Leadership sessions

Michael MacKenzie, GM of AWS Industrial IoT and KVS

Billions of IoT devices will connect with the cloud over the next five years. And with IoT continuing to converge with AI, robotics, and 5G, we’re seeing enterprises tackling big problems in infrastructure, production, and the environment using cloud technologies. But how do you get started and separate fantasy from reality? Through demos and customer stories, Michael MacKenzie, GM of AWS Industrial IoT and Edge, will introduce audiences to the new IoT and robotics technologies that are transforming building management, operations, and manufacturing, and how customers like Volkswagen, Carrier, and Yara are increasing plant efficiency, automating processes, and acting upon real-time insights at scale.

Allison Thackston, Technical Lead and Manager, Waymo

Robots are increasingly becoming a vital component in a number of industries. Robots are able to complete more complex tasks at an impressive rate. This talk will try to depict the future direction and the fields of application for robotics. You will learn how to identify if robotics is the right solution for you and learn about some upcoming opportunities and challenges in autonomous robotics.

Hunter Jay, Co-founder and CEO, Ripe Robotics
Leopold Lucas, Co-founder and CCO, Ripe Robotics

Agriculture is one of the least digitised industries in the world. Every year there are trillions of pieces of fruit picked by hand. Farmers continually struggle to find and manage people which results in huge levels of waste and lost profit. Ripe Robotics was founded with the goal of revolutionizing an industry that has been left behind by technological innovation. Fruit has been picked the same way for as long as we can remember. Learn how Ripe Robotics is using recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics to make automation possible in this field.

Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder & CEO, Slingshot Orbital

The space economy is booming, with 115,000 new satellites projected to enter space by 2030. As space becomes more congested, the risk of crashes increases between satellites that are critical to our daily routines, like GPS, television, internet, and more. In this session, leading female executive and founder in the space industry Melanie Stricklan discusses how Slingshot Aerospace is accelerating space sustainability to create a safer, more connected world. Explore how Slingshot’s next-generation technologies are improving transparency, safety, and sustainability in orbit to ensure space sustains our global economy for generations to come.