Robotics is an incredibly demanding field because robots demand the best of everything technology has to offer, from machine learning, to sensors and GPUs, to materials technology and of course the “robot” itself.
For that reason, there is no better subject for one of TechCrunch’s single-day, single-topic events, and we’re excited to announce that TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics is slated for May 11 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. We are producing this event with UC Berkeley, which is one of the world’s leading universities in robotics research and point of origin for many of the world’s top robotics startups, technologies and technologists.
TechCrunch’s editors are working hard on the agenda for the event, which will build on the Sessions: Robotics event TechCrunch produced last year with MIT’s CSAIL in Cambridge. The goal of this year’s Sessions: Robotics is to focus on West Coast experts at the crossroads of startups and breakthrough robotics technologies. We’ll address the big technical topics including artificial intelligence, human computer interaction, bio-inspired design, cloud robotics, self-driving vehicles and others as well as discuss emerging robotics startups, early stage investment trends and robots’ impact on society.
And of course, we’ll have all the real robots and demos Zellerbach can handle because – robots – enough said.
We will announce more speakers shortly, but our first is UC Berkeley’s Ken Goldberg, a pioneer in robot grasping and robot-assisted surgery who leads the UC “People and Robots” Initiative with over 70 faculty. Goldberg has published over 200 academic papers, holds eight patents, and is an award-winning artist and screenwriter. He’s also on the Advisory Board of RoboGlobal, a stock market ETF focused on the robotics sector.
Several Berkeley research centers and programs are co-sponsoring the event, including the CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, UC CITRIS People and Robots Initiative (CPAR), Berkeley AI Research (BAIR), Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership, Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, Real-Time Intelligent Secure Execution Lab (RISELab), Berkeley Deep Drive (BDD), and UC Berkeley College of Engineering.
Early Bird Tickets for the show are on sale now and they will move fast. We’re offering a 90 percent off discount for student tickets as part of TechCrunch’s commitment to inclusion and access, and we’ll also be showcasing the work of high school robotics projects in the Bay Area.
Interested in a sponsorship? Let us know.