Oussama Khatib received his PhD from Sup’Aero, Toulouse, France, in 1980. He is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Robotics Laboratory at Stanford University. His research focuses on methodologies and technologies in human-centered robotics, haptic interactions, artificial intelligence, human motion synthesis and animation. He is President of the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR) and an IEEE Fellow.

He is Editor of the Springer STAR and SPAR series, and Springer Handbook of Robotics. He is recipient of the IEEE Robotics and Automation, Pioneering Award, the George Saridis Leadership Award, the Distinguished Service Award, the Japan Robot Association (JARA) Award, the Rudolf Kalman Award, and the IEEE Technical Field Award. Professor Khatib is Knight of the National Order of Merit and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Magnus Egerstedt is the Dean of Engineering in the Samueli School of Engineering and a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to joining UCI, Egerstedt was on the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology, serving as the Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director for Georgia Tech's Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines. He received the M.S. degree in Engineering Physics and the Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, the B.A. degree in Philosophy from Stockholm University, and was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Harvard University.

Dr. Egerstedt conducts research in the areas of control theory and robotics, with particular focus on control and coordination of multi-robot systems. Magnus Egerstedt is a Fellow of IEEE and IFAC, and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science. He has received a number of teaching and research awards, including the Ragazzini Award, the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award, and the Alumni of the Year Award from the Royal Institute of Technology.

Yoshihiko Nakamura is Professor and Chair of Robotics Department, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He is CEO of a startup company, Kinescopic, Inc. He received Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from Kyoto University. He held faculty positions at Kyoto University, University of California Santa Barbara and University of Tokyo before joining MBZUAI in 2024. He is Professor Emeritus of University of Tokyo. Prof. Nakamura's fields of research are humanoid robotics, biomechanics, human digital twin and their computational algorithms.

He received King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Transactions Paper Award, IEEE Transaction of Robotics and Automation in 2001 and 2002. He is also a recipient of JSME Medal for Distinguished Engineers in 2019, Pioneer Award of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in 2021 and Tateisi Prize Achievement Award in 2022. He is Foreign Member of Academy of Engineering Science of Serbia, TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professor of Technische Universität München, Life Fellow of IEEE and Fellow of Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Robotics Society of Japan and World Academy of Art and Science.

Dr. Najwa Aaraj is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), the overarching advanced technology body in Abu Dhabi responsible for driving research and development for transformative technology outcomes. Previously to her role as CEO, Dr. Aaraj was the Chief Researcher at the Cryptography Research Center (CRC) and the Autonomous Robotics Research Center (ARRC) TII.

Dr. Aaraj earned a PhD with Highest Distinction in Applied Cryptography and Embedded Systems Security from Princeton University (USA). She has extensive expertise in applied cryptography, trusted platforms, security architecture for embedded systems, software exploit detection and prevention systems, and biometrics. She also specializes in shaping the robotics and self-organized autonomous vehicles ecosystem in the UAE and beyond - exploring their application across air, land, on-sea and underwater. She has over 18 years of experience with global firms, working in multiple geographies from Australia to the United States.

Before joining TII, Dr. Aaraj was Senior Vice President of Products & Cryptography Development at DarkMatter, a cyber-security leader based in the UAE. She was formerly at Booz & Company, where she led consulting engagements in the communication and technology industry for clients globally. She also held a Research Fellow position with the Embedded Systems Security Group at IBM T.J. Watson Security Research in New York State, and with the Intel Security Research Group in Portland, Oregon, where she worked on Trusted Platform Modules and contributed to an early prototype of a TPM 2.0 based firmware. She also was a Research Staff Member at NEC Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey.

Dr. Aaraj has written multiple conference papers, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) journal papers and book chapters, and received patents on applied cryptography, embedded system security, and machine learning-based protection of Internet of Things (IoT) systems.

Dr. Aaraj is on the advisory board of New York-based Neutigers, a leading-edge startup revolutionising the next generation of energy/latency-efficient artificial intelligence (AI). She is also Adviser within the Strategic Advisory Group at Paladin Capital Group (Cyber Venture Capital) and Adjunct Professor at the Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning Research Group). In addition, she is an Adviser to multiple security and Machine Learning startups including Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. She is also a board member of Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB).

She received a Special Recognition award at the Arab Woman Awards 2021, held in partnership with the United Nations to recognise the notable achievements of the region’s women. Additionally, Dr. Aaraj received the Wu Prize of Research Excellence from Princeton University.