Curt Carlson, president and CEO of SRI International, welcomed attendees to the forum.

Rodney Brooks, chief technology officer at Boston-based Rethink Robotics, explained how human workers can train Rethink's flagship bot, Baxter, to execute pick-and-place operations simply by moving its limbs to the proper positions.

In an Oxford-style debate session, participants debated the motion "In the long run, robotics isn't taking jobs away---it's adding them." Left to right: Vivek Wadhwa of Singularity University, Aaron Edsinger of Redwood Robotics, Rich Mahoney of SRI International, and Wade Roush of Xconomy.

Aethon founder and CEO Aldo Zini explained how his company conceived and built a system of autonomous mobile robots that ferry medicines, food, waste, and other materials around hospitals.

In a panel on robotic telepresence devices, Marcus Rosenthal of Revolve Robotics (right) showed the company's Kubi robotic iPad stand. Left: David McCann of Double Robotics.

Romotive founder and CEO Keller Rinaudo, who participated in the telepresence panel, shows off Romotive's flagship bot Romo, a motorized iPhone platform.

Rod Brooks from Rethink Robotics (left) speaks with Robert Bolles of SRI (center) and Harlyn Baker of EPIImaging (right).

Rich Mahoney of SRI speaks with Aldo Zini of Aethon and Alice Resnick of SRI.

Peter Marcotullio of SRI (left) speaks with Anthony Jules, chief operating officer at Redwood Robotics.

Center: Sonal Chokshi, senior opinion editor at Wired.

An employee at Revolve Robotics watched the proceedings via telepresence.

Attendees mingle with the Double mobile telepresence bot from Double Robotics.

More fun with Double.

Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics and former editor of Wired, spoke about his company's drone-aircraft business and other innovations enabled by the mobile revolution and the resulting drastic drop in electronics prices.

A capacity crowd takes in Anderson's talk.

An expert panel talked about the emergence of robots in unusual workplaces such as hair restoration clinics, horticultural facilities, movie studios, and solar farms. Left to right: Jim McCollum of Restoration Robotics, John Kawola of Harvest Automation, Ian Sherman of Bot & Dolly, Wasiq Bokhari of Qbotix, and Wade Roush of Xconomy.

In his first-ever speech via telepresence, iRobot CEO Colin Angle talked about his company's collaboration with InTouch Health to build the RP-VITA robot, which lets physicians extend their physical presence to far-away clinics and hospitals. After Angle's remarks, Yulun Wang (far left), CEO and founder of InTouch Health, took over the presentation.