Robotics Meets AI: What Robots Can Really Do Today—and What Comes Next

When
January 18, 2027
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
2100 E 71st Street Indianapolis, IN 46220
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Speaker: Nikolaus Correll

Professor Correll will examine the rapidly changing state of robotics and the growing convergence of robots with artificial intelligence. He will distinguish between what today’s robots can actually accomplish and what remains largely experimental or aspirational, and explain why recent advances in generative AI, foundation models, and Vision-Language-Action systems may represent an important turning point. He will discuss the particular difficulty of teaching machines to perceive, manipulate, and act reliably in the physical world; the surge of interest in humanoid and general-purpose robots; and the continuing importance of specialized industrial robots. The presentation will also consider human-robot cooperation, reliability and safety, and the technological and economic obstacles that must still be overcome before broadly capable robots become commonplace in workplaces and homes.

Nikolaus Correll, Ph.D., is the Viola D. Hank Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, where he is helping lead the university’s expanding work in physical artificial intelligence and robotics. Professor Correll earned his electrical engineering degree from ETH Zürich and his Ph.D. in computer science from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), followed by postdoctoral research at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. His honors include an NSF CAREER Award and a NASA Early Career Faculty Fellowship.

The Scientech Club provides a forum for weekly presentations and discussions in science, technology, and other topics. The Club meets most Mondays at the Northside Events Center and Social Club (2100 E. 71st Street, Indianapolis, IN 46220.