The Robotics Summit & Expo 2025 featured new innovations in sensors and code architecture.
A big trend seen at The Robotics Summit & Expo 2025 was sensor innovations. From force and torque sensing to haptics, these innovations were on full display in Boston this year.
Sensor technologies were just one of the trends seen at The Robotics Summit & Expo 2025 from WTWH Media’s robotics team.
Gene Demaitre, the team’s editorial director, chatted with The Downtime podcast about the Super Bowl of robotics events.
“I’m tired, but I’m still on that adrenaline high,” Demaitre said. “For me, there’s nothing better than being surrounded by really smart people and robots, of course. For us, we’ve been preparing for this for quite a while, as you can imagine. To finally have that pay off, getting to the goalpost to continue the metaphor, it was really great.”
Summit is in its sixth year
The Robotics Summit & Expo is celebrating its sixth year. It was founded in 2019 by Steve Crowe, the editor of The Robot Report, and Dan Kara. Despite going virtual in 2020 due to the pandemic, the summit has been growing ever since.
The first Robotics Summit & Expo had 1,200 attendees. In 2024, there were 3,500 attendees, and this year’s summit saw more than 4,500 attendees.
“Despite all the economic troubles you might hear about, we were fortunate to have a fantastic turnout. There were a lot of activities on the floor, a lot of humanoid robots. A lot of business was done at the show, a lot of it in the hallways, a lot of conversations throughout the event,” Demaitre said.
New advances in sensors, coding architecture and gearing
Even though the robotics summit was filled with robots in action, from robotic pick-and-place arms to humanoids blowing bubbles, innovations in sensors were also on display.
Some trends were seen in force and torque sensing in which a robot can get a sense of an object’s mass or weight.
“Haptics is really promising, with the bionic hand in industrial applications,” said Demaitre, referencing a touch-sensing bionic hand with both human and robotic applications from PSYONIC.
Some of the robotic applications for the hand would include polishing or painting. Food-handling is another application.
“There’s a great demonstration on a tomato-handling robot. It has to see the color to see if something is ripe, but it also has to grasp it off the vine and twist it without damaging the vegetable. These are things robots haven’t been able to do,” Demaitre said.
Motion control moves forward
There are also innovations in code architecture with more processing seen at the edge. But it’s important not to ignore the unsung heroes of robotics –– gearing and component providers. Everything from pneumatic components to gears were displayed at the summit because robotic technology can’t do much without those essential components.
Motion control for humanoid robots was another trend seen at the summit.
“Motion control for humanoids continues to advance,” Demaitre said. “It becomes super important, balancing while carrying an object.”
AVA Robotics featured a humanoid robot with a tray.
“We weren’t sure it could handle a hot drink and hand it to an unsuspecting bystander by dynamically stabilizing. It wobbles, but it gets back on firm footing,” Demaitre said.
Opportunities for engineers
The summit also included a career fair that attracted more than 350 people.
“There are opportunities out there for people who are engineers, designing and developing these systems,” Demaitre said. “If you’re a young engineer, there’s so many opportunities in robotics. Meeting young people on the show floor, it gives me hope for the future.”
