Congress Meets Robots: CRA Co-hosts Senate Robotics Showcase and Demo Day

By Matt Hazenbush, Director of Communications, and Brian Mosley, Associate Director of Government Affairs 

The Computing Research Association (CRA), in collaboration with IEEE-USA and Carnegie Mellon University, was pleased to host Members of Congress, the media, and the public at the Robotics Showcase and Demo Day in the Hart Senate Office Building on April 30. 

Honorarily co-hosted by the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus and supported by the Task Force on American Innovation, the interactive event showcased 35 exhibitors – representing 17 states – from across industry, academia, and government. Among them were long-time Computing Community Consortium (CCC) contributors Chad Jenkins (Professor, Robotics, University of Michigan), Melanie Moses (Professor, University of New Mexico), and Holly Yanco (Chair, Distinguished University Professor, NERVE Center Director, UMass Lowell). 

Through interactive exhibits and informal discussions, attendees gained insight into the current state of US robotics innovation – particularly its integration with AI – as well as the transformative impact of these technologies on US competitiveness, regional economic growth, and workforce dynamics.

 

Speakers at the event included Jeff Burnstein (President, A3 – Association for Advancing Automation), Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan (Director, US National Science Foundation), Congressman Bill Foster (11th District of Illinois), Dr. Henrik Christensen (Qualcomm Chancellor’s Chair in Robot Systems, UC San Diego), Stephen Ezell (VP, Global Innovation, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation), and Dr. Matthew Johnson-Roberson (Director of the Robotics Institute and Professor, Carnegie Mellon University). 

Join in on the discussion! Like, reshare, and comment on our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram posts from the event.