A guide to everything happening at the 2026 Robotics Summit & Expo

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The 2026 Robotics Summit & Expo is set to kick off tomorrow in Boston, drawing in more than 5,000 robotics experts and over 200 exhibitors to the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center. The two-day event promises to be a hub of activity, with more than 50 sessions across tracks on artificial intelligence, design and development, enabling technologies, healthcare, and logistics.

The Engineering Theater on the show floor will feature presentations by industry experts, and more than 70 speakers are confirmed from companies such as Fictiv, Harmonic Drive, maxon, PickNik Robotics, RealSense, Tesla, the Toyota Research Institute, and more. To help attendees navigate the extensive program, a summary of all activities is available, and the Robotics Summit App allows for personalized scheduling, networking, and exhibit tracking. The Robotics Summit will kick off with a keynote panel in Room 253 ABC titled "Building the Next Era of Robot Autonomy," featuring insights from Aaron Parness, the director of applied science at Amazon Robotics; Anders Beck, vice president of AI robotics products at Universal Robots; Hamid Montazeri, the senior vice president of software and AI at Locus Robotics; and John Wall, the president of QNX.

The keynote will start after introductory remarks at 9:00 a.m. ET. The expo floor will open at 10:00 a.m., with presentations in the Engineering Theater starting at 10:15 a.m.

Attendees can also look forward to the RBR50 Showcase, MassRobotics' Startup Alley, Form & Function Challenge, and Physical AI Accelerator. Even pickleball enthusiasts can join in on the fun with Tennibot. On the evening of the first day, the Mix & Mingle Networking Reception will begin at 5:00 p.m.

in Exhibit Hall C, followed by the ticketed RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Dinner in Room 253 ABC at 6:00 p.m. The second day of the summit will start with the sold-out Women in Robotics Breakfast, featuring a talk from Joyce Sidopoulos, co-founder and chief of operations at MassRobotics, and Mikell Taylor, head of robotics strategy at GM. The event will conclude with a final keynote on Day 2, "Rewiring What’s Possible: A New Era of Human Potential," where Noland Arbaugh will share his experience as the first person to use a Neuralink brain-computer interface.