Purdue University Colleges of Science, Engineering, and Agriculture together with the Purdue Office of Industry Partnerships and Purdue Polytechnic Institute proudly present Robotics Day, a campus-wide celebration of innovation, collaboration, and discovery in robotics. This event brings together industry leaders, faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and students to explore the rapidly evolving world of robotics and its impact on our future.
Coffee & Networking (8:30-9:00am)
Opening Remarks (9:00-9:20am)
President Mung ChiangKeynote (9:20–10:00am)
From Chips to Autonomy: Bridging the Hardware Gap to Physical AIABSTRACT:
Physical AI silicon in robotics isn’t “one size fits all”: AI training, perception, inference and motor control silicon requirements can differ by orders of magnitude depending on the task. This keynote connects the silicon foundations of autonomy - compute, memory, I/O and latency requirements to real-world robotics applications we are seeing today. But more importantly, the talk concludes with AMD Research directions to match robots that are coming – specifically how we need to bring new open-source software (and agents!) across a variety of silicon to enable tomorrow’s Physical AI.
BIO:
Graham Schelle is a fellow at AMD within the Research and Advanced Development Group (RAD) based in Colorado, USA. He leads a team within AMD Research looking at Physical AI strategies across cloud and edge full-stack deployments. Specifically, with the open-source Ryzers effort, the team has mapped a variety of Robotics frameworks onto AI PCs, reimagining client devices as embedded platforms for Physical AI workloads. He is also a lead maintainer
Lightning Talk Session 1: Robotics in Practice (10:00–10:30am)
Robotics Expo (10:30–12:30pm)
Step into robotics in motion. The Robotics Expo brings Purdue’s research to life with hands-on demonstrations, real-world testbeds, and cutting-edge systems that show how theory becomes impact across manufacturing, mobility, autonomy, healthcare, and beyond.
Lunch & Purdue Robotics Highlights (12:30–1:30pm)
Refuel, connect, and get inspired by Purdue’s academic leadership as they spotlight the university’s robotics strengths across colleges, institutes, and initiatives. This session highlights the depth, breadth, and interdisciplinary nature of Purdue’s robotics ecosystem and the talent powering it.
Poster Showcase (1:00–2:30pm)
Discover the next wave of robotics innovation through posters from students, postdocs, and researchers across Purdue. This session showcases emerging ideas, interdisciplinary collaborations, and rising talent, offering a window into what’s coming next.
Lightning Talk Session 2: Purdue Robotics – Where Ideas Take Motion (2:30–3:45pm)
Lightning Talk Session 3: From Lab to Launch – Robotics in the Real World (3:45–4:50pm)
Industry Panel: The Next Wave of Robotics Innovation (5:00-6:00pm)
This high-energy panel brings together leaders from industry to explore the next wave of robotics innovation and the real challenges slowing adoption today. Panelists will discuss where current solutions fall short, how cutting-edge academic research can help close those gaps, and what industry needs next from research to accelerate deployment and impact.
Moderator: Lucy Flesch, Frederick L. Hovde Dean of College of Science
Panelists:
Networking & Poster Award Presentation (6:00-7:00pm)
Close the day by celebrating standout contributions from the poster session and continuing conversations sparked throughout Robotics Day. This final session brings together researchers, students, and industry partners to connect, reflect, and look ahead.
Keynote:
External Speakers:
Purdue Speakers:
Industry Panel:
Purdue West Lafayette is very walkable, and the Union Club Hotel in the Purdue Memorial Union is a convenient on-campus location for overnight visitors.
There are a variety of other lodging options in the Greater Lafayette area — some within walking distance. Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette is a great resource to locate nearby hotels, campgrounds and vacation rentals to fit your needs.
|
Shaoshuai Mou |
Elmer Bruhn Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
|
Shreyas Sundaram |
Marie Gordon Professor, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor of Mechanical Engineering (Courtesy Appointment) Co-Director, Institute for Control, Optimization and Networks Purdue University |
|
Ziran Wang |
Assistant Professor, Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering & Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (by courtesy) Assistant Director, Institute for Control, Optimization and Networks (ICON) |
|
Yan Gu |
Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering Director of Terrain Robotics Advanced Control and Experimentation (TRACE) Lab |
|
Yu She |
Assistant Professor, Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering Director of the Purdue Mechanisms And Robotic Systems (MARS) Lab |
|
Aniket Bera |
Associate Professor in Computer Science Director, IDEAS Lab, Purdue University IEEE RA-L Senior Editor (Planning and Simulation) |
|
Dongming Gan |
Fellow of ASME, SM of IEEE Associate Professor Polytechnic Institute |
Learn more about the event. Contact us.
Purdue University College of Science
Purdue University College of Engineering
A huge thank you to our sponsors for making 2026 Robotics Day possible.
A robot “dog” may soon make its way from a Purdue entomology lab to fetch real-time data on tick populations in the wild.
It’s just one example of how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming medical entomology by offering innovative ways to track, analyze and control the insect populations that affect human, animal and environmental health.
