Speaker
If you are interested in requesting me as a speaker at your conference or event, please contact me directly at: speaker@andrakeay.com
Title: Managing Director, Silicon Valley Robotics
Short Bio:
I am the Director of Silicon Valley Robotics and the Robotics Fellow at Singularity University. I have delivered keynotes at major tech conferences around the world. I speak about robots and startups, the commercialization and promise of robotics, the potential impact of robotics on society, career journeys in the emerging deep tech sector, human-robot interaction and ethics, and on creating intentional innovation communities to maximize our potential.
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andra-keay
Substack: robotsandstartups@substack.com or
Current Talk Topics
Global Economic Trends in Robotics
Robotics 2.0 - how it differs from the past and what the future will bring
The Real Laws of Robotics
Creating Robot Startups
Good / Ethical Robot Design
AIpocalypse and Robotopias
1. Global Economic Trends in Robotics
Key Message: Robotics is no longer a niche — it's a transformative economic driver reshaping labor, logistics, manufacturing, and care industries worldwide.
Value Proposition: This talk equips investors, policymakers, and founders with a data-informed overview of how global capital, labor shortages, and supply chain pressures are accelerating the commercialization of robotics across geographies.
Audience Takeaways:
A clear map of emerging global robotics hubs
Where capital is flowing and why
Which sectors will experience the fastest disruption
2. Robotics 2.0 – How It Differs from the Past and What the Future Will Bring
Key Message: We're entering a second wave of robotics—one driven not by hardware alone, but by scalable intelligence, cloud integration, and real-world adaptability.
Value Proposition: This session reframes expectations about robotics by drawing distinctions between the overpromises of the past and today’s rapid convergence of AI, simulation, and real-world deployment.
Audience Takeaways:
The three defining features of Robotics 2.0
How LLMs and vision-language models change everything
Practical predictions for the next 5–10 years of real-world deployment
3. The Real Laws of Robotics
Key Message: Forget Asimov—real robots are governed by product liability, user expectations, venture capital timelines, and infrastructure constraints.
Value Proposition: This talk reveals the actual principles shaping robot deployment today, from ethical frameworks and legal constraints to market incentives and human-machine trust.
Audience Takeaways:
A modern update to Asimov's laws rooted in reality
How ethical and legal frameworks are evolving
What regulators, designers, and users really expect from robots
4. Creating Robot Startups
Key Message: Robotics startups are a different breed — and require a radically different approach to hardware, iteration, and capital than traditional tech companies.
Value Proposition: Learn the hard-won lessons from founding and advising robotics startups, including common pitfalls, what VCs get wrong, and how to survive the long road to product-market fit.
Audience Takeaways:
Proven paths to early traction in hardware-intensive markets
Why speed-to-pilot beats perfection
How to build fast, fail wisely, and raise smart capital
5. Good / Ethical Robot Design
Key Message: Robot design decisions are ethical decisions — and every UI, joint, and algorithm either builds or erodes trust with society.
Value Proposition: This talk offers frameworks for designing robots that not only function, but also support safety, dignity, and human agency.
Audience Takeaways:
Practical principles for responsible design
How to balance performance with safety and trust
Real-world examples of good (and bad) ethical design choices
6. AIpocalypse and Robotopias
Key Message: Fear and hype dominate the discourse on robotics and AI — but futures are made, not predicted.
Value Proposition: Through humor and provocation, this keynote challenges binary thinking and explores how we might intentionally build better futures through robotics.
Audience Takeaways:
How to cut through fear-based AI narratives
What futures are possible — and what they require of us
Tools to design, not just survive, the age of intelligent machines
Note:
I am continually updating the research behind these topics and customize impactful and thought provoking presentations to suit your audience.
Fees:
Please contact me for more information - speaker@andrakeay.com
Title: Managing Director, Silicon Valley Robotics
Short Bio:
I am the Director of Silicon Valley Robotics and the Robotics Fellow at Singularity University. I have delivered keynotes at major tech conferences around the world. I speak about robots and startups, the commercialization and promise of robotics, the potential impact of robotics on society, career journeys in the emerging deep tech sector, human-robot interaction and ethics, and on creating intentional innovation communities to maximize our potential.