The robotics and physical AI conferences worth planning for now are NVIDIA GTC Washington, D.C. (30 Nov–3 Dec 2026), AWS re:Invent (30 Nov–4 Dec 2026, Las Vegas), NVIDIA GTC (15–18 March 2027, San Jose) and Automate (10–13 May 2027, Las Vegas). Every date below was checked on the organiser's official website in October 2026.
Updated October 2026
Who this is for: robotics and automation leaders, plant and warehouse operations heads, CTOs and innovation teams in manufacturing, logistics, energy and healthcare deciding where to spend 2026–2027 event budgets.
Conference budgets are large and the payoff is often vague: a booth visit, a bag of brochures and no project. The teams that win treat an event as the start of a buying process, with a shortlist of problems, pre-booked meetings and a pilot decision within 30 days. This guide lists only events we could verify, and shows how to turn attendance into a working robot or vision pilot.
What changed in 2026
- Robotics events now centre on physical AI: simulation, world models and robot learning, not only arms and grippers. NVIDIA describes Omniverse as tools to train, test and validate physical AI before deployment.
- World foundation models such as NVIDIA's Cosmos are now pitched for robot policy learning and synthetic data, so expect them on many agendas.
- Automate 2027 will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, according to the official Automate site.
- NVIDIA runs a growing calendar of regional GTC events, listed on its GTC events page.
Verified robotics and physical AI conferences, late 2026 to 2027
| Event | Dates | Location | Why robotics teams go |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GTC Washington, D.C. | 30 Nov–3 Dec 2026 | Washington, D.C., USA | Public sector, defence and infrastructure AI, including autonomy |
| AWS re:Invent 2026 | 30 Nov–4 Dec 2026 | Las Vegas, NV, USA | Cloud, edge and AI services that sit behind robot fleets |
| NVIDIA GTC 2027 | 15–18 Mar 2027 | San Jose, CA, USA | Robotics simulation, world models, edge AI hardware |
| Automate 2027 | 10–13 May 2027 | Las Vegas Convention Center, USA | Industrial robots, cobots, machine vision, motion control |
NVIDIA's events page also lists GTC Berlin, 20–22 October 2026, if you can still make it this month.
How we verified: dates and venues were read from each organiser's official site on 9 October 2026. Academic conferences such as ICRA and IROS are run with the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society; confirm their dates on the official conference sites before booking. Events we could not verify are left out on purpose.
Which event fits your goal?
| Your goal | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Buy or integrate robot hardware and vision | Automate 2027 |
| Plan simulation, digital twins and robot learning | NVIDIA GTC 2027 |
| Design the cloud and edge back end for fleets | AWS re:Invent 2026 |
| Public sector autonomy and infrastructure | GTC Washington, D.C. |
Turn a conference into a pilot
e.g. picking, inspection
book meetings early
demos on your use case
scoped pilot on your data
Figure: A four-step flow that turns event attendance into a funded pilot: define the problem, pre-book vendors, test against your use case, then decide on a pilot within 30 days.
Going to GTC, re:Invent or Automate? Book a NexaStack physical AI briefing before you travel so you arrive with a scoped use case and the right questions.
Questions to ask robotics vendors
- Can the model run on our edge hardware, and what happens when the network drops?
- How do you simulate and test before a robot touches our line?
- How are models updated, monitored and rolled back across a fleet?
- What safety and audit records does the system keep?
Background reading: robotics and AI, robotics technology in 2026 and embodied AI agents.
Where it's heading: 2026 → 2030
| Period | What robotics events focus on |
|---|---|
| Around 2020 | Industrial arms, cobots, virtual events during the pandemic |
| 2026 | Physical AI, simulation, world models, humanoid demos |
| 2028 (expected) | Our view: fleet operations, safety certification and ROI case studies dominate |
| 2030 (expected) | Our view: robots bought as software-updated services, with agents coordinating fleets |
How NexaStack helps
NexaStack is an agentic operating platform for physical AI. Its building blocks include an edge intelligence factory, a composable agent framework, a unified inference engine and policy, safety and governance controls, with robot fleet coordinator and vision safety agents among its physical AI agents. Use it to run the perception and decision layer of the robots you see at these shows on your own infrastructure.
FAQ
What are the best robotics conferences to attend in 2027?
For industrial buyers, Automate 2027 in Las Vegas; for simulation and physical AI, NVIDIA GTC 2027 in San Jose. Add academic events such as ICRA if research is your focus.
What is the most prestigious robotics conference?
In research, ICRA and IROS are widely seen as the flagship IEEE robotics conferences. For buyers, large trade shows like Automate matter more.
What are the latest robotics conference trends in 2026?
Physical AI, simulation-first development, world foundation models, humanoids and edge AI for robot perception.
Is attending worth the cost for a mid-size manufacturer?
Yes, if you go with a defined problem and pre-booked meetings and commit to a pilot decision within 30 days. Otherwise, a vendor briefing may be cheaper.
Will a robot pilot disrupt production?
It should not. Simulate first, run the pilot on one cell or shift, and keep a manual fallback until results are proven.
Leave your next conference with a pilot, not a pile of brochures. Book a NexaStack demo and plan a 30-day robotics or vision pilot. Related lists: manufacturing AI conferences and computer vision conferences.
