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Â鶹´«Ã½ 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 on Dec. 16 at the San Diego Convention Center. The talk is one component of broad Â鶹´«Ã½ engagement at this robotics conference that comes on the heels of the launch of the in October. 

“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 Â鶹´«Ã½, launched the Institute at the 2^nd Annual Contextual Robotics Forum in October.

“Â鶹´«Ã½ 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.”

Â鶹´«Ã½ 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.

Â鶹´«Ã½ at RoboUniverse San Diego

Â鶹´«Ã½’s presence at RoboUniverse San Diego extends well beyond Dean Pisano’s keynote. Mechanical engineering professors Thomas Bewley (director of the ) and Michael Tolley (director of the ) 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.

Â鶹´«Ã½ engineering alumni Nick Morozovsky, a co-Founder & CTO of , and Hansol Hong, a co-Founder and CEO of 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, , a machine learning researcher and Â鶹´«Ã½ computer science graduate student, will participate in a panel titled “Cognitive Reasoning Platforms – Spinning Social Media Interactions into Gold.”

Contributors to the Â鶹´«Ã½ 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.

Â鶹´«Ã½ 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