ISUW 2023 Speaker

Dr. Amit Kumar Pandey (PhD, Robotics and AI) is robotics and AI scientist. He is serving as the Chief Robotics and AI Officer of Rovial Space, France, an innovative company dedicated to build a Sustainable Space for Humanity through AI enabled Robots in the Space. He was the Co-founder, CTO and Chief Science Officer of beingAI, the world's first transmedia AI company. He has also served as the President, Chief Science Officer (CSO) and CTO of Hanson Robotics, the company created one of among the most expressive humanoid robots: Sophia. Earlier he has served as the Head Principal Scientist (Chief Scientist) at SoftBank Robotics Europe (formerly Aldebaran Robotics), Paris, France, the creator of among the world's first mass produced sociable humanoid robot Pepper and Nao, also serving as the scientific coordinator (R&D) of the collaborative projects of the company. In the past for 6 years, he also worked as researcher in Robotics and AI at LAAS-CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research), Toulouse, France. He has served as the President Collaboration for AI and Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK), Bengaluru, India. He is also founder of other initiatives in this sector including Socients AI and Robotics, Global Institute for Robotics and AI. At LAAS-CNRS, he obtained his Ph.D. degree in Robotics (title: Towards Socially Intelligent Robots in Human Centered Environment), delivered by INSA (National Institutes of Applied Sciences), University of Toulouse. His PhD thesis is among the best three theses and the second prize winner (tie) of the prestigious GeorgesGiralt Award for the best Ph.D. Theses in Robotics in Europe, awarded by European Union Robotics (euRobotics). With full fellowship, he obtained his MS by Research degree in Computer Science and Engineering with specialization in Robotics, from IIIT-Hyderabad, India. He obtained his B.Tech. from JIIT, Noida, India. His research interest includes Socially Intelligent and Socially Interactive Robots & AI agents, and the Society. He aims to address societal needs to achieve innovation through scientific advancements, new technologies and ecosystem creation. On these aspects, he has been actively contributing as principal investigator, researcher, and industrial scientific coordinator in more than 13+ large scale national, international and European Union (EU) projects on along various themes including healthcare, education, and services, has published 60+ research papers, and delivered 100+ invited talks/keynotes/lecture in international venues. He was appointed as the General Chair of IEEE/RSJ/KROS Ro-Man 2019 conference, one of the oldest international conferences in the domain, which has been organized in India for the first time, with the theme: Responsible Robotics and AI for the Real World. Among other responsibilities, he is the founding coordinator of euRobotics (the European Union Robotics Community) Topic Group (TG): Socially Intelligent Robots and Societal Applications (SIRo-SA), and active contributor in the Multi-Annual Roadmap (MAR) and Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) of euRobotics, which aim to shape the future of robotics in Europe in collaboration with European Commission (EC) through PPP SPARC (one of the largest civilian-funded robotics innovation programme in the world). He is also serving as Robot Design Competition Chair of International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR), as well as the President Collaboration for ARTPark (AI & Robotics Technology Park), India. Among other recognitions, he is also the recipient of Innovation Leadership Award; Global Excellence Award for Contribution in Robotics and AI; Achievers Award for Science & Technology, AI, Robotics and Education; and Pravasi Bihari Samman Puraskar 2014 (Non-Residential Bihari Honour Award), for Science, Technology and Education, awarded by the state of Bihar, India.