An estimated 5,000 people entered the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday to attend the inaugural Robotics Discovery Day, a free event put on by the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.
For Joel Reed, executive director of the nonprofit robotics advocacy organization, seeing the faces of the thousands of students who visited as they looked at and learned about all of the robotics-based innovations taking place right here in Pittsburgh brought him immense joy. And that feeling wasn't limited to only the younger attendees who came in from nearly 65 area schools, he said.
"We've seen people of all ages taking photos with the robots, sitting and engaging with all of the exhibiting companies that have been here," Reed said. "It's been really exciting."
Nearly 50 robotics and robotics-related companies occupied a booth in the Robozone during the event, representing about half of the more than 100 members that make up the PRN.
Most of the companies that exhibited call Pittsburgh home, like Aurora Innovation Inc., which showed off one of its self-driving trucks and allowed visitors to climb up into the cab and see the technology up-close. Digital Dream Labs Inc. demoed its popular Cozmo and Vector programable robotic toys, and Shift Robotics allowed willing participants to try out its Moonwalkers, which are robotics-powered shoes that tout the ability to let users walk at running speeds.
Outside-of-Pittsburgh robotics-based companies with a significant local presence also took up space at the event. Caterpillar displayed its autonomous multi-terrain loader, and Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corp., which acquired Lawrenceville-based RE2 Robotics Inc. earlier this year, showed off its robotic arms.
Reed said connecting and showcasing the work that these companies are doing played an important part in the event's purpose.
"We have this established community, but we have to create some connectedness across all of it and be purposeful in the pathways that we're developing for the new generation of workers that we're all going to need," Reed said. "I think today's result was it affirmed that [this ecosystem] is much larger than even we were thinking because if you think about a total ecosystem, it does take training partners, it takes retraining organizations, it takes manufacturing partners who are adopting that technology and using it."
At the Education Zone, local universities and trade schools pitched their programs to high school students who expressed an interest in pursuing robotics as a career. In the Community Zone, local organizations directly and indirectly tied to robotics explained career opportunities for those who hoped to enter the robotics industry, too.
"Being able to visit with students has been amazing, but also making connections with companies," Lindsey Gourash, outreach lead at the nonprofit Mars Robotics Association, said. "We keep our entrance barriers very low, so we rely on corporate funding and corporate partnerships to be able to continue to provide that. So this opportunity has been able to help with both aspects."
Over at the booth of Gather AI, a Pittsburgh-based startup that uses modified consumer-grade drones to track inventory in warehouses, demoing the tech offered visitors a glimpse into what work at such a company is like.
"It's really exciting to see all these young people who share my passion and to sort of share in their excitement and to hype them up on all the perks of a career in robotics," Charley Western, a field engineer at Gather AI, said before listing some of those perks. "You get to play with robots for one, which I love. [There's] competitive pay, you get to use math and science to solve problems every day, which is really rewarding. You get to build something that's never been built before, and you get to see how that drives value for your customers."
Funding for the event came from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development as well as other sponsors.
