Robot will deliver keynote speech at eMerge Americas

‘Sophia,’ made by Hanson Robotics of Hong Kong, also will take questions at April tech conference

South Florida’s annual technology event, eMerge Americas, is set to return in April with a keynote speaker that embodies its theme of digital transformation.

The speaker is Sophia, a robot developed by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics that employs advanced technology to make facial expressions, track and recognize faces, and even hold natural conversations. Sophia is scheduled to appear on the second day of the conference, which will run from April 23-24 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, 1900 Washington Ave.

The robot is meant to illustrate “what is possible and attainable,” said eMerge CEO Xavier Gonzalez. “You can see and touch her … We were looking for something that’s a little outside the box.”

The two-day conference will look at how industries and consumers are responding to digitalization, including cybersecurity, machine learning and the digital economy, which includes mobile banking and cryptocurrencies. It

had 14,000 attendees last year and is expected to attract 15,000 people, organizers say.

“You don’t have to look much further than Alexa in somebody’s house for how this digital transformation is impacting people’s lives,” Gonzalez said, referring to the Amazon Echo smarthome device known as “Alexa.”

Sophia will be answering questions and interacting with the audience — and there will be no “planted” questions, according to Gonzalez. The robot’s keynote address is scheduled for 9:10 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. April 24.

Hanson Robotics, founded by former Walt Disney Imagineering senior designer David Hanson, employs robotics, skin technology, animation and artificial intelligence to create its robots. Proprietary motor control systems enable the robots to convey human emotions, including smiling and laughing.

Hanson, who is not scheduled to be at the conference, says on his website that his company’s mission is to develop empathetic, smart living machines that will learn from human interaction and establish trusted relationships with people. The robots could teach, serve, provide comforting companions to people, he says.

Sophia made its conference debut at South by Southwest in 2016, and has since appeared on “60 Minutes” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and addressed members of a United Nations General Assembly committee.

The eMerge Americas conference was begun in 2014 by tech pioneer Manuel Medina as a way to connect entrepreneurs and other tech industry professionals in the United States, Latin America and Europe. Medina, who is founder and CEO of cyber-security company Cyxtera Technologies, will be one of this year’s speakers.

Gonzalez said South Florida’s tech sector has grown along with the conference, with more entrepreneurs, venture capital and angel investors and companies moving to the region. “We have a lot more to offer than just five years ago,” he said.

He said South Florida being a finalist for Amazon’s second headquarters is just one indication of that growth: “It’s a barometer of how far our ecosystem has come — that we’re very viably in that conversation.”

On the first day of the conference, the morning keynote speaker is former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who will talk about “leveraging technology to provide innovative solutions,” according to Gonzalez. There also will be top executives from the Latin American operations of Facebook and Microsoft.

On the second day, speakers will include Alberto Perlman, co-founder of Zumba Fitness; Sandra Lopez, vice president of Intel Sports Group; and Marcos Galperin, CEO and co-founder of MercadoLibre, an e-commerce company founded in Argentina.

South Florida entrepreneurs scheduled to speak at the conference include: Scott Adams, co-founder of public safety company EagleEye Intelligence; Susan Amat, CEO of startup accelerator Venture Hive; Albert Santalo, founder of health care software company CareCloud and new software company 8Base; Antonio Mugica, CEO and founder of electronic voting system company Smartmatic; and Johanna Mikkola, co-founder and CEO of coding school Wyncode Academy.

While the latest technologies may be the discussion at eMerge, the South Florida company touted for a new technology, Magic Leap, is so far missing from the 2018 agenda. The secretive Plantation-based company is developing products based on “digital light” technology and recently announced plans to release its first product, Magic Leap One, this year.

Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz participated in an eMerge question-andanswer session in 2017. Gonzalez said he couldn’t comment on whether Magic Leap may participate in the 2018 event.

To get more information or register, go to emergeamericas.com. Tickets are $225 and up, depending on networking and other special events access.