RoboBusiness Conference & Expo drives mobile robotics industry

MAY 23--Robotics Trends (Northboro, MA) and IDG World Expo (Framingham, MA;www.idgworldexpo.com) announced that RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition (www.roboevent.com), the business-development event for mobile robotics and intelligent systems, held at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge in Cambridge, MA, May 1-11, 2005, was a resounding success. Said Dan Kara, conference chairman and president of Robotics Trends, "We are delighted by the success of RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition. Attendance at this year's event was up 50% over last year. The exhibit areas were jammed with high-quality attendees, the conference program was well attended, and media coverage was extensive. In addition, the number of exhibitors at RoboBusiness 2005 more than quadrupled from last year."

Eliot Weinman, CEO and cofounder of Robotics Trends, added, "The dramatic increase in the number of attendees and sponsors for RoboBusiness 2005 speaks volumes about the rapid expansion of a wholly new technology market. Perhaps more important, however, the quality of the RoboBusiness attendees, as well as the sponsors themselves, includingFortune 500 companies such as Boeing and John Deere, indicate that mobile robotics and intelligent systems is moving out of the laboratory and early adopter segments and into mainstream markets. Due to the success of this event, as well as RoboNexus 2004, which was held in October 2004 and attended by more than 10,000 people, Robotics Trends plans to substantially increase the size and scope of RoboNexus 2005, which is scheduled October 6-9, 2005, at the San Jose Convention Center."

Highlights of the RoboBusiness Conference and Exposition included keynotes by iRobot's Cofounder and chairman Helen Greiner; Boeing's president/general manager Future Combat Systems Program Dennis Muilenburg; John Deere director of product and market development Greg Doherty; Frontline Robotics founder and CEO Richard Lepack; the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue' director Robin Murphy, and Robotics Trends president Dan Kara.