Speakers
Vincent Vanhoucke
Distinguished Engineer, Waymo
Follow on LinkedInVincent Vanhoucke is a Distinguished Engineer at Waymo. His research has spanned many areas of artificial intelligence, from speech recognition to computer vision, robotics and autonomy. His work earned two test-of-time awards. At Google, he founded the robotics AI research team, now part of Google DeepMind. He is a co-founder and past president of the Robot Learning Foundation, which organizes the Conference on Robot Learning, now in its 9th year. He is co-Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Robot Learning, and the host of the AI in Motion video series on YouTube. He holds a doctorate from Stanford University, a diplôme d'ingénieur from the École Centrale Paris. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Session(s):
KEYNOTE: Multimodal Perception and Sensor Simulation for Safe Autonomy | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 8:40 AM (PDT)
Torsten Kroeger
Chief Science Officer, Intrinsic
Prof. Dr. Torsten Kroeger is the Chief Science Officer at Intrinsic. He's a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record in robotics and AI software innovation, having founded and successfully exited Reflexxes GmbH and Loom Vision GmbH. His extensive experience includes leading a Robotics Software Division at Google and a professorship at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Prof. Kroeger's industry expertise is underscored by his consulting roles with major players like Volkswagen AG, KUKA, and Google, Inc. He holds numerous prestigious awards, including the 2022 IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award, and is a member of the 2023 IEEE Fellow class.
Session(s):
KEYNOTE: Generalized & Specialized AI Models in Robotics & Automation Applications | Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 8:40 AM (PDT)
Thomas Kuckhoff
Senior Product Manager, Omron Automation Americas
Follow on LinkedInThomas Kuckhoff is a Licensed Professional Engineer and Senior Product Manager at Omron Automation Americas, where he leads strategic initiatives for industrial controllers, industrial PCs, and advanced automation platforms. With a Mechanical Engineering degree and an MBA from Clemson University, Thomas combines technical expertise with commercial insight to drive innovation and operational excellence across global manufacturing environments.
Throughout his career, Thomas has demonstrated leadership in shaping Industry 4.0 strategies, guiding organizations through digital transformation, and enabling scalable automation. He is the inventor of 13 U.S. patents and is consistently published on the topics of: IT/OT integration and advanced process control. His approach emphasizes building resilient, future-ready factories through data-first strategies that balance flexibility and cost efficiency.
Beyond his professional role, Thomas is deeply committed to leadership and community impact. He serves on nonprofit boards, including the Center for Developmental Services, and contributes to Clemson University’s MBA Alumni Council. Passionate about mentorship, he actively supports initiatives that prepare the next generation of engineers and business leaders. Thomas’s work reflects a vision of empowering teams, fostering innovation, and creating sustainable competitive advantages in an increasingly complex manufacturing landscape.
Session(s):
Being Data-First: A Practical Path to Agentic AI in Factory Automation | Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 9:35 AM (PDT)
Chris Matthieu
VP, Developer Ecosystem, RealSense, Inc.
Follow on LinkedInChris Matthieu is a serial entrepreneur and active developer who has built and sold five emerging tech companies in the areas of communications, IoT, and decentralized supercomputing. He currently serves as the VP, Developer Ecosystem for RealSense, where he focuses on AI, robotics, and stereo depth technologies. Chris is a frequent speaker at robotics and emerging technology conferen
Session(s):
Eyes + Identity: Building Perception & Trust Layers for Autonomous Robots | Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 1:30 PM (PDT)
Gretchen Alper
Business Director, North America, AT-Sensors
Gretchen Alper is the Business Director for the new North American subsidiary of AT-Sensors. With two decades of experience in metrology and vision applications, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her role. Her primary responsibilities include promoting AT's innovative products within the North American market and providing support to local customers.
Gretchen is dedicated to collaborating with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to enhance their measurement accuracy and throughput. This underscores her commitment to advancing technology and helping businesses achieve greater efficiency and precision in their operations. Her extensive background in metrology and vision applications positions her well to lead AT-Sensors's efforts in North America and contribute to the success of the company's customers in the region.
Session(s):
Practical Considerations for Deploying Advanced 3D and Thermal Vision Systems in Industrial Environments | Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 10:40 AM (PDT)
Peter Denzinger
Vice President of Engineering, Vista Solutions
Follow on LinkedInPeter Denzinger is the Vice President of Engineering at Vista Solutions Inc., a leading integrator of machine vision technology. With over 20 years of experience in the field, he has worked on applying vision solutions across industries ranging from agriculture and mining to aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and electronics. Peter enjoys tackling complex challenges and helping organizations put vision technology to work in practical, impactful ways.
Session(s):
Lessons from Deploying Systems in Production Environments: How to Successfully Deploy Machine Vision Systems | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 9:35 AM (PDT)
Zeeba Mercer
Accreditation & Technical Manager, TÜV Rheinland of North America Inc.
Follow on LinkedInZeeba is a Lead Auditor and Technical Manager at TÜV Rheinland with extensive executive experience in healthcare, manufacturing and information technology leadership, management, and consulting. She has over 25 years of experience delivering systems and transformation projects at a global level.
She is passionate about leveraging technology solutions, protecting, and maximizing the organization’s ROI for long term success, and using problems as opportunities to reach the next level of success.
Zeeba has a unique blend of clinical, business, R&D, and technology acumen which translates to the integration of operations, applications, and compliance alignment with the organization’s business strategies and requirements. Before joining TÜV Rheinland, Zeeba founded and served as CEO of Excelarise, a transformational consulting company, helping national automotive, manufacturing, healthcare, defense systems, and higher education industries leverage AI, data network (5G), big data, information exchange, and interconnectivity to achieve the organization’s strategic goals.
In her spare time, she is an Adjunct Professor teaching Business and Healthcare courses for the College of Management Information System, Entrepreneurship, and Business at Kent State University.
Session(s):
The New AI Strategy Playbook: Powered by ISO/IEC 42001 - The Standard for Ethical, Reliable, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Management Systems | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 11:25 AM (PDT)
Albane Dersy
COO & Co-founder, Inbolt (with Stellantis)
Follow on LinkedInAlbane Dersy is a French entrepreneur and business leader, best known as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Inbolt, a robotics company that builds an intelligence layer for industrial robots.
She holds degrees from France's two best universities, HEC Paris and École Polytechnique, and early in her career worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. In 2018, she founded Inbolt to address industrial automation challenges—specifically by enabling robots to adapt in real time to dynamic production environments using Inbolt's breakthrough real-time pose estimation model.
Under her leadership, Inbolt has deployed its solution across over 100 factories on multiple continents and gained recognition for innovation—among other honors, Albane was selected as one of “10 Women Shaping the Future of Robotics in 2025". She always prefer being in the shop floor in automotive factories than sitting at her desk and will often wear steel toed shoes for after work drinks.
Session(s):
Brownfield Automation, Powered by AI Vision: A Stellantis Perspective | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 2:00 PM (PDT)
Carl Standertskjold
Head of Innovation - North America Manufacturing, Stellantis
Speaker biography coming soon!
Session(s):
Brownfield Automation, Powered by AI Vision: A Stellantis Perspective | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 2:00 PM (PDT)-1.jpg)
Stephen Se
Senior Engineering Manager, Depth Sensing, Teledyne
Follow on LinkedInDr. Stephen Se is the Senior Engineering Manager at Teledyne, with over 25 years of experience in computer vision, image and video processing, stereo imaging, deep learning, 3D modeling, and mobile robotics. He holds a B.Eng. in Computing from Imperial College London and a Ph.D. in Computer Vision and Robotics from the University of Oxford. Following his doctoral work, Dr. Se conducted post-doctoral research at the University of British Columbia, focusing on vision-based localization for mobile robots. He later led advanced computer vision R&D initiatives at MDA Corporation, supporting applications in defense, mining, and robotics. A Senior Member of IEEE and a licensed Professional Engineer, Dr. Se has authored more than 40 technical publications and continues to contribute to the advancement of intelligent vision systems for industrial automation and autonomous robotics.
Session(s):
Practical Limits of Deep Learning in Stereo Vision: Real-World System Constraints | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 10:45 AM (PDT)
Annie Lu
CEO & Co-Founder, Laminar
Follow on LinkedInAnnie Lu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Laminar, where she is using physical AI to redefine the future of CPG manufacturing through self-driving processes that drive greater productivity and sustainability. Recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 and BizJournal BostInno 25 Under 25, Annie co-founded Laminar with her brother, David Lu. At a moment when AI is poised to reshape every industry, she is obsessed with making sure manufacturing doesn’t get left behind.
Session(s):
From Factory Floor to Global Scale: Process-Aware AI & What it Takes to Scale Across 100+ Food & Beverage Facilities Worldwide | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 3:15 PM (PDT)
Eric Hershberger
Principal Applications Engineer, Cognex
Follow on LinkedInEric Hershberger has over 25 years of machine vision integration and application experience. He can program robots, plc's and of course, cameras. Hershberger knows a few tips and tricks to make life easier for those difficult to solve vision projects that never have a good solution. He spends more time figuring out how to simplify the solution to make the support of the application easier. Hershberger loves the challenge of tough problems and the critical thinking required to solve them.
Session(s):
Advanced AI Integration Made Easy | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 10:45 AM (PDT)
Alvin Clark
Global Developer Relations Manager - Industrial and Manufacturing, NVIDIA
Follow on LinkedInAlvin Clark serves as Global Developer Relations Manager – Manufacturing and Industrial at NVIDIA. Combining his expertise in AI engineering with a focus on ecosystem enablement, he helps partners design, deploy, and scale AI solutions built on NVIDIA’s vision, language, and multimodal models. His work centers on industrial automation, smart manufacturing, and AI-powered industrial agents that drive real-world factory transformation.
Session(s):
KEYNOTE: Beating the 1-10-100 Rule: Zero-Day Quality Models via Synthetic Data | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 4:10 PM (PDT)
Keven Wang
CEO, UnitX Inc
Follow on LinkedInKeven Wang is the co-founder & CEO of UnitX, a leading AI machine vision company automating visual inspection in factories. Keven graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Computer Science concentrating on AI. Keven has visited 200+ factories worldwide helping to improve yield and quality, and holds patents in AI technology for visual inspection.
Session(s):
From End-of-Line to In-Process Inspection: The Next Step in Manufacturing Quality | Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 10:40 AM (PDT)
Jeff Adolf
Vision/AI Specialist, 3M
Jeff Adolf is a technical leader at 3M in the area of automated inspection and machine vision. He holds a dual B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Minnesota as well as a master’s degree with an emphasis in traditional image processing and machine learning. Over the past 10 years, Jeff has developed and deployed custom inspection systems to solve challenging inspection applications across 3M’s global footprint. Furthermore, he leads the strategy and execution of new vision technology platforms. Recently, he has championed the field of deep learning for vision, bringing novel defect detection and classification capabilities that impact operational efficiency, product yield, and new product commercialization.
Session(s):
To Be Announced | Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 1:30 PM (PDT)
Rashmi Misra
Supervisory Board, Mercedes-Benz Group AG
Follow on LinkedInDr. Rashmi Misra previously was the Chief AI Officer for Analog Devices executing an AI strategy across enterprise, silicon manufacturing and product for the intelligent edge.
Prior to that, Rashmi headed Data and Artificial Intelligence, Business Development, for Microsoft where she led Microsoft’s strategic partnerships in AI including those with OpenAI since 2019, Meta, NVDIA, Mistral, and in Automation and Robotics with Kawasaki, Figure.ai, Wayve, and others.
Working closely with ecosystem partners, as well as customers and engineering teams, Rashmi was responsible for proving leading-edge solutions and partnerships combining AI, Data, mixed reality, Web 3.0 and other emergent technologies at Microsoft.
Rashmi has been at the forefront of intelligent systems for over 20 years, managing network applications, cloud, media, IoT and M2M businesses for HPE where she was the Head of AI Solutions for High Performance Compute solutions.
Rashmi previously led Motorola's worldwide System Integration portfolio and was instrumental in deploying some of the first expert and AI systems on mobile networks. She owns six international patents for intelligent optimisation, automated network health and monetisation of traffic on telecom networks.
Rashmi has a doctorate in Artificial Intelligence on Multi-Agent Reasoning Systems, from Exeter University, UK and an MBA from Warwick University, UK.
Session(s):
To Be Announced | Thursday, September 24, 2026 - 11:25 AM (PDT)
Paul Thomas
Director of Machine Vision and Applied AI in Global Engineering, P&G
Paul Thomas, PE is the Director of Machine Vision and Applied AI in Global Engineering for Procter & Gamble. He has over 20 years of industrial controls experience as a developer, OEM and End User. Paul is a licensed Professional Engineer in Ohio and Michigan. Paul is also the owner of the newly created Corporate Machine Vision and Applied AI Lab. His focus is to develop and identify innovative approaches for vision applications for robotics, quality inspections and product identification throughout P&G. Some of his recent accomplishments include multiple patents for the use of deep learning in inspection systems, contributing to an ANSI standard for safety of AI in machinery applications and the end-to-end development and deployment of a high-speed, edge-based deep learning solution.
Session(s):
To Be Announced | Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - 11:25 AM (PDT)
Ricky Watts
General Manager and Sr. Director, Industrial and Robotics Division, Intel Corp.
Follow on LinkedInWith over 30 years of global experience, Ricky Watts is a seasoned technology leader driving innovation at the intersection of industrial, telecommunications, and embedded systems. As General Manager and Senior Director of Intel’s Industrial and Robotic Division, he leads efforts to accelerate the adoption of smart manufacturing and robotics by advancing next-generation connectivity, automation, and software-defined edge infrastructure.
Ricky’s work spans product marketing, business development, and strategy across critical sectors, including control automation, energy, medical devices, and transportation. He is deeply involved in enabling autonomous systems and collaborative robotics, helping industry partners deploy AI-powered solutions on Intel’s edge-ready silicon and software.
His international experience—across Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa—brings a uniquely global perspective to market transformation. Prior to Intel, he held leadership roles at Motorola, British Telecom, Aircom International, and Wind River Systems, where he built a strong foundation in ecosystem collaboration and industrial innovation.