The 4th Annual Robotics Summit & Expo was held at the Boston Convention Center May 10-11 and included keynotes, technical tracks and an expo floor. MassRobotics was once again the strategic partner for the event, hosted by Business-to-business publisher WTWH Media, the parent company of The Robot Report. MassRobotics provided strategic guidance and was a liaison to MassRobotics’ global community, including partners, sponsors, startup residents, and the robotics community at large.
MassRobotics hosted the VIP networking reception to kick off the overall Summit and invited guests included Summit speakers, our partners and leaders from our resident startups. This event was sponsored by MassRobotics partner Lattice Semiconductor who brought VIPs from their California and European offices
More than half of these companies were exhibiting at the Robotics Summit for the very first time!
The Startup Alley showcased 18 of our residents which gave attendees an opportunity to explore innovative, emerging ideas and technology in the robotics field and included: Ascend Robotics, Ava Robotics, Black-i Robotics, cycleWASH, Gaia AI, Glidance, Haply Robotics, HyperVend, Mesodyne, Opteran, Phuc Labs, Ras Labs, Rocketfarm, Scalable Robotics, Southie Autonomy, Tatum Robotics, Ubiros, US Positronix. More than half of these companies were exhibiting at the Robotics Summit for the very first time!
In collaboration with esteemed partners Festo, Mitsubishi Electric, Novanta, and MITRE, we proudly presented the innovative startups comprising the second Cohort of the Healthcare Robotics Catalyst Program. The highlight event was a well-attended pitch session where these startups showcased the remarkable technological advancements and achievements nurtured by the program.
Representing a global diversity of expertise, these groundbreaking companies hail from various corners of the world. Among them, we have Able Human Motion (Spain), Acumino (USA), Andromeda (Australia), Maestro Surgical (China), Robots on Rails (USA), Unlimited Robotics (Israel), and Zeta Surgical (USA).
The expo floor included an area to showcase university teams participating in the Form & Function Robotics Challenge where their projects highlight technologies offered from partner companies including Festo, Lattice Semiconductor, Onshape, NanoDimension, Novanta, Danfoss and Analog Devices. Participating universities were from around the globe and included Brown University, University of Bath, University of Calgary, MIT, Stevens Institute of Technology, Tufts University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Northeastern University, Indiana University Bloomington, Seoul National University, Brown University, Kwame Nkrumah Science and Technology, University of Southern Denmark.
Winners of the challenge were announced on the 2nd day of the conference on the showroom floor.
Tufts Nano Lab Ingestible Pill using technology from Nano Dimension, Onshape and Novanta, the first prize winner, took home a prize of $25K. The 2nd and 3rd prize winners were MIT WORMS and the WPI Wheeled Biped and each were awarded a prize of $5K. Attendees at the conference had the opportunity to participate by voting for their favorite project and after tallying the votes, the “Audience Choice Award” went to Smart Gripper Tethered Unmanned Ground Vehicle System from Indiana University Bloomington – and the team received an additional $5K in prize money.
At the conclusion of the two-day event, we held a technical career fair hosting 16 hiring companies with a record number of 650+ registered jobseekers. Hiring companies included Alert Innovation, Nano Dimension, Novanta, Festo, Lattice Semiconductor, New Balance, Ruland Manufacturing, Tri-Star Design, Pipedream Labs, Black-I Robotics, MVP Robotics, Robot on Rails, Southie Autonomy, BIR Tech, Gaia AI and Glidance and their job postings can be seen in our “careers” focused newsletter here.
We are planning to host another career fair on Sep 29, 2023 as part of our annual RoboBoston event in the Seaport. Thanks to our friends at The Robot Report and all who participated to make this event a success!
