What will our future with robots look like? Robots are already rolling out of the research lab and into the real world. In the last decade, robotics has gone through a revolution; the price of robotics systems has decreased 100-times and the number of new companies in robotics has increased 100-times.

The pandemic has accelerated demand for robotics, a key technology for enabling remote work, managing dynamic production lines, meeting the demand for 1-hour deliveries, and filling vacant positions for "dull, dirty, dangerous" jobs. Robotics technologies also offer the promise of supporting an aging population to live at home longer, to enable sustainable agricultural practices, and to reshore manufacturing back to the Americas.

Our speakers will share some highlights of their careers in robotics, including their favorite robotics applications and their insight into what the next major developments in robotics will look like.

Plus: We’ll be bringing some robots as well, for the audience to interact with.

About the Speakers

Alexander Kernbaum is the interim director of robotics at SRI International. He says his passion "is creating novel hardware innovations that provide compelling value in the market. I am the inventor of several novel actuators which have been licensed to major manufacturers or spun out in to new companies. For these efforts I was awarded the IEEE RAS Early Career Award in 2018." As a principal investigator, he has led efforts on a wide range of topics, including personal mobility platforms, human power augmentation, efficient drive trains, human-safe robotic actuation, under-actuated systems, soft robotics, search and rescue robots, and biologically inspired control architectures. As an artist, he has led several large-scale projects, including an interactive feature-length movie and a 160-foot-long kinetic sculpture.

Jasmine Lawrence is product manager at Everyday Robots, X. Lawrence is an experienced product manager and entrepreneur with a passion for both consumer technology and business strategy, and says "It brings me joy to solve human-centered problems on diverse teams using my technical, communication, and leadership skills. Whether it's building devices or formulating beauty products, I focus on creating delightful experiences that make a difference in people's lives."

Andra Keay is a global thought leader and ecosystem builder in the emerging sectors of robotics. She is managing director of Silicon Valley Robotics, an industry group supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies. The Silicon Valley area is home to the world’s largest robotics and AI cluster, with more than 600 robotics companies, and more than 50 robotics/AI research labs. Keay is also the founder of Women in Robotics, the vice president of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Industrial Activities Board and the deep tech lead for IEEE Entrepreneurship. She is involved in global standards development for inclusive and ethical A/IS, autonomous and intelligent systems.