A guide to Day 1 of RoboBusiness 2026

Today marks the start of RoboBusiness 2026! This year, we’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of RoboBusiness with the community that made it possible and looking ahead to more years of collaboration and growth.

The event will start at the Santa Clara Convention Center at 9:15 a.m. PT with the opening keynote, “The Next 20 Years of Robotics.” As RoboBusiness marks its 20th anniversary, industry leaders will reflect on the breakthroughs that defined the past two decades and explore the technologies, markets, opportunities, and challenges that will shape the next 20 years. This year, all keynotes will take place in the theatre on the second floor.

This talk will include Rodney Brooks, the co-founder and CTO of Robust AI ; Jonathan Hurst, the co-founder and chief robot officer of Agility Robotics ; and Ken Goldberg, the William S. Floyd Jr Distinguished Chair in Engineering at UC Berkeley .

At 10:00 a.m., the RoboBusiness show floor will open. There, attendees can find interesting robotics demonstrations, the Engineering Theater, and the Startup Alley.

The day will close with another keynote talk, “Beyond the Demo: AI in Production Robotics” at 4:30 p.m. It will include insights from Bhavana Chandrashekhar, the senior manager of applied science at Amazon Robotics ; James Davidson, the chief AI officer at Teradyne Robotics ; Ali Raja, vice president of data centers at ABB Robotics ; Ram Devarajulu, vice president of deep tech innovations at Cambridge Consultants ; and Jon Battles, the vice president of technology strategy at Cobot .

After the final keynote, head back to the exhibitor hall for the Networking Reception presented by Harmonic Drive . The reception will include drinks, light appetizers, and time to connect with other RoboBusiness 2026 attendees and speakers.

Registration for the show is available on site.

Morning breakout session schedule

RoboBusiness 2026 breakout sessions will start at 10:30 a.m. upstairs from the show floor. They include:

Designing Data Programs for Humans, Not Robots: Aaron Bromberg, the head of robotics and physical AI at Instawork, will explain what it takes to capture usable data from real workers on real shifts, and what he has learned putting camera systems into commercial environments at scale. This talk will be in Room 209/210.

Startup Bootcamp Part 1: The Basics to Best Practices: Colleen Anderson, the director of community and events at MassRobotics ; John Lanza and Jennifer Audeh, partners at Foley Hoag; and Brooke Fritz, a partner of tech transactions at Foley Hoag, will provide best practices for robotics startups. The session will be in Room 207.

Designing the Robotics Ecosystem for Outdoor Autonomy: In this session, Mel Torrie, the CEO of Autonomous Solutions Inc. , will explain why the intersection of autonomous vehicles and advanced robotics will further revolutionize field deployments. It will take place in Room 206.

The Humanoid Bill of Materials: De-Risking the Multi-Billion Dollar Bottleneck: Michelle Sun, the founder of Core Matter Labs, will strip away the marketing hype to expose the stark economic and geopolitical realities of the physical AI supply chain. The session will be in Room 203.

Integrated Drive Actuator Design: Combining Gearheads, Motor, Drive and Sensors for Smarter Motion: Marcel Almonte, a mechatronics applications engineer at Harmonic Drive, will teach attendees how integrated actuators can reduce engineering effort by simplifying system integration, minimizing cabling complexity, shortening testing and commissioning, and accelerating time to market. His session will start at 10:30 a.m.

Sessions starting at 11:30 a.m. include:

Why Food is Physical AI’s Hardest Problem & Most Promising Catalyst: Rajat Bhageria, the founder and CEO of Chef Robotics , will explore what makes food such a demanding benchmark for physical AI. This session will be in Room 209/210.

Startup Boot Camp Part 2: Challenges & Best Practices for Working with Corporate Partners: Joyce Sidopoulos, co-founder and chief of operations at MassRobotics; Ben Waters, co-founder and CEO of WiBotic ; and Colm Prendergast, senior director and head of the Emerging Tech Hub at Analog Devices , will provide actionable strategies for successfully collaborating with corporate partners. The session will take place in Room 207.

Deployment Over Demos: Building Risk-Aware Foundation Models for Safety-Critical Environments: In this fireside chat, Andrey Konchenko, the head of product at FieldAI , will describe how a physics-first foundation model designed specifically for physical AI can address long-standing autonomy challenges in robotics. This talk will be in Room 206.

A Joint-by-Joint Guide to Humanoid Motion: Yoshi Umeno, the global director of business development for robotics at Kollmorgen , and Reginald Duffus, the supervisor of application engineering at Kollmorgen, will provide a practical framework for evaluating motion partners, highlighting comprehensive solutions and co-engineering support to simplify the path from prototype to volume production. It will be in Room 203.

Tactile Sensing Solutions for the Physical AI Era: This panel will include insights from Eric Utley, an applications engineering manager at Protolabs; Ron Zukerman, the director of business development and innovation at VPG; Andrew Gosline, a senior mechatronic systems engineer at Simplexity Product Development; and Dorota Shortell, the CEO of Simplexity Product Development. These experts will discuss how tactile sensing is evolving. It will take place in Room 204.

Plan your afternoon at RoboBusiness 2026

At 12:15 p.m., Bhavana Chandrashekhar, the senior manager of applied science at Amazon Robotics, and Joyce Sidopoulos, co-founder and chief of operations at MassRobotics, will start the Women in Robotics Luncheon. This ticketed event will include a fireside chat between the two tech leaders. It presents an opportunity for women in the industry to form connections,…

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