In sectors including agtech, automotive, logistics, manufacturing, and warehousing, robots have revolutionized automation. However, because of safety considerations, even the most sophisticated robots normally operate in constrained workcells away from people. Robots with sufficient cognitive intelligence might one day coexist successfully and securely with people in settings like factory floors, according to the area of human-robot interaction (HRI). With an estimated market value of $8 billion by 2030, the emergence of the collaborative robot, or cobot, is already well underway.
We are excited to announce the involvement of two leading roboticists in HRI, namely Rodney Brooks, CEO and creator of Robust. Clara Vu, co-founder and CTO of Veo Robotics, and AI (co-inventor of the well-known home robot Roomba), will join us on stage at TC Sessions: Robotics 2022 on July 22 in Boston, Massachusetts. We’ll talk about the present status of HRI, the difficulties in creating “common sense” robots, and the technological requirements for coexisting with robots. Naturally, we’ll inquire about their current activities and future plans.
We’ll also inquire as to when cobots will start to appear in regular workplace settings. And what kinds of training infrastructures are required when increasingly effective cobots take the place of human workers in repetitious or physically taxing menial jobs? In order to provide the first industrial-grade cognitive platform for robots, robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks established Robust.AI in 2019. The objective is to create collaborative, intelligent, safer, more robust, and intelligent robots. Such robots might work well in homes, nursing homes, construction sites, and other extremely complicated contexts.
Robust.AI raised $15 million in Series a funding in 2020. Award-winning computer scientist Brooks held directorships and lectured at MIT in addition to his work at Robust.AI. In addition, he founded and served as CTO of iRobot and Rethink Robotics. FreeMove, a thorough 3D safety system for industrial robots that drives dynamic human-robot collaboration, was developed by Veo Robotics, an industrial automation firm launched in 2016. In other words, it transforms standard industrial robots into devices that communicate with people.
A flexible human-robot interaction would let producers adapt to ongoing, constantly changing market demands when human talent and creativity combine with the power and speed of robots. The business secured a $15 million Series A in 2019. Clara Vu, co-founder, and chief technology officer of Veo Robotic, is in charge of the engineering group and the advancements of the computer vision-powered sensing and intelligence utilized by the four largest industrial robot manufacturers in the world, FANUC, Yaskawa, ABB, and Kuka.
Vu has created several products from conception to market with more than 20 years of robotics experience. She started her career at iRobot, where she worked on interactive toys and the Roomba before transitioning to developing robots for oil well research. Before starting Veo, Vu worked at Harvest Automation, a company that produces mobile robots for agricultural automation, as the director of software development and co-founder. Don’t miss a fascinating discussion about the possibility and reality of people and robots coexisting in the workplace with Rodney Brooks and Clara Vu, two roboticists at the forefront of human-robot interaction.
