Overwhelmingly Positive ICRA@40, A Celebration of 40 years of Robotics
Over 1000 of the worlds top robotics professionals came together to celebrate 40 years of ICRA , The International Conference of Robotics and Automation. in Rotterdam, The Netherlands last week. ICRA is the IEEE Robotics and Automation flagship conference that first graced the world stage back in 1984. Back then Authors such as Marc Raibert, Ron Fearing, Harry Asada, and of course Ruzena Bajscy took to the podium.
The four day, single track conference featured 1.5hr sessions of 6 experts giving keynotes on their respective areas of expertise. Topics covered all aspects of robotics and automation. Many authors had worked on their topics their whole careers and this was a moment to reflect on how far each sub-field had come over the past 40 years.
Some conversations were similar to those that took place at the first ICRA. As some of the technical subjects and human topics are still as valid today as they were in 1984. Others have evolved further than many had predicted.
One star performer was Ruzena Bajscy who, at aged 91, was the seasoned veteran in the room. Her words at the VIP dinner and her questions to the expert panels cut through the major topics of the day and spoke to the hearts of the audience.
The academic keynotes were interspersed with debates involving robotics leaders and experts reflecting on important topics that affected 100% of the audience. With both heated emotions and expert opinions on display.
In the first day Asimovos CEO and founder, Christine Fraser, took to the stage to present Asimovo and introduce to the audience the platform that can be used to publish research, and teach robotics, in a smarter way. Christine described how the Dutch robotics academic community are beginning to collaborate in a new way by sharing research results via Asimovo and roll out shorter robotics courses targeting the robotics software skills.
In addition Christine debated the issue “Is AI truly redefining robotics” with distinguished engineer Vincent Vanhoucke from Waymo (ex Head of Robotics at Google Deep Mind). The hour long session on Thursday lunchtime was well attended with audience members participating in a discussion about the various ways AI is influencing robotics – from the development process, to market penetration, to behaviour building. The panel will be moderated by Enrica Tricomi (Heidelberg University), Francesco Missiroli (Heidelberg University)
Like all good birthday parties the conference had to come to an end. On Thursday evening the conference finished with a debate on ethics, happy photos from the four days and some final words of advise from the organizers. thanks go to Stefano Stramigioli, Wesley Roozing and Lukrecija Lelong for organising such a great event, and thanks to Catherine Kalamidas, Rotterdam Partners and Gemeente Rotterdam for welcoming the community and making everyone feel at home in Rotterdam.
The feedback on the format and concept was overwhelmingly positive. With the concept of anniversary editions being positively reinforced. ICRA@45 and ICRA@50 are both already being voiced.