RoboBusiness 2026 to host panel on building reliable outdoor robots
Robots are moving from controlled indoor settings into outdoor environments such as farms, construction sites, mines, ports, and critical infrastructure. The harsher conditions—weather, dust, moisture, vibration, uneven terrain, limited connectivity, and service access—create failure modes that are rarely seen in lab testing.
Key points
- Panel at RoboBusiness 2026 focuses on outdoor robot reliability, scheduled for Oct. 21, 2:15‑3:00 p.m. PT
- Speakers include Ben Waters (WiBotic), Vibhor Sood (Burro), Derek Chase (Nextpower), and Mike Oitzman (The Robot Report)
- Discussion will address hardening, power, autonomy, charging, reliability, and fleet maintenance for field robots
At RoboBusiness 2026, a panel titled “Lessons Learned: Building Reliable Outdoor Robots” will run on Oct. 21 from 2:15 to 3:00 p.m. PT. The discussion will feature Ben Waters, co‑founder and CEO of WiBotic; Vibhor Sood, co‑founder and vice president of engineering at Burro; Derek Chase, vice president of robotics and AI at Nextpower; and senior editor Mike Oitzman of The Robot Report. They will cover environmental hardening, power architecture, autonomous operation, charging infrastructure, reliability engineering, and fleet maintenance, linking engineering choices to uptime, efficiency, service costs, and total cost of ownership.
Why outdoor robots fail (and how to build systems that survive)
The Robot Report · 22 September 2026
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