Rise of the Robots – Interrupted? 2019

The 1984 film The Terminator predicted a robot apocalypse beginning in 1997. A few decades later, in 2015, Chris Urmson (then a Director at Google) famously predicted that his eleven-year old son might never need a driver’s license. A year later, at CES Las Vegas, Seven Dreamers announced laundroid, the first fully automatic laundry robot, with a huge booth – and a demo video.

It’s 2019, and the humans are still in charge – and operating motor vehicles. It is assumed that Chris Urmson’s son has gotten his Learners Permit, and researchers still call laundry folding “one of the most perplexing challenges in robotics”, though a Sunnyvale startup (FoldiMate) seems close to solving a part of the equation.

We’ll dig beyond the marketing hype to better understand the deep technology challenges that remain to be solved, as well as focus on the near-term business opportunities:

– What are the key components of a robot’s perception system, and where are the key technology challenges?
– Will most robots eventually be able to leave their safety cages? When will they be safe/perceptive enough to operate around humans? Which industry will lead this trend?
– Cobots (collaborative robots) are designed to work with humans instead of replacing them. But the first generation of cobots did not sell well. Will this category become more important in the future?
– How do we teach robots of the future? Will they still require deep programming, or will they have the ability to learn by example like human workers? Which companies are most innovative in this area?
– The tech industry thrives on creating developer platforms, the success of which formed Microsoft, Apple, and Google, among others. Will there be a similar platform for robotics? Which company is leading this race?
– We already have some simple robots in the home, such as the dishwasher and laundry machine. Why have we not seen more automation in the last decade? What are the big challenges for consumer adoption?
– After manufacturing, which industry will be next in leading the march to robot automation?

Location:
Capgemini Applied Innovation Exchange
425 Brannan St.
San Francisco, CA 94107

Date and Time:
Tuesday, 6/18 6-9pm

Cost:
Early Bird until June 11: Members $15
Regular: Members $20
$50 Day of event
Enter “Eurocham” for discount