Eric Ragan
Director of Robotic Systems and Automation | Goddard Product Development
Eric Ragan is Director of Robotic Systems and Automation at Goddard Product Development, focusing on business development of automation solutions for distribution and fulfillment operations. He brings 21 years of experience in e-commerce distribution and a practitioner’s view of how technology actually lands on the warehouse floor. He holds an MBA and a Master’s in International Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and is a PhD candidate at the University of Gothenburg, where his research focuses on last-mile delivery in retailing and ecommerce.
All Sessions by Eric Ragan
May 28, 2026
The trust gap: why human-robot collaboration is the unsolved problem in warehouse automation
12:30 PM - 1:00 PM
Engineering Theater in Expo Hall
Robotics and AI are being deployed across distribution and fulfillment faster than ever, and too often, with little regard for the workers standing next to them. Navigation, grasping, fleet orchestration, and path planning have all matured dramatically. The technology works. The rollout plans sometimes don’t go to plan.
As robots and AI become more embedded in daily work, two things have to happen at once: workers need to adjust how they collaborate with these systems, and developers need to design systems humans can actually trust and work alongside. This session covers both sides.
Attendees will leave with a practical framework for assessing autonomy calibration across their workforce, design patterns for interfaces that build appropriate trust, lessons from real deployments where the technology worked but the human-robot interaction didn't, and a shared vocabulary for these conversations with clients, integrators, and internal stakeholders.
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Events Sales Director
csepich@wtwhmedia.com
857-260-1360
Heather Herbert
Event Sales Manager
hherbert@wtwhmedia.com
512-760-0570
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