Agenda

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  • May 09, 2022


  • May 10, 2022


  • May 11, 2022


  • View more details here

  • Labor challenges and worker safety led to a rise in robot deployments in the past few years. More deployments, however, meant more integration challenges. Today, companies want their disparate robot fleets to work together. That means robots from different vendors are going to need to find common ground because their customers will demand it. Open Robotics’ Brian Gerkey will discuss how companies are addressing interoperability, and what options are available to vendors, end users, and integrators. Attendees will learn:
    · The history of Open-RMF (Robotics Middleware Framework)
    · Best practices in multiple vendor robot interoperability
    · Future interoperability trends
    Keynotes

  • Business intelligence is transforming all sectors of the economy, including the fulfillment warehouse. Robotics automation for warehouse operations generates large amounts data, which when captured, revealed, and analyzed, can be put to effective use to improve business productivity. In this revelatory keynote presentation, Locus Robotics CEO Rick Falk will describe how automation solutions can provide companies with various types of key business information, a valuable and actionable resource for business planning, operations optimization, labor management and more. He will also describe how real-time dashboards on the warehouse floor, along with executive reporting tools, provides for the data-driven decision making companies require to build the operational resilience required to effectively manage disruptions and excel in the future.
    Keynotes

  • The recent pandemic turned our world outside down, professionally and personally. It also created opportunities for businesses and inspired engineers to think differently so they could bring innovative and life-saving products to market faster than ever before. Whether it was building robots that clean airports, cobot welders that meet staffing shortages or robots that bring food to waitstaff, designers were successfully leveraging digital product development platforms to collaborate globally, while working remotely.

    Now that we are operating in a hybrid work environment, at least for the foreseeable future, how can companies and roboticists continue to leverage the product development ecosystem to accelerate innovation?

    In this session, Jon Hirschtick will share:

    · His entrepreneurial journey and how he continues to empower innovators
    · Engineering best practices and lessons learned
    · What’s next for product development and how companies can maintain a competitive edge
    · How educators can prepare the next generation of engineers to meet the demands of today’s hyper-connected era
    Keynotes

  • In this engaging session, Fady Saad, Co-Founder & Director of Partnerships for MassRobotics, a robotics innovation accelerator and commercialization hub, will review the global robotics investment landscape, revealing and analyzing key funding trends. Examples from recent robotics investments will be provided to highlight salient points. He will also describe the critical role entrepreneurship and innovation plays, both in small start-ups and large corporations.
    Manufacturability, Production and Distribution Track

  • Manufacturers of aerospace parts, heavy machinery, and other industrial equipment require large, automated manufacturing systems for painting, surface-finishing, inspection, and more. These systems often employ a gantry outfitted with an industrial manipulator to extend the work envelope over many meters. Due to their sheer size and associated costs, these systems must perform multiple operations to ensure adequate return on investment. Automating these large, multi-process-systems has challenges including motion planning for redundant kinematics, calibration of 3D scanning sensors, environment management, user-interface, and collision monitoring. In this session, Matthew Robinson ROS- Americas Program Manager at Southwest Research Institute, which manages the ROS-Industrial Consortium Americas, will share recent experiences with several complex automation systems for large-scale manufacturing that have recently been placed into production where ROS was used to enable and support new capabilities.
    Systems, Design and Development Track

  • Engage with two robotics company executives who have traveled very different paths to successful product commercialization. Both companies develop and market robots for specific market segments. Learn how each company faced the challenge of successful commercialization and what support was most important in enabling their success. This session will be an interactive discussion with the audience.

    You’ll learn strategies to:
    · Introduce a robot into a new market
    · How to generate market demand
    · Sustain and meet the needs of current demand while expanding into other markets
    Technologies, Tools and Platforms Track

  • AMR and AGV robots have become more prevalent in the commercial, consumer, and business markets over the last several decades. From simple home cleaning robots to more complex medical and industrial systems, AMRs and AGVs have helped organizations augment manpower and reduce cost in their operations. Designing and implementing the right power system is critical to take advantage of these business savings.

    This presentation will review several different AMR and AGV applications and the requirements that each of these applications place on the power system when in use. The presentation will review the design considerations for application that should be considered when designing the power system and then provide the features of the optimal system design for each of these applications. In addition, the pros and cons of various battery chemistry systems available to the designer will be reviewed, as well as additional hardware and software features that, when implemented, can provide additional benefit to the business.
    Bonus Track

  • The Covid pandemic and resultant supply chain crunch have pushed reshoring and workforce issues to the top of the agenda for many companies, including those developing robotics solutions. In this session, Silicon Valley Robotics (SVR) Managing Director Andra Keay will review the ways SVR is working with IEEE Entrepreneurship and IEEE Robotics and Automation Society to improve awareness of robotics manufacturing experiences, as well as provide access to networks of expert design and manufacturing services providers across the US and beyond. She will also describe her efforts working with California universities and the Association of Manufacturing Technology to identify workforce solutions for increasing robotics automation, upskilling workforces, and manufacturing locally.
    Manufacturability, Production and Distribution Track

  • This presentation describes how the fusion of outdoor mobile manipulation, computer vision, and artificial intelligence, coupled with motion planning and collision avoidance algorithms is fueling the rapid adoption of supervised autonomy for outdoor applications. In this session, RE2’s Amanda Sgroi will present the key features of outdoor, mobile robotic arms, as well as how multi-modal computer vision software and artificial intelligence software can power autonomous behaviors. Likewise, PickNik’s Director of Engineering, Nathan Brooks, will present the features of the MoveIt open source motion planning and collision avoidance software. This session culminates with descriptions on how these enabling technologies, when combined, are expediting development of supervised autonomy by using construction as an example application.
    Systems, Design and Development Track

  • The capture and high-quality 3D reconstruction of moving scenes has always been a challenge for conventional 3D vision technologies powering area-scan devices. This is because standard technologies that are available on the market cannot overcome the trade-off between the quality of 3D data and scanning speed. In this session, Photoneo’s Svorad Stolc will explain how Parallel Structured Light technology, which combines the unique qualities of time-of-flight and structured light systems, can be utilized for 3D reconstruction of moving scenes without compromising on quality or speed. He will also describe how the technology supports the smart automation of processes that could not be automated with standard technologies, including new types of robotic applications for object handling in the manufacturing and automotive sectors, object recognition in agriculture, or order fulfillment in the e-commerce, q-commerce, e-grocery, and other sectors.
    Technologies, Tools and Platforms Track

  • The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation trends by more than five years, directly impacting our personal and professional lives. Remote working has become the norm, technology has made our lives so much easier. Not only do we shop and socialize online, we also rely on robots to keep our homes clean and gardens weed-free.

    As we look ahead, what other robotics technologies will become mainstream, and how will they impact ongoing robotics innovation and commercial opportunities.? Will co-bots become the norm? Will automated vehicles be whizzing by us on the highway soon? In this session, robotics thought leaders will share their insights on trends and technologies that will further impact our everyday lives - including drones, robots and co-bots - and reveal ongoing robotics and intelligent systems opportunities.
    Bonus Track

  • The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute has been working with close to 350 organizations throughout the United States to advance the use of robotics and AI in manufacturing. Over the past 5 years, the Institute has funded projects that improve production processes through the use of robotics and AI. In addition, the Institute has undertaken research to identify where AI can have the biggest overall impact in manufacturing. In this session, ARM Institute Program Manager Michael Skocik will share findings from this research and projects, highlighting advancements and revealing opportunities.
    Manufacturability, Production and Distribution Track

  • A common phrase we hear stated today is that “hardware is a commodity”. In this informed session, Dave Rollinson, Chief Engineer of HEBI Robotics will discuss why this is not true when it comes to robotic actuation. He will describe what aspects of actuation are important for bringing robotic technology to new applications, particularly the need to control actuator force and the need for a flexible developer-friendly modular architecture. Rollinson will also present some recent examples of how actuation technology can be used to rapidly create and deploy robotic systems.
    Systems, Design and Development Track

  • The robotics industry is booming. The proliferation of intelligent automation in factories, warehouses, ports, mining and other applications has been catalyzed by recent events such as the global pandemic and the supply chain crunch. This is made possible through the integration of innovative technologies like lidar, which make robotic autonomy and navigation possible. Robots must detect and classify objects at ranges that allow appropriate decision-making and safe, efficient navigation. This requires perception data detailed enough to support the robot’s ability to identify and distinguish between objects of varying motion, shape, reflectivity, and material composition. Enter ldar. This session will explore the role of lidar in autonomous robotic applications and how it's advancing safe and effective operations across a broad range of industries. Jon Barad, Velodyne Lidar VP of Business Development, will bring this to life through applications such as vegetation management, touchless delivery and search and rescue from Velodyne’s customers, including ANYbotics, MOV.AI, Renu Robotics, Twinny and Thordrive.
    Technologies, Tools and Platforms Track

  • It is critical that robotics and intelligent systems companies protect their intellectual property (IP) portfolio - patents, trade secrets, copyrights, deigns, trademarks and more - from competitors looking to capitalize on their work. Similarly, robotics companies undergoing a review during partnership, investment, or acquisition negotiations, must demonstrate that their IP portfolio is strong, and their IP rights protected. In this panel session, attendees will hear from leading IP enforcement authorities about best-in-class IP policies, strategies and more.
    Bonus Track

  • The pandemic turned the world upside down, and no industry was immune to changing consumer behaviors, including retail. Companies have increasingly begun introducing autonomous technology into their physical environments, from shelf-scanning robots to drones and autonomous delivery robots, as physical stores get serious about digital transformation.

    For retailers that are deploying robots in-store, making sure this technology operates harmoniously alongside humans is critical – after all, no customer wants a robot blocking the aisle when shopping. Simbe Robotics CEO, Brad Bogolea, will explore how to design robots for consumer spaces. Drawing from his industry experience he will discuss which considerations to take and elements to include to ensure that robots operate safely and positively alongside humans. Additionally, he will offer his unique insights from deploying Simbe’s solutions in more than a dozen global retailers to discuss areas where robotics can provide real value in consumer environments.
    Manufacturability, Production and Distribution Track

  • 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 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. 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 ground based, aerial and maritime systems to make robots more intelligent and functional. Emerging commercial opportunities will be highlighted.
    Systems, Design and Development Track

  • Commercial robotic systems typically require multiple types of sensors to capture information about the physical world, which following fusion and further processing allows them 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. Thankfully, solution providers continue to release low-cost, increasingly powerful products, and new sensing technologies are always emerging. 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.
    Technologies, Tools and Platforms Track

  • One key trend in the robotics sector involves in inclusion of intelligent features that improve the user experience while the reducing cost to grow the addressable market. Dead-reckoning subsystems are critical components necessary to achieve this goal. By fusing measurements from optical flow sensors, wheel encoders, and IMUs, developers can achieve superior dead-reckoning accuracy and robustness. In this session, Stephen Scheirey, Senior Director, Software at CEVA will reveal how the correct use of sensor analytics, calibration, and sensor fusion can significantly improve dead reckoning in consumer and industrial robotics.
    Bonus Track

  • The cloud has transformed many different industries, companies and applications, so why would robotics be any different? While “lifting and shifting” basic functionality such as fleet management, analytics, and workflow development to the cloud is valuable from an availability and uptime perspective, the cloud has not yet provided the truly transformative, one plus one equals three effect in robotics that it has enabled with other industries. In this session, Melonee Wise, a pioneer in autonomous mobile robots, will share innovative use cases and examples of how cloud technology and applications have changed and will continue to change the face of mobile robots.
    Keynotes

  • The labor gap triggered by the “Silver Tsunami” presents a massive challenge to manufacturers. Thankfully, the collective effect of four convergent trends - AI, IIOT, 5G and collaborative robotics – presents companies with many options for addressing the problem, while creating new opportunities for businesses and their workforces in the process.

    In this keynote session, Greg Smith, President, Industrial Automation Group at Teradyne, will discuss the market drivers of human scale automation and present a model of the market potential for collaborative robots to automate dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks freeing people from monotonous work to have more time for value-oriented activities. He will also share his vision for robotics, where people work with robots not like robots.
    Keynotes

  • Robotics OEMs and robotic systems providers are increasingly partnering with organizations that offer design, engineering and manufacturing services to support the development and production of their robotic products. And for good reason. Manufacturing services providers play a critical role in the procurement, fabrication and assembly of the robotic solutions, but also have unique insight into the design, engineering and production of robotics. This insight can be applied to many design and engineering elements of the robotic solution. Overall, the services that can be provided range from the short term and tactical, to long term development engagements requiring both deep domain expertise as well as end-to-end solutions expertise. In this session, attendees will learn about the wide variety of service offerings that are available for creating and manufacturing robotics technologies and products, as well as provider selection criteria, business models and service agreement options. Case studies will be used to highlight critical points.
    Manufacturability, Production and Distribution Track

  • In this session, Vecna Robotics’ Chief Architect, Innovation and Product Development, Siddharth Chhatpar, and CEO, Daniel Theobald, will describe a unique design method that can be summed up by the phrase - “Build to Learn.” This approach encourages engineers to start prototyping early in the design process, even before they have all the necessary information, so they can drive innovation, extract key insights into potential problems, and reduce risk. The process is unconventional and strays from industry norms, but it empowers product designers to take risks, learn from them right away, and to iterate to solve problems in real-time. In this session, Chhatpar will provide an overview of his “Build to Learn” process, offer steps to change traditional design protocol, and share ways organizations can adapt this idea into practice at their business.
    Systems, Design and Development Track

  • ‘Motion’ in the physical world, whether in the form of changing place, position or posture, is perhaps the greatest differentiator between robotic systems and all other classes of engineered products. It is motion is that makes robotics systems ‘robotic’, and it is advances in motion control technologies that have spurred robotics innovation, with the result that there has been a dramatic increase in the use of robotics technologies and products around the globe. In this panel session, attendees will learn how support for robotic motion control has improved with the introduction of new products and technologies, and how they allow for new capabilities, new applications, and entry into new markets. Case studies and product examples will be used to highlight salient points. Topics include:
    • Motion and Movement
    • Motion Control Products and Technologies
    • Robotic Motion Control Trends
    • Applications and Vertical Markets
    • Motion Control and Robotics Opportunities
    Technologies, Tools and Platforms Track

  • You wouldn’t ask an architect to build anything without designing it in AutoCAD first, so why are you installing AMRs without simulating the deployment first in software? IN this session, OTTO Motors’ CEO Matthew Rendall will discuss how simulation is used to save cost, validate feasibility, mitigate risk, and evaluate ROI — all before the robots are on site at a facility. He will provide real-world examples from both greenfield and brownfield deployments demonstrating how simulation is used to identify inefficiencies early, reduce deployment time, and model what success looks like. Session attendees will learn:

    • How will AMRs behave in a facility?
    • What is the optimal number of AMRs?
    • What are the impacts of different design options?
    • Where are the potential workflow bottlenecks?
    Bonus Track

  • The use of additive manufacturing (AM) in the robotics and industrial automation sector is becoming more prevalent every day. AM can be used to complement and address many of the shortcomings of traditional manufacturing methods like machining and injection molding. End-of-arm tooling (EOAT), for example, is just one of the many critical applications that can benefit greatly from AM through lightweighting, part consolidation, customization, cost reduction, and time to market. In this informative session, attendees will learn:

    • The different types of additive manufacturing (AM)
    • The advantages of AM over traditional manufacturing methods
    • Considerations when designing parts for AM
    • Top AM applications for industrial automation & robotics
    • 10 real-world use cases
    Manufacturability, Production and Distribution Track

  • As the demand for highly complex robotics and autonomous systems applications grows, including the need to comply with industry standards such as ISO 26262 or DO-178B/C, so too does the need for high-performance, easy to use, and fully integrated development environments that can support robotics developers. Engineers must verify that the design meets requirements, is functionally correct, complies to certification standards, and is correctly implemented. Simulation with Model-Based Design (MBD) is a key capability to help understand the behavior of complex designs of robotics and autonomous systems. This talk will discuss how Model-Based Design can support modeling, simulation, verification, and in some cases automatic code generation, for robotics systems. Verification and validation techniques, required to achieve high quality and increase productivity, will also be discussed.
    Systems, Design and Development Track

  • Robots and autonomous vehicles rely on sensors to let them understand and interact with the world around them. While the robotics industry has evolved rapidly over the past decade, the sensors that robots used have largely remained the same. This is about to change, with a number of new sensing modalities making the transition from academia to industry. Sensors like event cameras, millimeter wave radar, omnidirectional cameras, and others promise capabilities that could make depth sensors, LiDAR, and normal cameras obsolete. But will they? In this discussion, we'll cover these and other new sensing modalities. We'll describe the operational advantages versus incumbent sensors, and the environments where these new sensors could be used. We'll also analyze the business impact that these sensors might deliver.
    Technologies, Tools and Platforms Track

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    Bonus Track

  • High-quality data visualization is critical to robotics development and operations. Engineering teams need the ability to easily visualize everything from raw sensor data, to perception and tracking data, and planning and controls outputs. Product and Operations teams must have the ability to fetch raw, high-resolution data for anomalies in the field, and inspect these for triage and remediation. However, the current tooling landscape is fragmented – applications often do not prioritize cross-platform deployment, team collaboration, or integration with centralized data storage systems. In this session, Foxglove CEO Adrian Macneil, will share his experience developing open-source visualization stacks, and also discuss how the next generation of tooling can provide robotics companies with better access to, and analysis of, sensor data, providing a competitive advantage in the process.
    Systems, Design and Development Track

  • The transition from AGVs to AMRs has already started in many industrial environments. Most clearly recognize that AI enabled autonomy in these robots will require more and more processing power at the edge. But developing, deploying and managing fleets of AI robots at scale requires accelerated computing from the cloud to the edge. In this session, Amit Goel, will discuss how leading robot developers are using the end-to-end robotics platform from NVIDIA to accelerate development while enabling new levels of productivity and performance.
    Technologies, Tools and Platforms Track

  • In this forward-looking keynote session, Kevin Blankespoor, Boston Dynamics’ Senior Vice President of Warehouse Robotics, will provide attendees with an update on how agile, mobile robots are currently being used at industrial sites and warehouses. Use cases in the construction, oil & gas, and energy industries highlighting Boston Dynamics’ high-mobility quadruped Spot robot will be provided. Blankespoor will also discuss how vision-enabled mobile robots can be utilized for unloading trucks and shipping containers. He will describe how Boston Dynamics’ second product, Stretch, which is purpose built for case handling in warehouses, automates the critical and difficult process of truck unloading, while delivering a number of technical, business and social benefits in the process.
    Keynotes

  • View more details here

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