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 October 21, 2004 - Thursday
sponsored by
A new technology-based industry
- personal, service and mobile
robotics - is now emerging from
its R&D nascency and
proliferating into a large
number of diverse consumer and
business-to-business markets. These robotic technologies and
their applications are far
removed from their factory floor
antecedents, the industrial
robots. They are also
exhibiting explosive growth and
quickly becoming a permanent
fixture in our everyday lives.
 Companies ranging from large
multinationals to small
starts-ups are exploiting low
cost robotics technologies based
on de facto industry standards
to develop whole new classes of
robots and robotic products, as
well as augmenting existing
product lines, to meet the needs
of the consumer, commercial,
civil and military markets. This presents a unique, ground
floor opportunity for investment
professionals. The
RoboNexus Business Development
and Opportunity Conference
was developed to help venture
capitalists, corporate and
individual investors profit from
the growing opportunity afforded
by the burgeoning personal,
service and mobile robotics
markets.
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Business Development
and Opportunities
Conference
Thursday - October
21, 2004
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9:00 |
Conference
Introduction
Dan Kara, Conference
Chairman, President,
Robotics Trends |
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9:10 |
Intelligent Robotic
Systems in the Lab and
in the Marketplace
Dr. Rodney Brooks,
Director, MIT Computer
Science and Artificial
Intelligence Lab,
Co-Founder/CTO, iRobot |
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10:15 |
Welcome to the Era of
Mass Market Robotics
Helen Greinier,
Co-founder and Chairman,
iRobot |
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11:15 |
Robotics: When?
Alec Hudnut, President,
Evolution Robotics |
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LUNCH
BREAK |
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1:00 |
Agile
Robotics Technology and
Growth of the Industry
Bill Thomasmeyer,
President, Robotics
Foundry |
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2:00 |
Current Trends and
Opportunities in
Robotics
George, Bekey,
Professor of Computer
Science (Emeritus), USC |
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3:15 |
The 5 Robotics
Challenges for the Next
20 Years
Dr. François Pierrot,
Director of Research,
CNRS
Montpellier Laboratory
of Computer Science,
Robotics, and
Microelectronics - LIRMM
Co-founder & Chairman,
Wany Robotics
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4:15 |
Robotics Technology &
Osaka: Osaka is Becoming
a Center for Robotics
Technology
Eimei M. Onaga,
Robotics Advisor to
Osaka City,
President, Innovation
Matrix, Inc. |
KEYNOTES
 Intelligent
Robotic Systems in the Lab and in the
Marketplace
Dr. Rodney Brooks,
Director, MIT
Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Lab, Co-Founder & CTO, iRobot
In this provocative and compelling
keynote address, Rodney Brooks, Director
of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Lab, and CTO and Co-Founder
of iRobot, will describe a variety of
robotics technologies currently under
development and the cultural and
commercial roles they will play in the
home, the workplace and in public
places. He will also provide insights
into the means by which humans and
intelligent robots can interact
together, and how the differences and
similarities between human and machine
systems will impact the commercial
application of robotics.
Dr. Rodney A. Brooks is
Director, MIT
Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Lab, and is the
Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science.
He is also Chairman and Chief Technical
Officer of iRobot Corp. His research is
concerned with both the engineering of
intelligent robots to operate in
unstructured environments, and with
understanding human intelligence through
building humanoid robots.
 Welcome
to the Era of Mass Market Robotics
Helen Greiner, Co-founder and Chairman, iRobot
Robots and robotic technologies are no
longer limited to low volume, high-cost
solutions designed for niche markets.
Inexpensive robotics technology, coupled
with low cost, high volume manufacturing
techniques, has led to the emergence and
explosive growth of the personal,
service and mobile robotics mass-market
markets, including a robotic appliances
market. This is a worldwide phenomenon
that offers worldwide product (and
revenue) opportunities in the consumer,
commercial, civil and military markets.
In this insightful keynote, Helen
Greinier, Chairman of iRobot, the makers
of the Roomba robotic vacuum, will
provide valuable insight into this new
market, including technical and
commercial trends driving the robotic
appliances mass-market, and how to take
advantage of the opportunity that this
totally new consumer market offers.
Under Ms. Greiner's leadership,
iRobot Corporation is delivering robots
into the industrial, consumer, academic,
and military markets. Recently, she was
named the Ernst and Young New England
Entrepreneurs of the Year for 2003 (with
iRobot co-founder Colin Angle). She has also been
honored as a Technology Review Magazine
"Innovator for the Next Century,"
invited to the World Economic Forums as
a Global Leader of Tomorrow, and has
been awarded the prestigious DEMO God
Award at the DEMO Conference. Her 15
years of experience in robotic
technology includes work at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory and MIT's
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
 Robotics: When?
Alec Hudnut, President, Evolution Robotics
The robotics industry has always been "just around the
corner". Is now the time it will actually take off? In
this session, Alec Hudnut, President of Evolution
Robotics, will describe how human evolution, as well as
the evolution of several other industries, can provide
clues as to the development of the non-industrial
robotics market. In his keynote, Alec will examine the
key building blocks that must be in place for new
industries to take off, as well as the importance of
luck and chance. He will also describe the key
inflection points in the robotics industry growth curve,
and the implication of such for the growth of the
robotics market.
As President, Alec Hudnut is leading Evolution Robotics'
efforts to become the key supplier of software and
components to the robotics and intelligent devices
industries. Prior to running Evolution Robotics, Alec
built Quisic, a distance learning company, from the
proverbial 'two guys in a garage' to an enterprise that
educated over 1 million people. Alec has also served as
a consultant for McKinsey & Co and an investment banker
at Goldman, Sachs. Alec holds and MBA from Harvard
University.
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SPEAKERS &
SESSIONS
 Agile
Robotics Technology and Growth of the
Industry
Bill Thomasmeyer, President, Robotics
Foundry
The term Agile Robotics describes the
new generation of highly intelligent,
mobile devices, which freely interact
with humans, other robots and their
surroundings, and which are expressly
designed to integrate rapidly evolving
sensor, communications, processing, and
software technologies. Today, a rapidly
increasing number of these new agile
robot types and applications are
addressing problems and meeting needs in
many critical areas such as medical
care, the environment and defense.
Attendees at this session will hear how
agile robotics technology is being
applied to reduce costs, optimize
performance and generate revenue, and in
doing so presenting immense
opportunities for individuals and
corporate investors alike.
William
A. Thomasmeyer is President of Robotics
Foundry, an independent, non-profit
economic development organization
designed to accelerate the growth of the
robotics industry in western
Pennsylvania’s “Robo Corridor”. Prior to
his work with Robotics Foundry, Bill
founded the National Center for Defense
Robotics in July 2002 as an outgrowth of
a project he undertook on behalf of
Silicon Triangle Associates. strong
entrepreneurial background as a Founder,
CEO, President and senior executive in
several software and information
technology businesses including Mestek
Technology, Virtual Microsystems,
Logicraft Information Systems, Software
Illustrated, Ross Systems and others.
Bill is also a past Chairman of
Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners.
 Current
Trends and Opportunities in Robotics
George A. Bekey
Emeritus Professor of Computer Science
University of Southern California
The goal of this presentation is to
highlight some current developments in
robotics (both in the US and abroad)
that may have significant commercial
possibilities. We begin with a review of
currently available systems, such as the
vacuum robots from iRobot and
Electrolux, the humanoid robots from
Japanese companies like Honda, Sony,
Fujitsu and others, as well as NASA’s
Robonaut, entertainment robots (such as
the Sony AIBO) and some military
systems. We then discuss and illustrate
systems in development or with
commercial potential in such areas as
commercial window cleaning, agriculture,
eldercare, entertainment, construction
and other areas.
George A. Bekey's research interests
include autonomous robotic systems,
multi-robot cooperation and human-robot
interaction. He has published over 200
papers and several books in robotics,
biomedical engineering, computer
simulation, control systems, and
human-machine systems. Following
employment at Beckman Instruments and
TRW Systems he joined the faculty at USC,
serving as Chairman of the Electrical
Engineering-Systems Department, Chairman
of the Computer Science Department and
Associate Dean for Research of the USC
School of Engineering. Dr. Bekey is a
Member of the National Academy of
Engineering, a Fellow of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE) and of the American Association
for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). He
is Editor in Chief of the journal
Autonomous Robots, and Founding Editor
of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and
Automation. During 1996 and 1997 he
served as President of the IEEE Robotics
and Automation Society. His new book
entitled "Autonomous Robots: from
biological inspiration to implementation
and control" will be published by MIT
Press in early 2005.
 The
5 Robotics Challenges for the Next 20
Years
Dr. François Pierrot,
Director of Research, CNRS
Montpellier Laboratory of Computer
Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics
- LIRMM,
Co-founder & Chairman, Wany Robotics
The massive use of robotics to serve our human society
will necessarily require the overcoming of great
technological challenges, of which some of them are as
important as the first steps of man on the moon. Certain
Asian countries such as Japan and Korea have made
robotics a national priority. Significant progress has
also already been made in other countries, and the
growing consumer robotics market will enable to fund the
next steps and the next generations of robotic devices
and services ever more efficient and useful to us
humans. In this visionary Keynote presentation, Dr.
François Pierrot details the 5 main robotic challenges
for the next 20 years. Work to overcoming these 5
challenges will enable massive use of robotics in our
lives and will be the next growth support for the main
worldwide market players as well as creating new economy
giants.
Dr. François Pierrot is Director of Research, by the
French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at
the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science,
Robotics, and Microelectronics. He is also the
co-founder and Chairman of Wany Robotics Corp,
specialist in embedded low-cost robotics technologies
applied to useful mass-market consumer robots. He is the
inventor of the HEXA parallel robot already in use in
the tooling machinery industry, and he received the
Robotics Society of Japan Award for Innovation in 1995.
He received the Best Paper Award at ISRAM 1992,
Santa-Fe, New-Mexico, for his work on robust control of
parallel robots.
 Robotics
Technology & Osaka: Osaka is
Becoming a Center for Robotics
Technology
Eimei M. Onaga
Robotics Advisor to Osaka City
President, Innovation Matrix, Inc.
As the life-styles of human society
become more sophisticated, next
generation robots are required to assist
homes and work places. In order to
create such robots, the advanced
development of Robotics Technology (RT)
is required. RT is a collection of a
variety of technologies that is
incorporated in robots which include but
are not limited to sensors, motor
actuators, motion control, and
artificial intelligence. These
technologies must be advanced
simultaneously in order to be
incorporated into the next generation of
robots.
As a part of its effort to develop the
Robotics Technology (RT) industry, the
Japanese government has appointed Osaka
city with $700 million in funds to be
the center. However, the RT industry has
a very extensive base, which cannot be
covered by Osaka alone. Many Osaka-based
companies and research institutions are
eager to introduce advanced technologies
and talents from overseas. The people of
Osaka welcome oversea companies and
talents to join in this effort to build
the future together.
Prior to becoming President and CEO of
Innovation Matrix, Eimei Onaga served as
Director of Pacific Rim Operations for
Adept Technology, guiding the company’s
Asian business to its position as the
leading U.S. manufacturer of industrial
robots. Onaga also served as President
of Universal Technology, Inc., a system
integration company he co-founded and as
Engineering Manager of Unimation, Inc.
In addition to his main duty as
President and CEO at Innovation Matrix,
Inc., Mr. Onaga also serves as a board
member of Adept Japan Co., Ltd. as well
as Advisor to Robot Technology Osaka.
(Next Generation Robotics Silicon Valley
Project, Osaka, Japan.)
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