Cisco Research
Embodied AI Virtual Summit
Join us virtually for Cisco Research's inaugural summit on Embodied AI. This summit will bring together leading researchers and industry leaders in the field of Embodied AI and related topics to discuss technological challenges, solutions, and use cases. It will feature both technical presentations as well as a panel discussion to stir meaningful engagement.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM
(UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
Attendees: Virtual
Schedule
Agenda
Time
Session Title
Speaker
8:00 AM
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ramana Kompella, Cisco Fellow & Head of Cisco Research
8.05 AM
Fireside Chat with Vijoy Pandey and DJ Sampath
Vijoy Pandey, SVP/GM, Outshift by Cisco
DJ Sampath, SVP/GM, AI Software and Platform
Session 1 | Chair: Gaowen Liu
Time
Session Title
Speaker
8:30 AM
Scaling Embodied AI for Urban Logistics
Bolei Zhou, Associate Professor, UCLA
8:50 AM
Beyond Chatbots with Arms: Rethinking the Development of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotics
Chris Xiaoxuan Lu, Associate Professor, University College London
9:10 AM
Do we need 3D for robotics?
Shubham Tulsiani, Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
9:30 AM
Physically-Grounded Perception, Prediction, and Manipulation
Jiajun Wu, Assistant Professor, Stanford University
9:50 AM
Break
Session 2 | Chair: Charles Fleming
Time
Session Title
Speaker
10:20 AM
Physically-Grounded Agentic Upskilling
Jason Corso, Professor, University of Michigan
10:40 AM
The Next Frontier of Embodied AI: Scaling Intelligence in Unstructured Environments
Lirong Xiang, Assistant Professor, Cornell University
11:00 AM
Where are World Models Heading?
Achuta Kadambi, Associate Professor, UCLA
Session 3 | Chair: Jayanth Srinivasa
Time
Session Title
Speaker
11:20 AM
Seeing The World: A Multimodal, Uncertainty-Aware Approach to Perception for Embodied AI
Upinder Kaur, Assistant Professor, Purdue University
11:40 AM
From Digital AI to Physical AI: The Next Computing Shift
Ashutosh Saxena, Founder & CEO, TorqueAGI
12:00 PM
Panel: Challenges in Embodied AI. Moderated by Ramana Kompella
- Bolei Zhou, UCLA
- Achuta Kadambi, UCLA
- Upinder Kaur, Purdue
- Ashutosh Saxena, TorqueAGI
Time
Session Title
Speakers
Agenda
8:00 AM
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ramana Kompella, Cisco Fellow & Head of Cisco Research
8.05 AM
Fireside Chat with Vijoy Pandey and DJ Sampath
Vijoy Pandey, SVP/GM, Outshift by Cisco
DJ Sampath, SVP/GM, AI Software and Platform
Session 1 | Chair: Gaowen Liu
8:30 AM
Scaling Embodied AI for Urban Logistics
Bolei Zhou, Associate Professor, UCLA
8:50 AM
Beyond Chatbots with Arms: Rethinking the Development of Vision-Language-Action Models for Robotics
Chris Xiaoxuan Lu, Associate Professor, University College London
9:10 AM
Do we need 3D for robotics?
Shubham Tulsiani, Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
9:30 AM
Physically-Grounded Perception, Prediction, and Manipulation
Jiajun Wu, Assistant Professor, Stanford University
9:50 AM
Break
Session 2 | Chair: Charles Fleming
10:20 AM
Physically-Grounded Agentic Upskilling
Jason Corso, Professor, University of Michigan
10:40 AM
The Next Frontier of Embodied AI: Scaling Intelligence in Unstructured Environments
Lirong Xiang, Assistant Professor, Cornell University
11:00 AM
Where are World Models Heading?
Achuta Kadambi, Associate Professor, UCLA
Session 3 | Chair: Jayanth Srinivasa
11:20 AM
Seeing The World: A Multimodal, Uncertainty-Aware Approach to Perception for Embodied AI
Upinder Kaur, Assistant Professor, Purdue University
11:40 AM
From Digital AI to Physical AI: The Next Computing Shift
Ashutosh Saxena, Founder & CEO, TorqueAGI
12:00 PM
Panel: Challenges in Embodied AI. Moderated by Ramana Kompella
- Bolei Zhou, UCLA
- Achuta Kadambi, UCLA
- Upinder Kaur, Purdue
- Ashutosh Saxena, TorqueAGI