Recent advances in foundation models, vision-language-action systems, and edge AI are expanding what robots can sense, reason about, and do. The next challenge, according to Arm, is turning those capabilities into autonomous systems people can trust in the real world, whether restoring mobility through intelligent prosthetics, delivering critical medical supplies, or helping workers operate more safely and productively alongside intelligent machines.
Dermot O’Driscoll, VP of go-to-market for physical AI at Arm, is giving a talk at RoboBusiness called “Building Physical AI that Scales.” RoboBusiness takes place October 20-21 in Santa Clara, Calif. and is produced by The Robot Report. This year marks the 20th anniversary of RoboBusiness.
As robots become more capable, engineering priorities increasingly shift toward system-level design. Success will depend on how intelligence is distributed across the robot, how learned and deterministic behaviors interact and how compute platforms balance real-time responsiveness, efficiency, and safety. Drawing on lessons from across the robotics ecosystem, O’Driscoll will examine key compute principles behind trusted physical AI. This will include:
- How intelligence is distributed across cloud and edge compute
- The coordination of learned and deterministic behaviors
- How developers can design systems that remain adaptable, reliable, and safe as they scale to production
Attendees will leave with a practical framework for building trusted physical AI systems that extend human capability while meeting the real-world demands of safety, efficiency, and scale.
With more than 20 years at Arm, O’Driscoll has held a range of engineering and leadership roles spanning IT, EDA, CPU and SoC design. His deep technical background and commercial experience help bridge technology and ecosystem adoption across emerging physical AI markets. O’Driscoll received his bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering and a master’s degree in Microelectronics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
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RoboBusiness 2026 is the leading event for commercial robotics developers. Attendees will gain the latest insights from experts in robotics and AI on cutting-edge research; industry trends; and innovative applications in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, logistics, and more.
The show also features a number of networking opportunities to give attendees the chance to connect with other experts in the industry.
Buy your full conference pass and gain full access to all keynotes, technical sessions, networking receptions, and special events. Discounts are also available for academia, associations, and corporate groups. Please email events[at]arrowfly.com for more details about our discount programs.
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