Every bot has its day

​ASU team revives robotics symposium to create connections in industry and academics

An interdisciplinary team at Arizona State University has revived the Southwest Robotics Symposium, bringing back the event for the first time in four years. The team’s work is part of ongoing efforts to make the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering a go-to destination for excellence in robotics.

Once a mainstay for southwestern academics and industry professionals, the conference went into hiatus in 2020 in the wake of COVID-19-related lockdowns. Historically, the symposium was an important juncture for robotics researchers to showcase hardware and software, and for students to make career-building connections.

The two-day event was held earlier this month on the Tempe campus in the Memorial Union. More than 600 people registered for the symposium, including a 28-person cohort from the Brandeis National Committee, who attended to investigate how robotics might be impactful for social good.

Nakul Gopalan, an assistant professor of computer science in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, served as a co-general chair of the symposium. He says networking is crucial to fostering a sense of community among researchers and encouraging students.

“Events like these are important for researchers because they create opportunities to explore collaborations that can lead to real advancements,” Gopalan says. “For students, having work seen by industry professionals can be a hugely beneficial career builder.”

The symposium explored the theme “Robotics for Social Good,” inviting attendees to examine how robotics can and will provide positive, global benefits — especially in the medical sector.

Vivek Sahukar, a data science graduate student in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, presents his drone research at the event poster session. The symposium provided a forum for students to showcase their work to industry professionals. Photographer: Kelly deVos/ASU

Hamidreza Marvi is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools. As the event’s co-general chair, he says he was thrilled about the platform it created for ASU robotics faculty and students to showcase their leading research while engaging with pioneers in the field.

“Over the course of two days, we featured an exceptional lineup of invited talks, faculty presentations, student lightning talks, poster sessions and robot demonstrations,” Marvi says. “This event highlighted ASU’s leadership in robotics research and fostered meaningful connections with leaders in the field.”

Each of the symposium’s two days kicked off with a plenary speech given by a thought leader in robotics. On the first day, Pierre E. Dupont, chief of Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering and the Edward P. Marram Chair at Boston Children’s Hospital, spoke about emerging advancements in the biomedical space.

“Start with the problem, and not just problems you think you can solve, but the most important problems,” Dupont told students.

On day two, Peter Stone, executive director of Sony AI America, discussed human-in-the-loop learning efforts underway in his laboratory, addressing student concerns about human irrationality. Stone noted that human-in-the-loop methods, through which robots learn by interacting with people, are designed to speed up the robotic training process. He explained that a combination of machine learning and human learning is needed in robotics.

“When we learn from other people, we are also learning their mistakes,” Stone said. “But that doesn’t mean we should throw out the ability to learn from humans.”

Peter Stone (left), executive director of Sony AI America, poses with Nakul Gopalan (right), a Fulton Schools assistant professor of computer science in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence. On day two of the symposium, Stone gave a plenary talk on human-in-the-loop robotics training systems. Photographer: Kelly deVos/ASU

Lixiao Huang is a research assistant professor at the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming, or CHART, in the ASU Global Security Initiative and served as a co-program chair for the symposium. She was most excited about the human-robot system track at the symposium, featuring speakers Jessie Y. C. Chen, senior research scientist for Soldier Performance at the United States Army Research Laboratory, and Stefanos Nikolaidis, Fluor Early Career Chair in engineering and associate professor of computer science at the University of Southern California, two experts in how people and robots can best interact and work together.

“Human-robot teaming is essential for real-world robotics applications. Our center, CHART, focuses on developing and evaluating effective human-robot teams,” Huang says. “The interdisciplinary symposium created great learning and networking opportunities for students.”

The poster sessions provided a venue for ASU students to interact with participants from across the country, including attendees from Brown University, Ohio State University and the Colorado School of Mines. Two Fulton Schools students were awarded top honors. Omkar Patil, a doctoral student in computer science, received the best poster award while Gabriela Hernandez, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student, received the best spotlight presentation award.

The event attracted a large number of industry sponsors including Nvidia, Meta, SRP, Amazon Robotics, Toyota North American, OptiTrack, the Arizona Biomedical Research Center and more.

Organizers are hopeful that the Southwest Robotics Symposium is back for good. They plan to host the next event in the fall of 2025.