News Release
UC San Diego Engineering Dean to Give Keynote at RoboUniverse San Diego
San Diego, CA, December 9, 2015 -- Albert P. Pisano, dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, will give a keynote address — “Building a Robotics Hub in San Diego” — at the RoboUniverse San Diego conference on Dec. 16 at the San Diego Convention Center. The talk is one component of broad UC San Diego engagement at this robotics conference that comes on the heels of the launch of the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego in October.
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| Technology showcase at the 2015 Contextual Rototics Forum at UC San Diego's Atkinson Hall (Qualcomm Institute) Photo: Erik Jepsen / UC San Diego (View more photos from the Forum on Flickr) |
“We are leveraging the power of the engineering school, the social sciences and the entire campus to grow and strengthen the robotics ecosystem in San Diego,” said Pisano. He and Carol Padden, dean of the Division of Social Sciences at UC San Diego, launched the Institute at the 2nd Annual Contextual Robotics Forum in October.
“UC San Diego has the largest engineering school in California. We provide the engineering leadership, technology and talent needed to support and enable a world-class robotics hub in the CaliBaja region,” said Pisano.
“Collaboration is a key feature of our new Institute,” said Padden. “Social scientists will work together with engineers to develop safe and useful robotics systems. By designing more responsive robots that are compatible with humans and in sync with social practices, we can build not just better machines but machines to serve humanity.”
UC San Diego has a distinguished record of focusing on emerging research areas and helping them develop into high impact industry sectors. Wireless communications and biotechnology are just two examples.
“We are now doubling down on developing the robotics ecosystem in the region through our proven combination of engineering leadership, interdisciplinary collaborations, industry engagement, technology innovation and talent development,” said Pisano.
UC San Diego at RoboUniverse San Diego
UC San Diego’s presence at RoboUniverse San Diego extends well beyond Dean Pisano’s keynote. Mechanical engineering professors Thomas Bewley (director of the UCSD Flow Control & Coordinated Robotics Labs) and Michael Tolley (director of the Bioinspired Robotics and Design Lab) will led a STEM education session entitled “Low-cost Robotics for High-impact STEM Education.” This Dec. 15 panel will focus on challenges and successes in the development and deployment of new teaching tools aimed at the high school level and beyond to bridge the gap from maker to roboticist.
UC San Diego engineering alumni Nick Morozovsky, a co-Founder & CTO of Accel Robotics, and Hansol Hong, a co-Founder and CEO of Robolink are part of a separate Dec. 15 panel focused on robotics in STEM education that will cover a wide range of programs, curriculum and tools for teaching robotics.
On Dec. 16, Zack Chase Lipton, a machine learning researcher and UC San Diego computer science graduate student, will participate in a panel titled “Cognitive Reasoning Platforms – Spinning Social Media Interactions into Gold.”
Contributors to the UC San Diego robotics booth at RoboUniverse include professor Bewley, as well as computer science and structural engineering professor Falko Kuester, computer science professor Steve Swanson, and mechanical engineering professors Sonia Martinez and Jorge Cortes.
UC San Diego computer science alumnus Charles Bergan, Vice President of Engineering, Qualcomm, Inc., will give the opening keynote at RoboUniverse San Diego on Oct. 15 entitled “The Robotics Revolution.”
“We are weaving the robotics network in San Diego,” said Pisano. “We are feeling the momentum build.”
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RoboUniverse San Diego
RoboUniverse San Diego will feature a half day of tutorials, plus two days of conference sessions led by industry experts and demonstrations of the latest robotics technologies and services including agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, AI, consumer, education, IoT, business, investment and technology.
Media Contacts
Daniel Kane
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-534-3262
dbkane@ucsd.edu
Ioana Patringenaru
Jacobs School of Engineering
858-822-0899
ipatrin@ucsd.edu