Robots: Assistance, Automation, Entertainment

Brought to you by The Future Devices & Technologies Group

This event will reflect on the challenges of lives transformed by new human-robot relationships. Attendees will leave with an understanding of the key technologies and current applications for robotics and an appreciation of future opportunities and challenges.

Registration for this event is now closed.

About the event

Robots have been part of human imagination for decades for example they feature heavily in popular culture. What is your favorite robot character/film? Their anticipated future impact is widely discussed. Their potential use in military operations may well change the face of future warfare, whilst in civilian life, industrial and domestic, it is speculated how they will both be our assistants and our replacements.

Our aim is to reflect on the various challenges of lives transformed by the creation of new human-robot relationships which will lead to a robotic society. We will focus on advanced technological innovations (human-robot interaction, humanoids, social robots, autonomous systems, intelligent perception, AI, machine learning, connectivity), as well as on societal aspects (legal issues, legislation, regulations, robotics ethics, human–robot co-existence, employment, safety).

Attendees should leave with a broad understanding of the key technologies and current applications for Robotics, together with an appreciation of the emerging future opportunities and challenges to be addressed in this dynamic and exciting tech field.

You can follow @CambWireless on Twitter and tweet about this event using #CWFDT.

Sponsored by NTT Data UK

NTT DATA is a leading IT services provider and global innovation partner.

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Agenda

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The information supplied below may be subject to change before the event.

14:30

Registration and networking with refreshments

15:15

CW welcome from Zahid Ghadialy, Future Devices & Technologies SIG Champion

15:20

Welcome from event sponsor, NTT Data, and hosts NTT Communications

15:25

Introduction to Future Devices & Technologies SIG, Zahid Ghadialy, SIG Champion

15:35

'The Imagination Algorithm - Designing Experience': Sebastian Conran, Consequential Robotics

This presentation will cover the transformation of academic research and resulting technologies into emotionally engaging user experiences through the employment of rigorous design & innovation process and application of creative thinking.

15:55

Q & A

16:05

‘Human machine collaboration: is working together the answer to high performing robots?’: Christina Georgiou, PA Consulting Group

“Robotics” and “AI” are no longer terms just found in science fiction books and blockbuster films: robots and AI are becoming more and more ubiquitous, and are being used in factories, warehouses, hospitals, farms and homes. As they operate in a larger number of unstructured and often unpredictable environments, these machines need to be able to learn, adapt, and work alongside humans. This talk will explore how building human-robot teams can improve the performance of both human and robot and discuss a case study of a human-robot collaboration team for search and rescue developed at PA Consulting.

16:25

Q & A

16:35

Networking and refreshments

17:05

‘Robots in Telecoms World’: Zahid Ghadialy, Senior Director, Strategic Marketing, Parallel Wireless

Robots are used in variety of ways in telecoms industry. Not only working smartphones and other devices, they are also used for many specialized tasks such as testing, machining, etc. This talk will look at some of these robots.

17:25

Q & A

17:35

‘Our body, how soon augmented by machines’: Cécile Pacoret, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Geneva

Bionic humans: science or fiction? Movies, but also media relays hopes, fears, progress, and miracles. What is actually happening in laboratories and clinics today? How far are we from therapeutics parts or augmented body for everyone? What are the ethical questions raised by artificial organs?

17:55

Q & A

18:05

Wrap-up by Dev Audsin, SIG Champion

18:10

End of session followed by networking and refreshments kindly sponsored by NTT Data

19:30

Event closes

Speakers

Sebastian Conran - CEO, Consequential Robotics

An engineer at heart, Sebastian Conran has design in the blood. Focused on designing technologies to make them more emotionally engaging. He is passionate about creating thoughtful & elegant products that are satisfying to use. He believes ‘form follows fabrication’ and that one must thoroughly understand how things are to be made & experienced before you put pencil to paper.

 

CEO of Consequential Robotics and Sebastian Conran Associates, Sebastian takes a hands-on, down-to-earth approach to all his design projects, and is intimately involved in all aspects throughout the innovation journey, sharing his wealth experience and manufacturing expertise with the design team. His studio’s designs have received many awards for design & innovation as well as being granted over fifty patents and design patents in various fields. From stacking shelves at Habitat in his teens to founding the Consequential Robotics startup, Sebastian's life has been focused on understanding how things are made and sold, as well as ingeniously designing innovative, stylish and satisfying products. He has seen many thousands of successful and enduring products through from concept to consumer.

 

An advocate of design & technology, Sebastian is currently visiting Professor of Design & Innovation Bristol Robotics Lab and Designer in Residence at University of Sheffield Engineering Faculty. He has taught at The Royal College of Art and Central St. Martins, and judges many international design awards including: Audi, D&AD, Design Week, Dyson, Red Dot and RSA.

Christina Georgiou - Consultant, PA Consulting Group

Christina is a roboticist with experience in research, design and delivery of algorithms and software for intelligent machines. During her PhD in robotics at Sheffield University she designed and implemented novel computer vision and mapping algorithms to help robots map areas more accurately. Christina has also developed visual feature detection and autonomous movement algorithms for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles during her MEng research at the University of Cambridge. At PA she has led development of computer vision algorithms and software for real time, high speed production line inspection, human-machine collaboration to map challenging environments and agricultural field inspection. She has delivered software verification and validation of complex robotics systems, designed algorithms to analyse low quality sensor data and has written reports for the UN on the technical challenges and future for robotics and UAVs.

Zahid Ghadialy - Principal Analyst & Consultant, 3G4G

Zahid is a technologist with a deep understanding of architecting world-class mobile products and solutions. With over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry in various roles, he has been an evangelist for mobile and wireless technologies. Over the years he has accumulated a vast following on his blogs and social networks with simple explainer posts and videos.

His 3G4G blogs are widely read where he looks at different aspects of mobile technology and especially 5G and 6G nowadays, including the architecture, deployments, use cases, applications, etc. His YouTube channel is also very popular where he explains many new features expected as part of 5G in the future. While his style and content is unique, he also references many industry publications and provides slides that are very useful to view online.

He is also very active on Twitter under his @3G4GUK brand helping disseminate the benefits of 5G and why 5G will be needed in the long run. He covers a very wide portfolio of 5G related information that is hard to find otherwise.

Until recently, Zahid was a Senior Director looking at Technology & Innovation Strategy in Parallel Wireless. As a brand ambassador, he represented the company in various Open RAN discussions and also created tutorials on Open RAN and O-RAN which are being used as reference for new starters on the topic.

Cecile Pacoret - Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Geneva

Cécile Pacoret, Ph.D., is a researcher in robotics and neurosciences, founder of a start-up project called ‘Periscope-neurotech’ and a teacher of psychomotor therapists.


SIG Champions

Nadia Aziz - Innovation Consultant, Unbounded Future Ltd

Nadia is an Evangelist of emerging technologies with an expertise in AR & VR and IoT technologies. She has advised C-level executives in Telecom and Media organisations for digital transformation and M&A projects over more than a decade. While being a SIG Champion of Future Devices and Technologies at Cambridge Wireless, she has recently co-founded Unbounded Future, a Deeptech consulting firm based in London. Previously Nadia led Emerging Technologies at NTT Data UK where she supervised R&D and innovation in Augmented (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR), AI, and IoT. Nadia is a supporter of Women in STEM initiatives and is a mentor at the University College London (UCL) IXN programme. She is an industry advisor to IoTerra, a USA-based B2B marketplace for IoT products and was a co-producer for the GIANT Health Event.

Muhammad Chughtai - Senior Research Specialist (Electronics & Electrical Engineering), Beko

I am a seasoned senior technology and engineering consultant with over a decade of multinational experience in AI & Robotics, MedTech, and thermodynamics. My career seamlessly blends corporate discipline with start-up agility, informed by a deep understanding of system dynamics and a holistic perspective. My expertise centres on empowering companies to gain a competitive edge through innovation, successful solution commercialization & partnerships, and strategic business development, all while upholding industry standards. In addition to my engineering expertise, I hold a PhD in the field, complemented by an MBAE. This dual qualification positions me uniquely at the intersection of advanced engineering and educational dynamics.

Zahid Ghadialy - Principal Analyst & Consultant, 3G4G

Zahid is a technologist with a deep understanding of architecting world-class mobile products and solutions. With over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry in various roles, he has been an evangelist for mobile and wireless technologies. Over the years he has accumulated a vast following on his blogs and social networks with simple explainer posts and videos.

His 3G4G blogs are widely read where he looks at different aspects of mobile technology and especially 5G and 6G nowadays, including the architecture, deployments, use cases, applications, etc. His YouTube channel is also very popular where he explains many new features expected as part of 5G in the future. While his style and content is unique, he also references many industry publications and provides slides that are very useful to view online.

He is also very active on Twitter under his @3G4GUK brand helping disseminate the benefits of 5G and why 5G will be needed in the long run. He covers a very wide portfolio of 5G related information that is hard to find otherwise.

Until recently, Zahid was a Senior Director looking at Technology & Innovation Strategy in Parallel Wireless. As a brand ambassador, he represented the company in various Open RAN discussions and also created tutorials on Open RAN and O-RAN which are being used as reference for new starters on the topic.

David Roberts - CTO - Special Projects, Cambridge Wireless, Founder, Jabooh Software

David is a technology leader with over 25 years experience working in the hi-tech arena. He has recently completed a successful project for ghd in conjunction with CW where he carried out the role of System Architect and facilitator.  Prior to this he worked in in the C-IoT space where he ran a multi-national R&D department that developed silicon and software designed for the burgeoning IoT market. He was also responsible for driving an agile transformation programme and assisting the organisation with their integration into a large Chinese multi-national telecoms company. Having started his career as a software developer working for BT and Acorn Computers, he went on to hold senior roles in a number of world-class organisations such as Symbian, Cambridge University and Citrix in the areas of Software Development, Project Management, Product Management, Research, Consultancy and Architecture. His background includes leading and developing teams involved in the creation of large-scale integrated hardware and software products, web-based services and CE devices. He is also highly experienced in large-scale agile development practices, agile coaching/transformation and creating and executing strategies for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of organisations.

Charles Sturman - CEO, TechWorks

As CEO at TechWorks, Charles is driving collaboration between Deep Tech and Semiconductor companies, Academia and Government in order to promote the sector and grow business opportunities for UK companies.

Previously, Charles was responsible for International Business & Marketing at HiSilicon (Huawei’s chipset business) based in Cambridge UK, with responsibility for product strategy, go-to-market and business development in IoT, edge and smart devices fields. Prior to this he led u-blox’ activities in the fast moving consumer IoT segment (wearables, smart-home and entertainment) following the acquisition of the ARM Software Radio spin-out Cognovo, where we was founder and executive VP Sales & Marketing. Charles has held various positions in system design, business development and product marketing within Acorn Computers, TTPCom, Motorola and ARM.

Event Location

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Location info

NTT Communications, 1 King William St, London EC4N 7AR

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