Dec 7, 2020

Listen to this article Over the past several decades, industrial robots were mostly immobile, single-task systems that had little interaction with humans or the world around them as they performed repetitive tasks while encaged within safety barriers. However, rapid innovation in the past 20 years has led to robots capable of operating in open, dynamic environments, often working closely or directly with humans. But what comes next? Motional CTO Laura Major and MIT Professor Julie Shah will examine what the future holds for robotics developers, investors, and end users. Tom Ryden, executive director of MassRobotics, will be moderating Major and Shah’s RoboBusiness Direct discussion on “The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration: Developing the Next Generation of Industrial, Commercial, and Consumer Robotics Systems,” which will be on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. EST. In their session, Major and Shah will describe how the next generation of robotics systems will operate in the real world and how they will change our relationship to technology. They will also discuss how social behavior can be incorporated into robots, as well as how public spaces can be optimized for safe and beneficial human-robot interaction. Major and Shah will share insights from their new book on the topic. About RoboBusiness Direct RoboBusiness Direct is an ongoing series of digital events delivered by brightest minds from the leading robotics and automation organizations around the world. The series complements continuing coverage and analysis in Robotics Business Review , a sibling site to The Robot Report . RoboBusiness Direct is designed to impart to business and engineering professionals the information they need to identify market opportunities, successfully develop and deploy the next generation of commercial robotics systems, and accelerate their businesses. You can find a listing of RoboBusiness Direct speakers and topics, along with the dates and times of upcoming sessions, HERE . RoboBusiness Direct presentations are available on demand after the initial broadcast. There is no charge to register for RoboBusiness Direct programs. About the speakers Motional CTO Laura Major Laura Major has a long career developing autonomous solutions across ground robotics, aerial, and space applications. She is currently the chief technology officer of Motional, an autonomous driving joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv PLC, where she leads the technology roadmap and engineering development of an autonomous vehicle. Prior to Motional, Major was the chief technology officer at CyPhy Works/Aria Insights, a pioneer in tethered drones. In addition, she spent 12 years at Draper Laboratory developing capabilities to fuse human and machine intelligence to solve technical challenges across many domains that address problems of national security. Major was honored by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) with a national award for Emerging Leaders in 2014, and she was also honored by Mass High Tech as one of its 2014 “Women to Watch.” Major holds an MS from MIT and a BS from Georgia Tech. MIT CSAIL Professor Julie Shah Julie Shah is an associate professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where she leads the Interactive Robotics Group of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Before joining the faculty, she worked at Boeing Research and Technology on robotics applications for aerospace manufacturing. Shah has developed innovative methods for enabling fluid human-robot teamwork in time-critical, safety-critical domains, ranging from manufacturing to surgery to space exploration. Her group draws on expertise in artificial intelligence, human factors, and systems engineering to develop interactive robots that emulate the qualities of effective human team members to improve the efficiency of human-robot teamwork. In 2014, Shah was recognized with an NSF CAREER award for her work on “Human-aware Autonomy for Team-oriented Environments,” and by the MIT Technology Review TR35 list as one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35. Shah received her SB and SM from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, and her Ph.D. in Autonomous Systems from MIT. MassRobotics Executive Director Tom Ryden Thomas Ryden is the executive director of MassRobotics , a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help grow the next generation of robotics companies. MassRobotics is a strategic partner of RoboBusiness Direct. Prior to joining MassRobotics, Ryden was the founder and CEO/COO of VGo Communications, where he oversaw the development and launch of the VGo telepresence robot. Previously, Ryden was director of sales and marketing at iRobot Corp. In addition, he held roles in program management, overseeing the development of some of iRobot’s most successful products. Ryden serves as the co-chairman of the robotics cluster of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (Mass TLC) and is on the board of directors of AUVSI New England and the Robotics Technology Advisory Panel for ASME. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Vermont and an MBA from Bentley University.