Amazon Robotics' Bhavana Chandrashekhar to Headline RoboBusiness 2026 Women's Event
The applied science leader will join a fireside chat and a keynote on production AI in Santa Clara this October.
Bhavana Chandrashekhar, a senior manager of applied science at Amazon Robotics, will feature in a fireside chat at the Women in Robotics Lunch during the RoboBusiness 2026 conference. The event, scheduled for October 20-21 in Santa Clara, California, focuses on fostering mentorship and professional connections for women within the robotics sector.
Chandrashekhar, who is based in Seattle, will share the stage at the lunch with Joyce Sidopoulos, the chief of operations at MassRobotics. Beyond the networking event, Chandrashekhar is slated for a high-profile role in the conference's main programming. She will participate in the Day 1 closing keynote, titled "Beyond the Demo: AI in Production Robotics," appearing alongside industry experts from Cobot and Teradyne Robotics.
Scaling Autonomous Manipulation
Chandrashekhar’s contributions to the field center on the deployment of autonomous manipulation robots at scale. Her portfolio includes the development of "Robin," a system that has successfully picked billions of packages, and "Vulcan Stow," which has stowed more than one million items. These projects represent the transition of robotics from controlled laboratory environments to the rigorous demands of global logistics infrastructure.
Addressing the Industry Gender Gap
The robotics and artificial intelligence industries continue to struggle with a significant gender imbalance. Women remain underrepresented across the broader STEM workforce and specifically within the AI domain. The Women in Robotics Lunch is part of a strategic effort to address these disparities by providing female engineers and executives with the visibility and networking opportunities necessary to move into senior leadership roles.
The Shift to Production AI
Chandrashekhar's dual participation in both the mentorship lunch and the production AI keynote underscores a broader industry trend. As companies move past the "demo" phase of robotics, the focus has shifted toward the reliability and scalability of AI in real-world production. The involvement of leadership from Amazon Robotics highlights the critical need for a diverse talent pipeline to solve the complex engineering challenges associated with deploying autonomous systems at a global scale.
Looking Ahead
Attendees at RoboBusiness 2026 will look to the discussions between Amazon, MassRobotics, and other partners to define the next phase of industrial automation. While the event emphasizes the social necessity of diversification, the technical focus remains on how AI can be moved out of the prototype stage and into sustainable, high-volume production environments.