Panel Discussion: Path to General Embodied AI
This is a Fusion Fund Distinguished Scholar Network (DSN) Lunch Series, June 2026 Edition. This will be an intimate, closed-door session bringing together a select group of physical AI researchers, founders, and industry leaders from across the ecosystem, followed by a networking session. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. There are a few spots left, so we'd love for you to sign up early.
At this session, we will explore the competing model, data and hardware scaling paradigms for embodied AI, and what they mean for real-world deployment and industrial adoption.
We are honored to have the following panelists joining the discussion:
Hod Lipson
Professor of Engineering and Data Science, Columbia University
Hod Lipson is a Columbia University professor who works in the areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. He and his students love designing and building robots that do what you’d least expect robots to do: Self replicate, self-reflect, ask questions, and even be creative. Hod's research asks questions such as: Can robots ultimately design and make other robots? Can machines be curious and creative? Will robots ever be truly self-aware? Answers to these questions can help illuminate life’s big mysteries. Hod is a professor of Mechanical Engineering and Data Sciences at Columbia University, where he directs the “Creative Machines Lab”. He is an award-winning researcher, teacher, and communicator. He received both DARPA and NSF faculty awards, aw well as Esquire magazine’s “Best & Brightest”, Popular Science’s “25 most Awesome labs in the US” and Forbes “Top 7 Data scientists in the world”, to name a few. His TED talk is one of the most viewed on AI, and just recently he was centrally featured by the New York Times in their piece “What’s ahead for AI”. He will be telling us today about the future of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
Ding Zhao
Associate Professor of Carnegie Mellon University, leading the CMU Safe AI Lab
Ding Zhao is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he leads the Safe AI Lab. His research focuses on developing trustworthy physical AI systems for high-stakes applications at scale. He has authored foundational work on AI safety theories in over 150 papers and mentored 18 Ph.D. students and 7 postdocs. After the world's first fatal self-driving-car accident, he helped Uber improve fleet safety and serves as a committee member of ISO Standard 34505. He helped build Mcity, the world's first test ground for self-driving cars. He collaborates with industry partners including Google DeepMind, NVIDIA, Apple, Amazon, IBM, Ford, GM, Uber, Bosch, Toyota, and Rolls-Royce. Alumni from his lab are working on foundation models behind ChatGPT, Gemini, Llama, Waymo, and Tesla FSD. His awards include the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, IEEE George N. Saridis Best Transactions Paper Award, MIT Technology Review 35 Under 35 Award in China, and CMU Dean's Early Career Fellow Professorship.
Reed Kelso
Vice President of Platform Integration, Eikon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: EIKN)
Reed Kelso is a biotechnology executive, founder, inventor, and platform builder with deep experience at the intersection of biology, automation, robotics, software, and data systems. He is Vice President of Platform Integration at Eikon Therapeutics, where he leads the development and scaling of integrated discovery platforms that connect advanced microscopy, high-throughput biology, laboratory automation, and computational infrastructure. He has founded multiple life science technology companies, including BioNex Solutions, SummerBio, and Alaneo Genetics, and has held senior leadership roles at Freenome, Synthego, and Amazon Lab126. He is an inventor on numerous patents and an author on scientific publications spanning cell biology, laboratory automation, and life science technology. Reed holds a PhD in Cell Biology from Yale University and a BA from Northwestern University.
Weiyu Liu
Member of Technical Staff, Rhoda AI
Weiyu Liu is an incoming Presidential Young Professorship (PYP) Assistant Professor in the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is currently a Research Scientist at Rhoda AI, where he develops video models for decision making and control. His research spans robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, with the goal of building robots with commonsense knowledge that can autonomously operate in unstructured environments. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Stanford Vision and Learning Lab, working with Professor Jiajun Wu. He received his Ph.D. in Robotics from the Georgia Institute of Technology under the supervision of Professor Sonia Chernova. During his doctoral studies, he interned at the NVIDIA Seattle Robotics Lab and collaborated with Facebook AI Research. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech. He was selected as an RSS Pioneer in 2022 and contributed to the 2024 U.S. National Robotics Roadmap.
Moderated by:
Charlotte Xia
Charlotte is an investor at Fusion Fund with roots in deep tech. Before venture, she was a scientist at Formlabs, where she shipped products that reached millions of users and witnessed the company grow from startup to over $100M ARR. That experience gave her a firsthand view of what it takes to move from lab to market, and a deep appreciation for the founders doing it. Today, she focuses on bridging the gap between research and commercialization, helping scientists and engineers turn their innovations into scalable companies. Charlotte holds an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University. View the latest industry report on World Model for Embodied AI here.
Agenda
Noon — Guests arrive; lunch and beverages provided
12:30–1:10 PM — Panel on Path to General Embodied AI
1:10–1:30 PM — Q&A
1:30–2:30 PM — Networking