics business cases and significant R&D challenges.

IoT, Robotics, Automation: Evolution and Opportunities

Lou Amadio & Cyra Richardson, Microsoft
June 6: 10-10:45 AM

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been transformational to many businesses. The insights gained through instrumentation and digitization are improving efficiency and increasing margins. The next step is to close the loop through robotics and autonomous systems.

In this keynote presentation, Microsoft’s Lou Amadio, Principal Software Architect, and Cyra Richardson, General Manager Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Incubation, will describe how a host of cloud and edge IoT solutions can be used collectively to bring your robotics and automation solutions to market.

How 5G Will Usher In a New Generation of Connected Robots

Dev Singh, Director of Business Development, Qualcomm Technologies
June 6: 4-4:45 PM

5G is being described as a once-in-a-generation technological advent. The massive capacity, ultra-low latency, and high reliability of 5G communications will enable entire new ecosystems of connected technologies to flourish. In the field of robotics, this will mean everything from highly precise industrial robots that can be controlled wirelessly or even remotely, to coordinated fleets of small consumer robots in the household.

With the introduction of 5G into robotics technology, our robots can become smarter, more capable, and more efficient than ever before. Singh will discuss just how 5G will enable this new generation of connected robots.

Sponsorship Opportunities

For information about Robotics Summit & Expo sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please download the prospectus and/or contact Christina Lograsso at clograsso@wtwhmedia.com.