TechCrunch Hosts MIT Robotics Conference

In Boston today, TechCrunch is hosting its “The Minds Behind the Machines” robotics meeting to foster comprehensive discussion and networking with the entire robotics community from researchers to technologists to students. The conference offers robot demonstrations as well as a variety of topics like Human-Robot Interaction, Hardware Setup Challenges, and Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

The conference was broken out from TechCrunch’s larger Disrupt events due to it being such a large category and its rapidly advancing pace in the technology startup world. According to Ned Desmond, COO of TechCrunch, the top robotics sectors he expects to experience the fastest growth are  collaborative robotics, warehouse robotics and medical robotics.

Among the most interesting displays are a solar powered robot that roams around your yard cutting grass while avoiding your garden, robotic hands than can be manufactured on a 3-D printer, an ingestible robot to help doctors remove objects from the digestive tract and a robot that allows a tactile interaction with virtual reality systems.

Desmond encourages anyone interested in robotics to attend. “The robotics scene, broadly speaking, is going to be a huge employer in the years ahead. The jobs will encompass everything from developers and fabricators to repair people, sales and marketing and operations folks. The opportunities are huge. And that's why everyone should be paying attention. Plus, who isn't intrigued by robots?”