Manufacturing &
Supplier Logistics
Track

Solarium

S1: Robotics in E-Commerce, Warehousing & Logistics: Current Applications & Future Trends

Moderator: Vikranth Gopalakrishnan, Sr. Manager, Supply Chain, Staples

Panelists:  Giovanni Stone, Director, Wynright Robotics

Bruce Welty, CEO, Locus Robotics

Robert Sullivan,  Chief Development Officer & Co-Founder, Symbotic

Yaro Tenzer, Co-Founder, RightHand Robotics

MaryEllen Sparrow, NextShift Robotics

Government Regulations & Robotic Initiatives 
Track

Salon A

S2: Protections for the NAS and Expanded UAV Activities: Technology advancements targeting safe unmanned aerial vehicle use in the NAS

Moderator: Jeffrey Adams, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Co-Founder

Panelists: Vincent Schultz, NASA Langley Research Center, Deputy Project Manager

Jason Glaneuski, Volpe, Senior Operations Research

Christopher Norman, CyPhy Works, Vice President, Operations

Surgical &
Medical Robotics
Track

Salon B

S3: Surgical Robotics: Advances in the field of patient treatment robotics systems and future focus on areas of specialty

Moderator: Dr Kirby Vosburgh, Assistant Professor of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Panelists: Tal Wenderow, Co-Founder & Executive VP, Corindus Vascular

Greg Fischer, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, WPI

Robert Howe, Director, Biomedical Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering

Manufacturing &
Supplier Logistics
Track

Solarium

S4: Industry 4.0, IoT and the Digital Supply Chain: Industry 4.0 is essentially the blueprint for digitalizing the value chain from factory to customer. This panel will discuss technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Services, that will lay the foundation towards creating the Smart Factory and Smart Supply Chain

Moderator: Vladimir Lukic, Partner & Managing Director, BCG

Panelists: David Gray, SVP, Strategy, Brooks Life Sciences

Steve Taub, Senior Director, Advanced Manufacturing, GE Ventures

Nick DeSimone, Vice President of Operations, Stanley Black & Decker's Professional Products Group

Government Regulations & Robotic Initiatives
Track

Salon A

S5: IP in Action, a best practices discussion on IP strategy in real "use" case applications

Moderator: Neil Ferraro, Shareholder, Intellectual Property Law, Wolf Greenfield

Panelists: Jack Ekchian, Inventor, Levant Power

Rajinder KhunKhun, Patent Specialist, Boston Children's Hospital

Surgical &
Medical Robotics 
Track

Salon B

S6: Exoskeletons: Current approved exoskeletons in the medical and defense fields and research for future commercial applications

Moderator: Rita Vazquez-Torres, CEO/Director of Ops, NewStoneSoup          

Panelists: Stephane Bedard, President/CEO, B-Temia

Larry Jasinski, CEO, ReWalk

Ignacio Galiana, Staff Engineer, Wyss Institute, Harvard University   

Manufacturing &
Supplier Logistics
Track

Solarium

S7: Robotics in the Workforce: Collaborative robots is the hottest topic in robotics today. This session explores advancement in the field of collaborative robotic technology, applications, safety implications, and human impacts.

Moderator: Meldon Wolfgang, Managing Director & Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group

Tim Criswell, SVP Technology, Wynright

Brian Benoit, Senior Product Manager, ReThink

Leif Jentoft, Co-Founder, RightHand Robotics

Charlie Grinnell, Co-Founder & CEO, Harvest Automation   

Government Regulations & Robotic Initiatives
Track

Salon A

S8: Robotics Initiatives: Ways to accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside or cooperatively with people

Moderator: Jason Walker, Vice President, Operations, Stanley Innovations

Panelists: Matt England, Vice President, Government Systems, CyPhy Works

Daniel Villemaire, President, C&M Machine Products


Dan O'Brien, President, Gibson Engineering

Hanumant Singh, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Northeastern University

Harald Quintus-Bosz, Co-Founder & CTO, Cooper Perkins

Surgical &
Medical Robotics
Track

Salon B

S9: Assistive & Physical Rehab Robotics: Assistive and rehabilitation robotics, from commercially available to experimental

Moderator: Sam Kesner, Principal Engineer & Research Project Manager, Myomo

Panelists: Bill Townsend,  Founder & CEO, Barrett Technology    

Paulo Bonato, Motion Analysis, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Maciej Pietrusinski, Founder & President, AndrosRobotics

Chad Lussier, Business Development Manager, Hocoma

Kathleen O’Donnell, M.I.D., Wyss Institute, Advanced Technology, Harvard Design Lab

Marine Robotics Track

Salon A

S10: Unmanned Marine Vehicles: State of the Industry

Moderator: Jim Sproul, Founder, The Sproul Company

Panelists: Justin Manley, President, Just Innovation, Inc.

Automated Vehicles Track

Solarium

S11: Between Driver Assistance and Autonomous Driving: Navigating the Gap

Speaker: Dr. Luke Fletcher, Program Manager, Autonomous Driving, Toyota Research Institute

Moderator: Paul Schmitt, Director, Automated Vehicles, MassRobotics

Autonomous Aerial Robotics Track

Salon B

S12: Protecting the Skies: Efforts and Challenges in protecting our air space

Moderator:  
Waseem Naqvi, President, AUVIS-NE, Director, Advanced Technology Programs, Raytheon

Panelists: 
Chris Jella, Senior Principal Engineer, MITRE Corporation

Ted David, Leader, Homeland Protection Systems Group, MIT/LL

Marine Robotics Track

Salon A

S13: Marine Applications: Reliability, Economy, Endurance: Requirements for Next-Generation Unmanned Surface and Undersea Systems

Moderator: Jeff Smith, CEO, Riptide   

Panelists: Alex Lorman, CTO, Sea Machines Robotics

Michael Connor, (USN Retired), CEO, ThayerMahan

David Kelly, CTO, InnovaSea

Automated Vehicles Track

Solarium

S14: Intelligent & Automated Vehicle: "My Driver, My Robot"

Moderator: Paul Schmitt, Director, Automated Vehicles, MassRobotics

Panelists: Frank Serna, Director of Systems Engineering, Strategic Initiatives, Draper

Jeff Ruel, Director, Business Development, Autoliv Active Safety

Bryan Reimer, Ph.D., Research Scientist, MIT AgeLab & Director, The New England University Transportation Center at MIT

Jonathan Koopmann, Project Mgr., Automated Vehicle Research, Volpe Center

Carmine Senatore, Ph.D., Senior Associate, Vehicle Engineering, Exponent

Jane Lappin, Director, Public Policy & Government Affairs, Toyota Research Institute

Autonomous Aerial Robotics Track

Salon B

S15: Advanced Testing Facilities: Where to go when you unmanned vehicle needs field testing

Moderator: Thatcher Kezer, Senior Vice President, Devens, MassDevelopment     

Panelists: Kevin Sareault, Vice President, Avwatch Carter Hunt, Vice President, Defense Sector Initiatives, MassDevelopment     

Adam Norton, Manager, UMass Lowell NERVE Center

Marine Robotics Track

Salon A

S16: Start-Up Pitches (Aquatic)

Moderator: Justin Manley, President, Just Innovation, Inc.

Panelists: Jeff Smith, President, Riptide Autonomous Solutions

Durval Tavares, CEO, Aquabotix Technology Corporation

Tom Milnes, CEO, Open Water Power

Chris Kennedy, Mechanical Engineer, Autonomous Marine Systems

Automated Vehicles Track

Solarium

S17: Automated Vehicle: Technical Challenges on the Road to Realization

Speaker: Frank Serna, Director of Systems Engineering, Strategic Initiatives, Draper

Moderator: Paul Schmitt, Director, Automated Vehicles, MassRobotics

Autonomous Aerial Robotics Track

Salon B

S18: Start-Up Pitches (Drones)

Moderator: Linda Plano, CEO, Plano & Simple

Panelists: Andy Trench, CEO, XactSense

Reese Mozer, CEO, American Robotics

Adam Persson, Sales Director, ANT-Global Services

Robot Potpourri Track

Salon B

S19: UAV Use Cases: From Research to Regulation

Moderator: John Collura, Professor, UMass

Panelists: Dr. Jeff DeCarlo, Adminstrator, MassDOT

Dr. Michal Plotnikov, Research Associate, UMass

Douglas Looze, Associate Professor, UMass

Future of Robotics Track

Salon A

S20: Future Applications: Industrial automation robots and technologies with implementations in addressing future applications

Moderator: Eric Sandberg,  CEO, RAS Labs

Panelists: Barry Braunstein, Vice President, Business Development, Acorn Product Development

Brendan English, Founder, RailPod

Carl Vause, CEO, SoftRobotics

Funding Track

Solarium

S21: Government Funding: State Funding Programs to accelerate commercialization

Moderator: James Sproul, Founder, The Sproul Company

Panelists: Mark Smithers, CTO, Boston Engineering

Veda Clark, Vice-President, Manufacturing Initiatives, MassDevelopment

Jerry Bird, President, MassVentures

Bob Baker, President, SBANE

Robot Potpourri Track

Salon B

S22: IoT Robotics applications in the Connected Home: The home of the future

Moderator: Christopher Rezendes, Founder, Managing Director, IoT IMPACT LABS

Speakers: Hasier Larrea, Architectural Robotics Designer & CEO, ORI & Chris Jones, Director for Strategic Technology Development, iRobot

Future of Robotics Track

Salon A

S23: STEM/Education: An exploration of current programs at all levels in MA State and corporate support initiatives

Moderator: Steve Cremer, MA Regional Director, FIRST

Panelists: Betty Lauer, Professor of Computer Systems Engineering Technology, Quinsigamond Community College

Aaron Johnson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Tufts University

Lisa Freed, STEM Program Manager, iRobot

Doug Scott, Secondary Technology & Engineering Teacher, Hopkinton High School

Funding Track

Solarium

S24: Alternative Funding: Crowdsourcing, Kickstarter, & Angel - Real stories from those who have lived through it.

Moderator: Arron Acosta, CEO & Co-Founder, Rise Robotics

Panelists: Eamon Carrig, CEO & Co-Founder, Autonomous Marine Systems, Inc.

Tan Kabra, CEO, LaunchByte.io

Trevor Collins, CEO & Co-Founder, 100 Danish

Robot Potpourri Track

Salon B

S25: Women in Robotics: Discussion forum with women who are shaping the robotics community

Moderator: Janice Marconi, President, Marconi Works International

Panelists: Lenore Rasmussen, CTO & Founder, Ras Labs LLC

Sampriti Bhattacharyya, Founder, Hydroswarm, Inc.

Aileen Sansone, Ph.D., Branch Head, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport

Lynne A. Oliver, Manager, Engility Corporation

Joleen Flasher, Project Lead, Air Force Weather Weapons Systems, MITRE Corporation

Jennifer Pagani, Program Manager, QinetiQ-North America

Future of Robotics Track

Salon A

S26: AI/Machine Learning: How artificial intelligence and machine learning will affect robotic applications

Moderator: Vijay Somandepalli, Managing Engineer, Exponent

Panelists: Anatoly Gorschechnikov, Co-Founder & CTO, Nuerala

Rohit Gupta, Co-Founder, Sentenal

Mads Schmidt, Director, Unmanned Systems, QinetiQ-North America

Funding Track

Solarium

S27: Investor Funding: Drones & Robots - Forum to discuss the in's and out's of entrepreneurial financing

Moderator: James Geshwiler, Managing Director, Converge Venture Partners

Panelists: Jerry Bird, President, MassVentures

Rudina Seseri, Manager of Investments, Fairhaven Capital