Meet the RoboBusiness keynote speakers

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RoboBusiness, the leading event focused on developing commercial robots and produced by The Robot Report, takes place in two weeks (Oct. 18-19) in Santa Clara, Calif. Below is another look at the industry leaders who will be headlining the event.

Click here to see the full RoboBusiness speaker lineup. You can also check out expo floor here.

RoboBusiness Keynotes

State of Humanoid Robotics Development

Nick Paine, Co-Founder and CTO, Apptronik; Geordie Rose, Co-Founder & CEO, Sanctuary; Jonathan Hurst, Co-founder and Chief Robot Officer, Agility Robotics
October 18: 9:30 AM – 10:15 AM

Step into the future as this keynote panel explores the remarkable advancements and current landscape of humanoids. Humanoids have historically been relegated to robotics research labs to help push the boundaries of legged locomotion and control systems. However, the tides are changing, and this panel will explore the technological breakthroughs that are propelling humanoids into the real world. Gain firsthand insights into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead and discover which industries are poised to be early adopters of these remarkable creations.

Robotics Are Helping to Feed the World

Sarah Schinckel, Director of Emerging Technologies, John Deere
October 18: 10:15 AM – 10:55 AM

Farmers are up against a monumental challenge: feeding a growing population with less available land, labor, and resources. The world’s population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, increasing the global food demand by 50%. However, overall employment of agricultural workers is only projected to grow by 1% by 2029, slower than average for all occupations. Advanced robotics are essential to helping farmers upskill limited labor and perform precise tasks at scale.

Robotics are also the key to bringing autonomy and automation to the farm. Today, farmers use highly-automated machines to prepare the soil, plant, spray, and harvest. With continued robotic innovation, farmers can perform tasks faster and with fewer resources to provide the food, fuel, and fiber our world needs. This presentation will explore the value robotics bring to the farm and what other industries can learn from its purposeful use case in agriculture.

How Intuitive Is Creating Distance From Competitors

Dave Rosa, President, Intuitive
October 19: 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Surgical robotics pioneer Intuitive is outpacing competitors in the industry by doubling down on its multi-port Da Vinci Robot while also introducing new robotics technologies to combat deadly diseases. In this interview, we’ll hear how the company is building engineering and sales teams to bring its systems to more hospitals in the US and abroad.

Generative AI’s Impact on Robotics Development

Pras Velagapudi, VP of Innovation, Agility Robotics; Jeff Linnell, CEO & Founder, Formant; Ken Goldberg, William S. Floyd Jr Distinguished Chair in Engineering, UC Berkeley; Amit Goel, Director of Product Management, NVIDIA; Ted Larson, CEO, OLogic
October 19: 10 AM – 10:45 AM

Generative AI is revolutionizing the software industry, but how can this breakthrough be applied to robotics? This keynote panel of robotics industry leaders will discuss the applications of Large Language Models (LLMs) and text generation applications to robotics. It will also explore fundamental ways generative AI can be applied to robotics design, model training, simulation, control algorithms and product commercialization.

Shaping the Future of Surgery

Hani Abouhalka, Company Group Chairman, Robotics & Digital Surgery, Johnson & Johnson MedTech
October 19: 3:30 PM – 4:15 PM

We’re in an age of acceleration for healthcare and the pace of change to make surgery smarter, less invasive and more personalized is unprecedented. Rooted in Johnson & Johnson’s heritage of solving the most critical unmet needs for patients and surgeons with market-defining innovation, Hani will discuss the next era of technological advancements in robotics, digital technology and connected ecosystems to make surgery better for everyone.

RoboBusiness will feature 60-plus speakers, 60-plus exhibitors and demos on the expo floor, 10 hours of dedicated networking time, the Pitchfire Robotics Startup Competition and more. You can check out the current list of speakers here.

RoboBusiness will be co-located with the Field Robotics Engineering Forum, an event focused on successfully developing robots that operate 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.