AI Robotics: AI in the Physical World

About this event

The Rocky Mountain AI Interest Group (RMAIIG) will host an in-person meeting in Boulder on Tuesday, November 17th, at 5:45 pm MT on “AI Robotics”

What happens when artificial intelligence moves beyond the screen and into the physical world?

Explore the rapidly evolving world of AI robotics, where advances in AI are giving robots remarkable new abilities to see, understand, communicate, and interact with the world.

Join robotics companies, researchers, and innovators for live demonstrations, hands-on experiences, and presentations featuring humanoid robots, robot dogs, and autonomous machines.

Join us for an exciting evening of AI robotics, featuring live robot demonstrations, fascinating presentations, networking, and free pizza!

Sampling of Demos You'll See:

Luke Phillips from CU Boulder will demonstrate the SO-101 Robotic Arm! Watch a robotic arm perform tasks like stacking cubes. Luke will show how the SO-101 uses a technique called Ordered Action Tokenization to control its movements and perform different tasks.

Jered Dean with LUCI demonstrates A Safety Layer for Mobile Robots. As robots move into hospitals, airports, and homes, they need to operate safely around people. LUCI uses the same sensor and safety technology that protects wheelchair users. Attendees can interact with it and see how it detects its surroundings and responds in real time.

Daniel Ritchie presents Say Hello to Reachy Mini! Reachy Mini is back! Last year, RMAIIG attendees got a sneak peek at this robot before it entered production. Now the technology has advanced considerably, and Reachy Mini is being used more widely. Come meet this interactive robot and have a conversation.

Craig Mak presents Robosharks! Meet the Boulder High School robotics team designing and building underwater robotic submarines and floating devices! These robots can be remotely controlled and programmed to perform tasks using AI. Come see what these students are building.

John Kasper with Synovo Robotics presents Pudu AI Bots! See a fleet of AI-powered robots in action, including the MT1 Max 3D-perception sweeper, CC1 Pro autonomous scrubber, and BellaBot delivery robot. These robots are already being deployed in K-12 gyms, distribution centers, and parking garages across 48 states. See how they operate in real time and learn where this technology shines.

Leo Beuken and Kristen Such from Qualcomm Robotics showcase MoveIt Pro. How do developers teach robots to perform complex tasks? MoveIt Pro helps developers rapidly build and deploy robotic systems using both traditional programming techniques and newer AI approaches, including vision-language-action models (VLAs), which connect what robots see and understand with the actions they take.

Alise Hardie from Colorado State University presents the NASA Lunabotics Challenge! Meet the CSU Ram Robotics team and their student-built lunar excavation rover! Designed for NASA's Lunabotics Challenge, the rover combines mechanical systems for digging and moving across simulated lunar terrain with ROS 2-based software controls. The team is also developing AI capabilities to help the rover navigate, recognize its surroundings, and make decisions autonomously.

University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) presents Ami, the Social Humanoid Robot! Meet Ami, a lifelike, desktop-sized humanoid robot from Engineered Arts that can recognize speakers, make expressive facial movements, and hold natural conversations using AI! Ami brings humanlike interaction to robotics. Discover how UCCS is bringing Ami into university classrooms, how students respond, and what these experiences reveal about the future of social humanoid robots!

Thanks to Tim Morrissey and Drive Capital for their generous pizza sponsorship. Drive Capital is a stage-agnostic VC firm with over $2.2B AUM, investing in technical founders from idea to IPO.

Thanks to Nash Ashworth, Mohnish Srivats Ramesh and Greg Selvin for their help organizing and running the meeting!

AI Robotics: AI in the Physical World CU Boulder East Campus: In-person Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building (Room 120) 3775 Discovery Dr., Boulder, CO 80303 Tuesday, November 17th Showcase & Robot Demos: 5:45–7:15 PM (free pizza sponsored by Drive Capital) Presentations: 7:15–8:45 PM Parking: https://www.rmaiig.org/parking

We will start off with Katy Patterson, Joel Tonyan and Dr. Robert Mitchell who will share findings from a study of Ami, a social humanoid robot from Engineered Arts that joined a university classroom and interacted with students in a live academic setting. They will explore student responses to Ami, lessons learned, and what these real-world interactions mean for the design and future of social humanoid robots.

Joel Tonyan is the Director of User Experience and an Associate Professor at the UCCS Kraemer Family Library. An AI enthusiast, he manages the library’s two Ami humanoid robots and has brought them to UCCS classes, Colorado Springs-area high schools, and community events, giving many people their first chance to interact with a humanoid robot.

Katy Patterson is a doctoral student in Education at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, specializing in human-robot interaction. Her research examines the role of social robots in supporting teaching and learning.

Dr. Robert Mitchell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership, Research, and Foundations at UCCS. He has a background in k-12 education as a classroom teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, and has served as a governmental administrator in Massachusetts and with the Colorado Department of Higher Education. He currently works closely with Colorado's rural school districts.

Next, Dr. Kristen Such, Senior Engineer at Qualcomm, will present "End-to-End Learning in Commercial Robotics." Drawing on her experience deploying robots in industry, Kristen will explore how vision-language-action (VLA) models are bringing new AI capabilities to commercial robots, particularly in robotic manipulation and perception. She'll also demonstrate how MoveIt Pro simplifies data collection and helps robots learn reliable behaviors from real-world demonstrations.

Kristen earned her PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2024, studying under Chris Heckman, before joining PickNik Robotics, now part of Qualcomm. Her work focuses on robotic manipulation and developing VLA models for real-world applications, including robots that can stock retail shelves.

Additional presenters to be announced shortly!

Special thanks to Bobby Hodgkinson for arranging the meeting space!

From Rocky Mountain AI Interest Group RMAIIG