10 Robots Invading the SXSW PanelPicker

The Forrest Four-Cast: August 25, 2018

UPDATE: SXSW PanelPicker voting extended to 11:59 pm PT on Sunday, August 27.

As we prepare for the close of polls at 11:59 pm PT on Friday, August 25, robots have not actually invaded the SXSW PanelPicker voting interface. But, when you use the search button, you’ll find about one hundred proposals covering all things good and bad about our humanoid friends.

Ten of these robot-related ideas that are particularly intriguing include:

1. Designing Our Robot Overlords: What will that future really look like, and how can we use our existing design skills to make it more human? Speakers include Andy Budd from Clearleft and Amber Case from the MIT Media Lab.
2. Hacks, Flacks & Robots: Automation in Today’s News: First, you were told to write for robots. Now, robots are doing the writing for you. What are these robots looking for in a news story? What do you need to know to protect your brand and job when robots and algorithms are shaping your company’s image?
3. Here Come the White-Collar Robots: Ignore the pessimists, artificial intelligence is already making some white collar workers’ lives more interesting, enjoyable and stimulating. In this panel session, you’ll meet companies at the forefront of this transformation
4. The Home of the Future is a Robot: Led by Chris Jones of iRobot, this session will discuss how free roaming home robots and supportive cloud services will unlock the full potential of the smart home; one that seamlessly and autonomously responds to our daily reality.
5. How to Robot-Proof Your Career: In this solo presentation, LinkedIn’s Brendan Browne will explore what makes soft skills like interpersonal communication, teamwork or adaptability so important in the age of automation, which skills recruiters value most, and how to play up your softer side during your next interview.
6. How Can Robots Gain Our Trust?: Trust has always been the foundation of human cooperation, interaction, and organization. Soon robots will have a place beside us, enabling and enhancing our capabilities and productivity. But first, how will they achieve trust? Panelists include Manuela Veloso, who is Head of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon.
7. Making a Sci-Fi Robot Film: This panel will deal with the complete process of independent filmmaking of a low budget Sci-Fi film filmed in East Texas, “The Rise of the Robots.”
8. Outlook 2028: Working Alongside a Robot: This panel will discuss automation’s impact on the current and future state of the workforce, while examining the skills necessary to succeed while working alongside robots.
9. Rogue Robots and the Potential for Cyber Attack: Robots will soon become a ubiquitous feature of modern life. But is the current ecosystem of industrial robots secure enough to withstand a cyber attack? This session will examine the attack surface of today’s industrial robots and demonstrate whether it is possible to compromise them.
10. Trucking Tech: Regulations, Ridesharing and Robots: We’ve all heard about self-driving cars and ridesharing apps, but did you know the trucking industry undergoing the same kind of technological awakening. In this panel, you’ll hear how tech is affecting the way carriers find and dispatch loads, log their driver behavior, and yes, how to move it without a traditional human driver.

Vote for (and comment on) your favorite of these sessions today so that they can be part of SXSW 2018 in Austin. Or, browse the 4000+ other speaking proposals in this year’s PanelPicker. Finally, be sure to register for March Magic before badge prices increase on Saturday, September 9.

Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.