Sergey Levine to discuss foundation models in RoboBusiness keynote

By The Robot Report Staff | September 3, 2024

Traditionally, robots excel at performing the same task, over and over again, in the same conditions. This makes them great at doing jobs that are a chore for people. It also means these robots are often inflexible pieces of equipment that are difficult to reprogram for a new task. In recent years, however, general-purpose foundation models, like ChatGPT, have demonstrated how general-purpose models trained on diverse datasets can outperform narrowly tailored specialist models, even on tasks those specialized models are specifically designed for. It has left many engineers wondering if the same transformation can happen in robotics?

At RoboBusiness, Sergey Levine, co-founder of Physical Intelligence and an associate professor at UC Berkeley, will deliver a keynote talk “Building Robotic Foundation Models.” In this presentation, Levine will discuss how to build foundation models for end-to-end control of robotic systems. He will also discuss how the industry can gather large and diverse datasets for such systems, and how these systems can enable new and exciting robotic capabilities.

RoboBusiness is scheduled for Oct. 16-17 in Santa Clara, Calif. The event will feature more than 60+ speakers, 80+ exhibitors and demonstrations on the expo floor, 10+ hours of dedicated networking time, the Pitchfire Robotics Startup Competition, and more. Thousands of robotics experts from around the world will convene at the event. Levine’s keynote will take place on the second day of the show at 10 AM. 

Physical Intelligence is a startup launched in 2024. It is developing foundation models and learning algorithms to power the robots of today and the physically actuated devices of the future.

Levine brings over a decade of experience with learning algorithms

Levine received a BS and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2009, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 2014. He joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley in the fall of 2016.

His work focuses on machine learning for decision-making and control, with an emphasis on deep learning and reinforcement learning algorithms. Applications of his work include autonomous robots and vehicles, as well as computer vision and graphics.

Levine’s research includes developing algorithms for end-to-end training of deep neural network policies that combine perception and control, scalable algorithms for inverse reinforcement learning, deep reinforcement learning algorithms, and more. His work has been featured in many popular press outlets, including the New York Times, the BBC, MIT Technology Review, and Bloomberg Business.

Hear from Levine and more at RoboBusiness

In addition to enabling tech and robotics innovation, RoboBusiness 2024 focuses on investments and business topics related to running a robotics company. Other keynote talks at the event include:

• Rodney Brooks, co-founder and chief technology officer at Robust AI
• Claire Delaunay, the CTO at farm-ng
• Torrey Smith, the co-founder and CEO of Endiatx

The show will also include a keynote panel on “Driving the Future of Robotics Innovation,” featuring:

• Amit Goel, head of robotics at edge AI ecosystem at NVIDIA
• John Bubnikovich, president of ABB Robotics US
• Eric Truebenbach, managing director of Teradyne Robotics Ventures
• Joan-Wilhelm Schwarze, a senior global innovation manager at DHL