From Curiosity to Creation: AI & Robotics for Real-World Interaction

Explore the exciting intersection of AI, robotics, and computer vision in this engaging and informative session. Inspired by Disney Research's groundbreaking Duckling Droid - a robotic character that seamlessly blends modular hardware, procedural animation, and reinforcement learning - this presentation will showcase how such technologies come together to create lifelike robots.

Azure

Cloud

Machine Learning

I will share the journey of building a personal version of the Duckling Droid, breaking down the core concepts and technical processes involved. Through a live demonstration of the robot’s unique behaviors, attendees will gain insight into how AI and robotics can work harmoniously to achieve advanced functionality and lifelike traits.

Through this session, you will:
- learn about Azure AI Studio & Azure Custom Vision
- learn how to easily prepare and tag images for model training,
- see how to train a model for object detection,
- analyse images from the camera of the robot,
- control motor and other IoT devices connected to the robot,
- and much more.

This session is designed to inspire and educate AI practitioners, robotics enthusiasts, and curious minds alike. Whether you're new to the field or looking to expand your knowledge, you'll leave with a deeper appreciation of the tools and techniques shaping the future of robotics.

Goran Vuksic

Goran is the CTO and Co-founder of syntheticAIdata, a startup company dedicated to democratising the vision AI market by providing affordable and accessible synthetic data.

With over 20 years of work experience in IT and a deep understanding of various technologies, Goran worked as an engineering and technical manager, among other roles, developing IT strategies and solutions for well-known clients.

Goran is a tech enthusiast, he writes technical blog posts and he likes to share his knowledge at conferences, workshops, and meetups. He is recognised as Microsoft AI Most Valuable Professional (AI MVP), and his projects have been highlighted on websites such as Forbes, The Next Web, NVIDIA Developer, TechCrunch, and others.