Robotics: Creating Humanity's Mirror

Dr. David Hanson is the CEO, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Hanson Robotics. David develops robots that are widely regarded as the world’s most human-like in appearance, in a lifelong quest to create true living, caring machines. He worked as a Walt Disney Imagineer, both a sculptor and a technical consultant in robotics, and later founded Hanson Robotics. As a researcher, David published dozens of papers in materials science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and robotics journals, and wrote two books including “Humanizing Robots”. David has been featured in the New York Times, Popular Science, Scientific American, WIRED, BBC and CNN. He has received awards from NASA, Tech Titans’ Innovator of the Year, and the Rhode Island School of Design. David holds a Ph.D. in Interactive Arts and Technology from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a BFA in film Animation video from the Rhode Island School of Design. 

Drew Watson is the Software Lead and Deputy Project Manager for the Valkyrie humanoid at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Drew’s work history includes roles at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the U.S. Intelligence Community. Drew has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science and Autonomous Systems from the Naval Postgraduate School.