The Robotics Summit & Expo has arrived! This year’s event is gathering more than 5,000 developers who are designing robots for industries such as aerospace and defense, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, and beyond.
The day begins at 9:00 a.m. ET at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, with two consecutive keynote panels in Room 253 ABC. The opening session is titled “Building the Next Era of Robot Autonomy.”
Panelists for that discussion include Aaron Parness, director of applied science at Amazon Robotics; Anders Beck, vice president of AI robotics products at Universal Robots; Hamid Montazeri, senior vice president of software and AI at Locus Robotics; and John Wall, president of QNX.
Following that, the second panel, “The State of Humanoids,” begins at 10:00 a.m. Speakers include Al Makke, head of humanoid robotics in North America for Schaeffler; Mike Nielsen, chief marketing officer at RealSense; Aaron Prather, director of robotics and automation systems programs at ASTM International; Alberto Rodriguez, director of robot behavior for Atlas at Boston Dynamics; and Pras Velagapudi, chief technology officer at Agility.
At the same time, 10:00 a.m., the Robotics Summit & Expo exhibition hall opens to attendees.
Inside the hall, you’ll find the Engineering Theater, where presentations begin at 10:15 a.m., along with the RBR50 Showcase. MassRobotics is hosting its Startup Alley, Form & Function Challenge, and Physical AI Accelerator. Visitors can even challenge Tennibot to a game of pickleball.
Day 1 morning breakout sessions
Breakout sessions get underway at 11:30 a.m. on the upper level above the exhibition floor. Here is today’s morning session lineup:
- Improving Robotic Joint Design with the Use of Servo Actuators: Eugene Niselson, sales engineering manager at Harmonic Drive, leads this talk in Room 252 B.
- Robotics Commercialization: Beyond the Breakthrough: This panel convenes at 11:30 a.m. in Room 254 A, featuring David Galati, co-founder and CTO of TITAN Robotics; Dave Petrosky, CEO of RedZone Robotics; Jennifer Apicella, executive director of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network; and John Blitch, president of Blitz Solutions.
- Building Scalable Robot Systems That Learn, Adapt, and Earn Trust: John Black, chief technology officer of Brain Corp, opens this session at 11:30 a.m. in Room 252 A.
- Scaling Soft Wearable Robots from the Lab to the Market: Also at 11:30 a.m., Conor Walsh, the Paul A. Maeder Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, presents in Room 254 A.
- Beyond the Demo: An Under-the-Hood Look at Scaling Autonomous Robots: Teddy Ort, senior vice president of robotics software and AI at Symbotic, speaks at 11:30 a.m. in Room 251.
A Spot robot from Boston Dynamics at the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo.
Day 1 afternoon breakout sessions
- Building from Both Sides: Actuator-Based Solutions for Bridging the Sim2Real Gap: Ben Hallworth, systems engineer of robotic drive systems at maxon, presents at 1:45 p.m. in Room 252 B.
- Building Warehouse Robots People Actually Want to Work With: Anthony Jules, co-founder and CEO of Robust AI, kicks off this discussion at 1:45 p.m. in Room 251.
- The Robot MCP Ecosystem: Building an Open Bridge Between AI and Robotics: Rohit John Varghese, director of systems engineering and product at Contoro Robotics, speaks at 1:45 p.m. in Room 254 A.
- Building the Data Flywheel for AI-Native Robots: This panel begins at 1:45 p.m. in Room 252 A, with insights from Ram Devarajulu, vice president of deep tech innovations at Cambridge Consultants; Nic Fischer, chief technology officer of Agtonomy; Axel Krieger, chief robotics officer and co-founder of Semaphor Surgical; and Benji Barash, co-founder and CEO of Roboto AI.
- Best Practices for Force-Torque Sensing in Surgical Robotics: Robert Brooks, CEO of ForceN, presents at 1:45 p.m. in Room 254 B.
- Reliable Field Robotics Actuation, Motion Control in Harsh Environments: Kevin Picard, application engineer at Kollmorgen, and Anthony Smith, engineering director at Thomson, begin their discussion at 2:45 p.m. in Room 254 A.
- Balancing Hardware and Software for Real-World Success: Ted Larson, co-founder and CEO of OLogic, shares his insights at 2:45 p.m. in Room 254 B.
- Protecting Innovation in Robotics: IP Strategies that Work: Andrew Tibbetts and Roman Fayerberg, both shareholders at Greenberg Traurig, present at 2:45 p.m. in Room 252 B.
- Let’s Build an Embodied AI Robot Together: Chris Matthieu, vice president of the developer ecosystem at RealSense, shares his experiences at 2:45 p.m. in Room 252 A.
- When Robots Don’t Sleep: The Path Toward Lights-Out Warehouses: Jan Zizka, co-founder and CEO of Brightpick, opens this session at 2:45 p.m. in Room 251.
- Physical AI Showcase: In this session, startups from the Physical AI Fellowship—powered by AWS, NVIDIA, and MassRobotics—demonstrate their latest work. Speakers from WiRobotics, Burro, Haply Robotics, Deltia, Terra Robotics, Luminous, Config, Telexistence, and Roboto AI take the stage starting at 4:15 p.m.
What’s happening in the Engineering Theater?
The Engineering Theater is located on the expo floor. Credit: Jeff Pinette
The Engineering Theater will host eight sessions on the show’s opening day. Here’s the lineup:
- Trusting the Machine that Builds the Machine: Sjoerd van der Zwaan, chief product officer at Solid Sands, leads this session at 10:15 a.m.
- A Data Mine Hiding in Plain Sight: Why Documentation Is Your Most Valuable — and Least Accessible — Data Source: Mai Bui, co-founder and CEO of Quarter20, speaking at 11:00 a.m.
- What it Takes to Deploy Robots to Real Worksites: Dan James, senior program manager of tech at Uber, kicks off at 11:45 a.m.
- Beyond Autonomy: Memory Challenges for Humanoids in the Physical AI Era: Saideep Tiku, principal systems architect at Micron Technology, presents at 12:30 p.m.
- Why Autonomy Fails Between Model and Metal: Brian Geisel, chief innovation officer of Geisel Software and founder and CEO of Symage, starts at 1:15 p.m.
- Advanced Functional Safety for Humanoids: Florian Weisshardt, head of Synapticon Intelligence, discusses this topic at 2:00 p.m.
- Building Powerful and Efficient Robot Motors through Smart Multi-Phase Technology: Hengchun Mao, founder and CEO of Quantentech, takes the stage at 2:45 p.m.
- AI-Based 3D CAD for Simulation-Ready Asset Generation: Suntae Kim, co-founder and chief technology officer of NdotLight, goes live at 3:30 p.m.
Stick around after the talks end
Once the expo hall wraps up at 5:00 p.m., a Mix & Mingle Networking Reception will take place in Exhibit Hall C. Enjoy drinks, light appetizers, and the chance to connect with fellow attendees and speakers.
Then at 6:00 p.m., the ticketed RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Dinner begins. The evening will spotlight winners across categories including Robot of the Year, Startup of the Year, Application of the Year, and Robots for Good.
Guests will savor dinner and drinks while enjoying an exclusive conversation between Steve Crowe, chair of the Robotics Summit and executive editor of The Robot Report, and Aaron Parness, director of applied sciences at Amazon Robotics, along with Bhavana Chandrashekhar, senior manager of applied science at Amazon Robotics. They’ll dive into Amazon’s latest robot, Vulcan — named RBR50 Robot of the Year — and explore the keys behind its development and rollout. Space is limited to those with RBR50 tickets.
