Robot Interoperability Working Session at SICK
From shared vision to applied interoperability.
Join the Intelligent Machine Guild at the SICK facility in Minnesota for the third convening of IMG's Robot Interoperability initiative. Building on the Half Moon Bay vision session and the Uber working-group kickoff, this full-day event moves the community from framework formation toward applied use cases and concrete working-group outputs.
The program includes a coffee breakfast, SICK facility tours, a technology showcase, a panel discussion, lunch, and two facilitated working sessions advancing IMG's four working groups.
The four working groups
Human-Robot Interaction Models: intuitive, multimodal interfaces for non-expert users, and clearer human roles as supervisors and troubleshooters.
Robot Intent Sharing Mechanisms: technical protocols that let heterogeneous robots communicate goals and plans so they can collaborate.
Task & Environment Semantics: a common, machine-readable language for describing tasks and operational environments.
Shared World Model Architecture: centralized and decentralized approaches for fleets to maintain a common operational picture.
Schedule (all times ET)
8:00-8:30 AM — SICK Manufacturing Demonstration: SICK manufacturing tour guided by SICK subject matter experts (maximum 30).
8:30-9:00 AM — Arrival, coffee breakfast & showcase open: check-in, coffee, light breakfast, informal networking, and tabletop/demo showcase.
9:00-9:30 AM — Welcome from SICK + IMG opening: executive welcome from David Adams and Dave Gustafson of SICK along with Daniel Theobald of the Intelligent Machine Guild, on the importance of interoperability, safety, and human-robot interaction for broader adoption of mobile robotics.
9:30-10:30 AM — Context / Panel discussion: moderated by Michael Bearman, with Daniel Theobald (IMG), Michael Repplinger (SICK), Steve Dumont (GM), and Aaron Prather (A3).
10:30-10:45 AM — Networking / Break.
10:45-11:30 AM — Human-Robot Interaction: a person walking an aisle needs to know a robot is about to turn before it turns. This group is working out how robots communicate that information. It covers intended actions, current operating mode, and the status information anyone nearby has to be able to perceive without asking. It also covers the case where two people give the same robot conflicting instructions and something has to decide which one wins. The signals themselves have to mean the same thing across vendors, and they have to work for those with disabilities.
11:30 AM-12:15 PM — Task & Environment Semantics: dock, load, unload. Three words, and today they mean something slightly different to every vendor's software, which is why a task described by one system rarely survives the trip to another. This group is building the shared vocabulary that fixes it: a portable way to express what a task is, a way for robots to declare their capabilities in comparable terms, and enough environmental context to match one to the other.
12:15-1:00 PM — Lunch / Networking.
1:00-1:45 PM — Shared World Model Architecture: one robot observes a pallet blocking the aisle. If it is able to share that information, other robots don't have to encounter the same obstacle and can reroute. This group decides what data to share, how often, and when it shouldn't be trusted. Position, occupancy and obstacles are the starting list.
1:45-2:00 PM — Networking / Break.
2:00-2:45 PM — Robot Intent Sharing: when two robots want the same corridor, one of them yields. This group is defining the machine-readable schema that lets them settle it before either arrives, through stated priority rules and arbitration instead of improvised negotiation in the moment. Priority attaches to the importance of the task itself, so the same job carries the same weight whoever built the machine. The scope also covers how a robot announces that it cannot do what it said it would, and how robots talk to the doors, elevators, and conveyors they depend on to finish the job.
2:45-2:55 PM — Commitments and next steps: confirm owners, next meeting cadence, deliverables, and how remote or absent contributors can participate.
2:55-3:00 PM — Closing: closing remarks and a recap of the day, plus a final note on IMG's mission to make intelligent machines trusted and interoperable through shared standards, collective learning, and global collaboration. With thanks to SICK, our sponsors, organizers, and everyone who joined us.
3:00-3:30 PM — SICK Manufacturing Demonstration: SICK manufacturing tour guided by SICK subject matter experts (maximum 30).
3:30-4:00 PM (if needed) — SICK Manufacturing Demonstration: SICK manufacturing tour guided by SICK subject matter experts (maximum 30).
Hosted by SICK. Full details: intelligentmachineguild.org/interop