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RoboBusiness, produced by The Robot Report and WTWH Media, recently announced the full conference agenda for the October 19-20 event at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Since its founding in 2004, RoboBusiness has grown and evolved to become the world’s premier robotics business development event.

The conference sessions at RoboBusiness are designed to impart to technical professionals the information they need to successfully develop, deploy and manage the next generation of commercial robotics systems. Beyond the keynotes and conference sessions, there will be 60-plus exhibits and demonstrations on the expo show floor, a startup bootcamp, a career fair, the Pitchfire robotics startup competition networking receptions and more. Full conference passes are $795, while expo-only passes are just $75. Academic discounts are available and academic full conference rates are $295.

RoboBusiness will be co-located with the Field Robotics Engineering Forum, an event designed to provide engineers, engineering management, business professionals and others with information about how to successfully develop and safely deploy the next generation of field robotics systems for operation in wide-ranging, outdoor, dynamic environments. Also co-located with RoboBusiness is DeviceTalks West, the premier industry event for medical technology professionals, currently in its ninth year. Both events attract engineering and business professionals from a broad range of healthcare and medical technology backgrounds.

The complete agenda for RoboBusiness is below. You can also view the entire RoboBusiness agenda here and register here.

Wednesday, Oct. 19

Keynote: Designing the Robot Future We Want to Live In
Anthony Jules, Founder & CEO, Robust.ai
8:45-9:30

Robotics and AI have entered a new golden age of capability and possibility. We have perception systems that were only dreamed of a decade ago, while the cost of building useful machines continues to fall. At the same time, the world’s machines are increasingly connected and able to work in concert. These changes and others form the bedrock for an evolution in robotics, where individual systems give way to fleets of machines that are incredibly capable, especially when it comes to working with people. Today, many machines operate in locations completely devoid of people. Going forward, however, most work will be undertaken by individuals supported by automation or accomplished by increasingly intelligent systems working in true collaboration with people. These machines will operate next to us and share space with us, and by necessity, they will affect our work experiences and wellbeing. Therefore, our intention must be to make that collaborative work experience a positive one. If we take a purely functional approach to solving tasks using robotics and automation, the work experience will be negative rather than positive.

Anthony Jules, Co-founder & CEO of Robust.AI will elucidate the significant business opportunities available for those willing to take the hard road of intentionally designing and developing systems for the positive future we all want to live in – one that enables people to work in true collaboration with machines.

Keynote: Developing Autonomous Vehicles
Allison Thackston, Technical Lead & Manager, Waymo
9:30-10:15

Waymo is the world’s leading developer of autonomous driving technology, with robotaxi services up and running in Phoenix and San Francisco. In this engaging keynote, Thackston will give attendees an inside look at the major technical challenges involved with developing autonomous vehicles. She will also provide updates on recent deployments and what the future holds for autonomous vehicles.

Keynote: All In on Innovation: Using Automation to Define the Future of Supply Chain
Sally Miller, Chief Information Officer, DHL Supply Chain
10:45-11:30

Businesses and their supply chain managers are chartered with increasing the efficiency of their operations while simultaneously reducing costs. To address these conflicting mandates, companies continue to increase the level of automation in warehouse environments for the movement of materials and goods. But how effective are these measures and what comes next?

Sally Miller, Chief Information Officer for DHL Supply Chain in North America, will discuss the state of supply chain automation and innovation, including: – Why robots and robotics technologies are required for supply chain operations – What automation products and technologies are working – What automation solutions require optimization and further development – What is the future of logistics automation and how will success be measured.

Breakout Session: How to Attract Funding as an Early-Stage Startup
Maryanna Saenko, Co-Founder and Partner, Future Ventures
11:45-12:30

In this session, Maryanna Saenko, Co-Founder and Partner of Future Ventures will review the questions she asks herself about founders and their companies before she decides to invest in them such as:

• Are they uniquely positioned to create this company? How and why and they are uniquely motivated?
• Are they a reluctant founder? Founders could be doing many other things with their lives, but take on the challenge of starting a company because they believe the technology must exist and that they are one of the only ones capable of bringing it to life.
• Are they capable of hiring? Can they articulate their mission in a way that makes people leave their stable jobs and come work at a risky new company?

Breakout Panel Session: Innovations in Sensors, Sensing and Robot Vision
Jay Johnson Market, Product Manager of Motion Control Sensors, SICK; Rajat Aggarwal, Chief Executive Officer, DreamVu; Amir Bousani, CEO, RGo Robotics
11:45 AM – 12:30 PM

Commercial robotic systems typically require multiple types of sensors to capture information about the physical world, which following fusion and further processing allows them to orient themselves, avoid obstacles, navigate, and provide additional information. The number, type, and quality of the onboard sensors vary depending on the price and target application for the platform. Common sensor types include 2D / 3D imaging sensors (cameras), 1D and 2D laser rangefinders, 2D and 3D sonar sensors, 3D High-Definition LiDAR, accelerometers, GPS and more. In this panel session, attendees will learn of the latest advances in sensing products and technologies, including use cases highlighting important trends and examples of the latest sensing trends and techniques.

Breakout Session: Driving Connections Between AMRs to Deliver Greater Human / Robot Collaboration
Parker Conroy, Head of Product, Verizon Robotics
11:45 AM – 12:30 PM

While not commonplace, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are increasingly being used outside of industrial facilities. For years these robots have been behind the scenes in factories and warehouses, but increasingly we are witnessing AMRs in airports, hotels and even delivering our food. As these robots become more common, it is critical that their architecture be simplified, enabling lower-cost platforms to perform in ever-increasing dynamic environments. In this discussion, Parker Conroy, Head of Product at Verizon Robotics, will review the evolution of AMRs from standalone systems to devices that can operate on distributed computation platforms enabled by communications technologies. He will also highlight how seamless human/robot communication will result in greater levels of collaboration, increasing efficiency, productivity, and safety in the process.

Using Simulation for the Design and Development of Robotics Systems
Erin Rapacki-Bishop, Senior PMM Robotics & Isaac Sim, NVIDIA
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Companies in the commercial and industrial sectors are increasingly turning to robotics automation to reduce costs, improve productivity, and increase operational efficiency. Companies in the consumer sector, too, have turned to robotics technologies to drive their businesses, releasing new products and robotizing existing offerings. Developing these systems, however, is a complex, challenging, and costly undertaking. Thankfully, advanced simulation tools are available to engineers that can speed the design, development, and testing of robotics systems.

In this session, NVIDIA’s Erin Rapacki-Bishop will describe the many ways simulation platforms can be used to accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent robotics systems. Specifically, she will describe how simulation can be used to test robot code in photo-realistic, physically accurate environments, as well as model behaviors inside a simulated worksite to ensure the robot performs efficiently within the process flow of a real-world facility. This session is designed as an introduction to photo-realistic 3D simulation for robotics and is appropriate for all levels.

Breakout Session: Guerilla Product Development for Robotics
Ted Larson CEO, OLogic
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

In this presentation, based on years of developing numerous robots for companies across the world, Ted Larson, CEO of Ologic, a Silicon Valley-based robotics design and development services firm, will outline the steps in his Guerilla Product Development program, a novel engineering approach for developing robotics systems. He will discuss the concepts underlying the product development technique, and provide specific examples of how the process has been used for the development of various robotic and consumer electronics products. Specifically, he will detail how the approach was used for the design of the commercial robotics offering from Dusty Robotics.

Robotics Startup Boot Camp – Part 1
Aaron Capron, Partner, Finnegan; Peter Russo, Founder/President, New Approach Development; Michael LaCrosse, Principal, CliftonLarsonAllen; Parna Sarkar-Basu, Founder, Brand and Buzz; Daniel Theobald, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Vecna Robotics
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Starting a robotics company, as well as growing and scaling one, has many challenges. The Robotics Startup Boot Camp will provide “tips of the trade” and include discussions around: legal formation, stock options and patents, dilutive and non-dilutive investments, the path to manufacturing, best practices in accounting, and when to bring on marketing, sales, & HR experts, and fundraising & exits.

Breakout Session: Private 5G LANs for Robotics Automation
Mehmet Yavuz, CTO, Celona
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

Common wireless connectivity challenges for robotics automation include disconnects while autonomous mobile robots (AMR) roam between indoor wireless access points, lack of coverage in very large outdoor areas for automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and inconsistent latency in network communications. These challenges force many enterprises to stick with wired LAN connectivity in order to ensure predictable quality in network communications for their robotics infrastructure – limiting their ability to support robotics use cases supported with mobility and incurring high costs due to large investment in cabling costs.

All of these challenges can be addressed with private 5G LANs, at a fraction of the cost compared to these traditional options. In this session, Mehmet Yavuz, CTO of Celona, will discuss how leaders in the supply chain industry can craft their own private cellular strategy given their existing infrastructure, unique environments and desired business outcomes. Topics include:

• Introduction to Use of Private LTE/5G Cellular in the Enterprise
• Common Customer Use Cases and Technology Benefits
• 5G LAN Deployment Principles to Support Robotics Automation
• Onboarding Options to Private Cellular for Robotics Infrastructure
• Total Cost of Ownership and Return on Investment Analysis

Breakout Session: Meeting the Motion Demands of Today’s Robots Using Integrated Servo Drives and Dual Absolute Encoders
Brian Coyne, VP of Engineering, Harmonic Drive LLC
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

This session will discuss some of the challenges facing robotics engineers to achieve leading-edge performance and reliability, while navigating around tight design constraints. Power density continues to be a cornerstone in robot actuator design, but this is often compromised by additional functionality required of actuators and their cabling. We will examine how to improve performance while not only minimizing the weight of actuators but also the size of the control cabinet and simplifying cable routing requirements with integrated servo drives.

Robotics Startup Boot Camp – Part 2
Aaron Capron, Partner, Finnegan; Peter Russo, Founder/President, New Approach Development; Michael LaCrosse, Principal, CliftonLarsonAllen; Parna Sarkar-Basu, Founder, Brand and Buzz; Daniel Theobald, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Vecna Robotics
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Starting a robotics company, as well as growing and scaling one, has many challenges. The Robotics Startup Boot Camp will provide “tips of the trade” and include discussions around: legal formation, stock options and patents, dilutive and non-dilutive investments, the path to manufacturing, best practices in accounting, and when to bring on marketing, sales, & HR experts, and fundraising & exits.

Breakout Session: Why Interoperability is Critical to the Warehouse of the Future
Daniel Theobald, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Vecna Robotics
4:15 PM – 5:00 PM

The global autonomous mobile robot (AMR) and Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) market is expected to reach $14 billion by 2026, with more than 270 vendors leading the manufacturing and logistics space and over 50,000 warehouses worldwide expected to leverage robots by 2025. However, fleets of robots from multiple vendors work on different operating systems and historically have had no standard way to communicate, share information or coordinate activities – until now.

This presentation will explore the first open-source AMR interoperability standards, developed by the MassRobotics AMR Interoperability Working Group, and how they enable robots from multiple vendors to integrate and work together seamlessly to support safe and efficient operations in global factories, warehouses, distribution and fulfillment centers.

During the presentation, Daniel will discuss the industry challenges that introduced these standards to simplify the adoption of autonomous mobile robots into the market. He’ll also share his front-line insights from the working group about how these standards are a huge step forward for a more successful and smarter warehouse and how they promote a realizable future of cooperation between various vendors and, in turn, humans and robots too.

Breakout Panel Session: Developing Cognitive Robotics Systems
Brandon Coats, Director of Integration and US Co-Founder, Mujin; Mark Hoopes, Director Industrial & Automotive, Lattice; Sandra Skaff, Senior Alliances and Ecosystem Manager, NVIDIA; Brual Shah, Chief Technology Officer, GrayMatter Robotics
4:15 PM – 5:00 PM

Any Internet search using the terms “artificial intelligence” (AI), “cognition”, or “machine learning”(ML) with the word “robotics” will return a slew of research and commercial initiatives focused on robotic decision making, object identification, vision processing, autonomous navigation, motor control, sensor integration and other functions, as well as speech, facial and emotion recognition. Robotics designers and engineers are exploiting these capabilities to increase the efficiency and safety of their systems. They are also taking advantage of different types of distributed execution architectures – edge, fog and cloud – to optimize their systems and their intended applications.

In this panel session, attendees will learn how the latest AI and machine learning software and hardware technologies and techniques are currently being employed in robotics systems to make robots more intelligent and functional. Emerging capabilities and commercial opportunities will be highlighted.

Breakout Session: The Need for Multi-Robot Orchestration
Florian Pestoni CEO and Co-founder | InOrbit
4:15 PM – 5:00 PM

Within warehouses and fulfillment centers, robotics systems for dedicated tasks such as cleaning, scanning inventory, picking and packing, are increasingly working alongside autonomous forklifts and delivery robots. These various systems typically do not play well together, lacking heterogeneous fleet interoperability and orchestration. As a result, there is a growing need for orchestration of these various robots and tasks, not just to avoid one another, but to coordinate workflows and collaborate effectively with human labor sharing the same space.

In this session, Florian Pestoni, CEO of InOrbit will describe the best practices and solutions for efficient robot operations in heterogeneous robotics environments, including emerging interoperability standards, growing ecosystems, and advances in software integration. He will also share a vision of how effective multi-robot operations will drive automation in the future.

Pitchfire Robotics Startup Competition
5 PM – 6 PM
The fast-paced and lively robotics startup pitch competition where the winners walk away with a cash prize! Each competing startup gets five minutes to pitch to a panel of judges – along with RoboBusiness attendees – describing their company’s solution, business model, value proposition and more.

Thursday, Oct. 20

Keynote: Building Human-Centric Robots for Real-World Tasks
Damion Shelton, Co-founder & CEO, Agility Robotics
9:00 AM – 9:45 AM

In this engaging keynote session, Agility Robotics co-founders Jonathan Hurst and Damion Shelton will discuss the development of their bipedal robot, Digit, and how it’s being built to perform real-world tasks such as unloading trailers and moving totes and packages. Agility Robotics will also demo Digit and show a special tease of the next version of Digit that is due out this fall.

Keynote Panel: Robotics Sector Fundraising and Investment – Status, Trends and Recommendations
Firdaus Pohowalla, Managing Director, Cascadia Capital; Martyna Waliszewska, Investment Manager, Invest in Odense; Karthee Madasamy, Founder & Managing Partner, Mobile Foundation Ventures; Sherwin Prior, Director, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund; Fady Saad, Founder & General Partner, Cybernetix Ventures
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM

Research advancements and technological progress have combined to remove barriers to robotics innovation and commercialization, providing the robotics sector with many opportunities for startups that can deliver robotics solutions that are functional and deliver real value. While funding for robotics start-ups continues to increase, it is equally true that fundraising for a robotics startup can be challenging, more so compared to other sectors and technologies. A keynote panel of leading robotics sector investment professionals will discuss venture capital (VC) and private sector investment in companies producing robots or enabling technologies. The keynote will also highlight companies, technologies, and applications that have found commercial success or have the potential for doing so. Macro trends in the robotics sector, useful for uncovering novel technological innovations, as well as surfacing overlooked business opportunities, will be discussed.

Breakout Panel Session: Working with Robotics Clusters and Innovation Centers
Joyce Sidopoulos, Co-Founder and Chief of Operations, MassRobotics; Joel Reed, Executive Director, Pittsburgh Robotics Network; Andra Keay, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Robotics
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM

It is well documented that robotics clusters, groups of regionally localized robotics companies, enthusiastic investors, universities and research institutions, and other supporting organizations, act as facilitators and accelerators for robotics innovation, new business formation, job creation and regional wealth generation. For companies developing robotics solutions (both large and small), as well as individual engineers, awareness and understanding of the outsized role robotics clusters play in the growth of the overall robotics sector, particularly as it relates to business planning and partnership opportunities, is critical. In this panel session, representatives from various robotics clusters will describe how clusters support robotics companies and robotics communities, and by extension, career opportunities.

Breakout Session: Robotics Safety and Cybersecurity – You Can’t Have One Without the Other
Nathan Bivans, CTO, FORT Robotics
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM

Over the last 50 years, machines have changed dramatically, becoming more autonomous, intelligent and mobile than ever before. In short, today’s machines do more with less human supervision. They’re also increasingly connected, both to the Internet and to other machines and devices.

In light of these changes, society needs to reevaluate our understanding of what it means to safely deploy machines, especially in scenarios where they will work closely with people. The safety measures of the past, when machines were bolted down, caged, or controlled by wired systems, are not suited for the age of autonomy. Robotics systems and smart machines need a new approach to safety— one that includes cybersecurity as a primary consideration. In this session, FORT CTO Nathan Bivans will discuss the convergence of IT and OT, cybersecurity threats in OT environments and best practices for mitigating safety and security risks.

Breakout Session: Safety Compliance of Commercial & Consumer Robots
Jason Smith, Principal Engineer, Robots & Control Systems, UL Solutions
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM

Robots are increasingly being used in environments where they are exposed to the public, whether it be in a shopping mall, a grocery store, a restaurant, an airport, or in the home. This raises concerns about whether these commercial & consumer robots can be trusted to operate safely around people, especially vulnerable groups such as children and elderly. Even when no humans are present, having a robot in a home or workplace can increase risk. As a result, standards have been developed describing how these robots are to be assessed in terms of construction, materials, design, and testing to substantially reduce risk and increase public safety.

In this presentation, UL’s Jason Smith and Karen Reddington will introduce these safety standards, including the new UL 3300, the standard for robotics systems, including service, information, educational and entertainment robots. Topics such as electrical safety, battery safety, safe mobility and functional safety, and designing for compliance will also be discussed.

Breakout Panel Session: Robots to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – What Are the Next Opportunities?
Anita Sengupta, Founder & CEO, Hydroplane; Parna Sarkar-Basu, Founder, Brand and Buzz; Tessa Lau, Founder & CEO, Dusty Robotics
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Robots, UAVs and drones have become an integral part of our society today. No longer limited to improving productivity and efficiency in industrial settings, these automated systems are making lives easier and the world greener. We no longer do a double take when we see robots supporting human workers, drones helping fight climate change or robot chefs serving at restaurants. As our reliance of automation accelerate, we have to ask — what’s next?

In this engaging and far-reaching panel session, representatives from robotics, aviation and other industries will address the ‘what’s next’ question. Topics include:

• How robotic technology is innovating the construction industry
• How automation/UAVs are decarbonizing aviation
• Market drivers and emerging opportunities
• Challenges and gating factors
• What’s coming next?

Breakout Session: Intelligent Robotics Systems – Empowering Your Robots with AI
YJ Lim, Sr. Technical Robotics Product Lead, MathWorks
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

AI, including machine learning and deep learning, is increasingly impacting our personal lives, and the use of AI-powered robots in manufacturing facilities, power plants, warehouses, and other industrial sites also continues to expand. Warehouse bin-picking provides just one example. In an e-commerce fulfillment warehouse, human workers need to pick and place millions of different products into boxes based on customer requirements. Deep learning and reinforcement learning now enables robots to learn to handle various objects with minimum help from humans.

In this session, YJ Lim, Senior Technical Product Manager of Robotics and Autonomous Systems at MathWorks, will describe how to empower robotics systems using deep learning and reinforcement learning for perception and motion control in autonomous robotics applications including robot manipulators, autonomous mobile robots, and UAVs.

Leveraging AI to Maximize Cobot Efficiency
Tim DeGrasse, Channel Development Manager, Universal Robots
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have enabled collaborative robots to precisely execute tasks in dynamically changing workspaces, enabling operations to run more smoothly, efficiently and productively. In this session, Universal Robots’ Tim DeGrasse will describe and demonstrate how AI-powered cobots can increase production, decrease cost, and shorten cycle times in today’s high-tech manufacturing environments. Video case study examples will show how AI leverages billions of hours of iterative machine-learned practices to intelligently direct cobots in manufacturing, production and engineering.

Breakout Session: How to Succeed Selling Robotics to Healthcare: A Case Study
Thuc Vu, CEO and Co-founder, OhmniLabs
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

In the health systems of the United States, along with many parts of the world, healthcare providers are faced with many challenges, including staff shortages, limited ability to recruit new staff, and burnout. For example, according to a report by healthcare automation provider Notable, since the pandemic first began, the healthcare industry lost nearly 30% of its workforce. Thankfully, there are technology solutions that mitigate these critical issues through automation, but navigating the healthcare space is not always straightforward.

In this session drawn from real-world experience selling his company’s products into healthcare, Thuc Vu, CEO and Co-founder of OhmniLabs, will share his journey and the key insights he has gained. Vu will discuss various parts of the sales cycle including product design and pilot testing, how to identify and meet with decision-makers, and learning which features and requirements they care about the most. He will also discuss how to work with partners to amplify your company’s reach

Breakout Session: Enabling Real-time LiDAR-based Spatial Intelligence
Cedric Hutchings, Co-founder and CEO, Outsight
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

In addition to automotive applications, 3D LiDAR data can be leveraged for many other use cases. Examples include robotics systems, vehicle and pedestrian flow monitoring, security and industrial applications. However, effectively using LiDAR data in real-time is a complex, expensive, and long endeavor even for expert 3D engineers. The lack of any standards makes it also even more challenging and threatens to slow down market adoption of powerful 3D LiDAR solutions. In this presentation, Outsight’s Cedric Hutchings will demonstrate how application developers and integrators can seamlessly use of LiDAR data from any hardware supplier. Specific use cases and real-life LiDAR recordings will be used to illustrate the practical applications.

Breakout Session: Leveraging Robotics Data to Accelerate Digital Transformation
Jordan Sun, Vice President of Product, Design and Engineering, SoftBank Robotics America
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

Robotics and automation are being embraced across industries to improve day-to-day operations and solve new challenges brought on by labor shortages. As robotics solutions saturate the market to solve a variety of problems, they generate a vast amount of data. This data, both actionable and insightful, can be used to transform businesses, but it is often underutilized.

In this session, SoftBank Robotics America’s president Brady Watkins will describe how the data generated by robotics solutions can best be utilized to improve businesses’ performance through enterprise-level change management, and ultimately digital transformation. He will show how data can be leveraged to build truer and deeper AI and facilitate digital transformation.

MassRobotics Career Fair
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

The MassRobotics Career Fair provides opportunities for both job seekers and producers of robotics and AI/machine learning technologies and services seeking qualified, motivated, engineering talent.