Keynote Speakers
Keynote 1: Industry 4.0 and the data revolution
Francisco Almada Lobo
CEO and Founder of Critical Manufacturing, Porto, Portugal
Abstract:
TBA!
Speaker Bio:
TBA!
Keynote 2: Why can’t large data replace the time understanding of embedded products?
Liliana Cucu-Grosjean
Group leader at INRIA - Paris / Co-Founder of StatInf, Paris, France
Abstract:
While embedded industries collect an important amount of data from the functioning of their products, increasing the global added value is not obvious. Beyond the lack of an appropriate business model, embedded industry actors do face three vital challenges. The first challenge concerns the pressure from an accelerated use of such data in more general use products, without any requirements regarding their frugality, nor their justifiability. As a result, proposed R&D methodologies do not include these requirements among working hypotheses and become not applicable to the design of embedded products. The second challenge comes from associated programming languages easing the use of large data but moving away from the low-level understanding of hardware and software interactions. Last, but not least, the fact that the legal owner of that data is not well identified constitutes the third challenge in taking advantage of using data within embedded products. In this talk, we discuss how time constraints and the understanding they bring within the development cycle of embedded products may become a valuable ally in facing these three challenges.
Speaker Bio:
Liliana Cucu-Grosjean is a Research Director at the French National Institute in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) in Paris, France, where she leads the Kopernic research team. Her research interests include real-time, embedded and cyber-physical systems with a focus on the use of probabilistic and statistical methods for analyzing the schedulability of programs and estimating worst-case execution of those programs. Co-author of several seminal papers on probabilistic and statistical methods for real-time systems, Liliana has published more than 60 papers in top TCRTS conferences and journals. She has served the community by acting as (General, TPC/track/topic and local) chair for important venues of the TCRTS community (RTSS, RTCSA and RTNS) as well as strongly-related venues (DATE for architecture-oriented topics and MAPSP and ROADEF for scheduling-oriented events). Co-founder of workshops like WMC (RTSS joint workshop), JWRTC (RTNS joint workshop) and Dagstuhl series on mixed criticality, she has helped consolidating the diversity actions among under-represented categories of researchers.
Keynote 3: Industrial Heritage For Training Advanced Robotics Neural Networks
Giovanni Di Stefano
Head of Robotics Engineering at COMAU, Turin, Italy
Abstract:
In the rapidly evolving AI landscape, large-scale models like ChatGPT, Gemini, or SAM dominate consumer applications. However, for industrial companies, the real opportunity lies not in developing their own general-purpose AI but in specializing existing models to fit their highly technical and niche-specific needs.
Many industrial enterprises possess vast amounts of domain-specific, high-quality data ranging from mechanical component design to system identification and technical drawing definitions. These datasets hold the key to unlocking AI-driven automation in complex engineering tasks that general-purpose AI cannot handle.
By embracing AI specialization, automation companies can gain a competitive edge, improving productivity and decision-making without the prohibitive costs of developing foundational AI models. The future of AI in robotics is not about competing with large-scale AI. It’s about adapting and refining it for precision, reliability, and real-world impact.
Speaker Bio:
Giovanni Di Stefano leads technology activities to support the expansion of Comau’s portfolio in both traditional and emerging industrial sectors as the head of Advanced Robotics. He holds a degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Rome and further specialized through a Master in Industrial Automation at Comau in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino, followed by an Executive MBA from ESCP in Paris.
In the early years of his career, he combined field operations with R&D in the automotive industry, later becoming Head of the Process Technologies Department, where he led an international team focused on developing new industrial processes. As the leader of the Innovation and Advanced Robotics team, he has been instrumental in advancing industrial technologies such as mobile robotics for indoor and outdoor applications, vision systems for quality inspection and robot guidance, IoT digital solutions, and complex vision systems.
Throughout his tenure at Comau, Giovanni has significantly contributed to robotics development, securing patents, managing National Operational Plan funds, establishing a Software House, and creating a Public-Private Laboratory with Politecnico di Bari dedicated to digital technologies, vision systems, and artificial intelligence. His expertise extends to managing Intellectual Property and European projects, with a strong emphasis on sustainable technologies, including humanoids, cognitive robotics, and reconfigurable manufacturing systems. Notably, his patented mobile robotics solution for photovoltaic plant installation earned the Innovation Award at the WCPEC.
Recognized for his impact in the field, Giovanni has been selected as one of Fortune’s Forty under Forty.
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