Austin Robotics & AI

Talk 1: Ivelin Ivanov: Decentralized Robotics AI - Building Helpful Robots with zk0 and Federated Learning

Talk 2: Lax Mandal: Operating Framework for a Collaborative Robotics Future

This month's event will be back at HICAM from 6:PM to 8PM. Please don't arrive earlier than 6PM. After 8PM let's continue the conversations at the local Sign Bar close by.

Sponsors:
HICAM - Accelerating Advanced Manufacturing in Texas.
Contoro Robotics - Autonomous Trailer & Container Unloading Through AI-Powered Robots

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Talks details:

Talk1: Decentralized Robotics AI: Building Helpful Robots with zk0 and Federated Learning

Description: Imagine teaching robots to help around the house—like picking up toys or sorting laundry—without ever sharing your private home videos with a central server. This is the promise of zk0, a new open-source platform that enables robots to learn skills together safely and privately using federated learning.

In this talk, Ivelin will introduce us to zk0, a framework designed to train advanced Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models on real-world robotics datasets. We will explore how zk0 leverages Flower for privacy-preserving federated learning and SmolVLA to run efficient 450M parameter models optimized for consumer GPUs. Ivelin will discuss the architecture behind decentralized robotics, how it handles SO-100 manipulation tasks, and the future of community-driven robot learning powered by ZK proofs and blockchain incentives.

About the Speaker: Ivelin Ivanov is an open-source contributor and technology entrepreneur with previous startup exits to Red Hat and IBM. He is currently helping startups in the Founder Institute program and building the next generation of decentralized AI for robotics.

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Talk 2: Operating Framework for a Collaborative Robotics Future

Description: The physical AI era is upon us. The core catalyst for growth in this market is seamless, effective human-robot interaction that enables engagement and productivity.
CogniEdge.AI has built a framework to overcome obstacles to seamless human-robot interaction and enable interoperability among diverse robots in the manufacturing industry.
We invite you to join in shaping this reality.

Speaker Bio: Lax Mandal is a passionate Business Development Partner at CogniEdge.AI, bringing a wealth of experience from renowned companies like Dell, Intel, and Cypress Semiconductor. His background includes exciting roles such as Edge Product Strategist, Product Line Manager, and Technical Marketing Engineer, making him a valuable and experienced leader in the field.