Speaker: Steve Cousins, Founder of Savioke 
Venue: COM2-04-02, Executive Classroom
Date/Time: 28/03/2016, Monday, 1.00pm

Abstract:

After 20 years of predictions that robots will work among us soon, the predictions are finally starting to come true. Investment in robotics is up, enabling start-ups to explore a range of use cases. Decreasing component costs will make it easier to make real business cases for the technology. Mobile robots are beginning to transform the way we serve people in hotels, elder care facilities, hospitals, restaurants, and throughout the service industry, and this trend is accelerating. Savioke deploys delivery robots in hotels, and has had one in continuous operation since August 2014. There are now several Savioke Relay robots doing over 400 deliveries each week across California, and the number is quickly expanding.

Biodata:

Steve Cousins is a world leader in service robotics. He is passionate about building and deploying robotic technology to help people. Before founding Savioke, he was the President and CEO of Willow Garage, where he oversaw the creation of the robot operating system (ROS), the PR2 robot, and the open source TurtleBot. Steve serves on the boards of the Open Source Robotics Foundation and Silicon Valley Robotics, and is an active participant in the Robots for Humanity project. Steve has been a senior manager at IBM’s Almaden Research Center, and a member of the senior staff at Xerox PARC. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, and BS and MS degrees in computer science from Washington University.