The development and deployment of physical AI and robotics are accelerating rapidly, as companies across a wide range of industries adopt intelligent and autonomous systems to drive greater efficiency, productivity, and precision. Policymakers and regulatory authorities are working to keep pace, and legal and corporate leaders are confronting risks and opportunities. This year’s Robotics Forum will provide practical and actionable guidance from Covington experts working on these issues as well as insights from an industry insider in the autonomous vehicle space.
The briefing is designed to inform legal and business leaders, including members of the legal team, corporate executives, and board members, of the key issues impacting companies developing or using physical AI technologies or operating in the robotics space. If you have any questions you would like our panelists to address, please submit them through the registration form.
- Novel Technologies: What Businesses Should Know When Deploying AI-Enabled Robots - Fredericka Argent, Sam Choi, and August Gweon will share a practical guide to deploying AI in robotic systems, focusing on the most challenging compliance questions raised by novel technologies. The session will explore how organizations can address issues such as human oversight, logging and accountability, risk management, AI incident response, and transparency. Presenters will examine how frameworks like the EU AI Act, GDPR, and emerging U.S. state AI laws apply in practice, highlighting where EU and U.S. requirements converge or diverge across each issue.
- Powering Robotics: Critical Minerals, Chips, and Trade - Gabe Neville will provide an overview of rare earth magnets’ critical role in robotics with a look at U.S. and OECD dependence on China for neodymium and other critical inputs. Kate McNulty will describe recent U.S. diplomatic and trade actions aimed at promoting supply chain diversification and resilience to address this dependency. Carole Maczkovics will briefly explore how the EU is pivoting toward strategic autonomy by building domestic semiconductor capacity and more resilient critical raw material supply chains, while using procurement and public funding as industrial levers, and will outline relevant export control updates.
- Protecting, Enforcing, and Commercializing Robotics IP in the Age of AI - As companies integrate AI into their manufacturing, R&D, or other operations, they face increasingly nuanced issues about how to preserve and protect their core IP and maintain competitive advantage. Nick Evoy and Josh Gray will explore emerging IP transactional, commercial, and enforcement considerations arising from the use of AI, with a particular focus on challenges faced by companies that develop or deploy robotic technologies. The discussion will also address how IP strategies for these companies—and patent and trade secret strategies in particular—can be impacted as AI becomes progressively more embedded in core innovation workflows.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
10 - 11:30 a.m. PDT
1 - 2:30 p.m. EDT
6 - 7:30 p.m. GMT
By Invitation Only.
Log-in details will be provided upon registration.
This event is closed to the press and to professionals from other law firms.
This program is pending accreditation for CLE credit in CA and NY (for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys).Credit will be applied as requested but cannot be guaranteed for VA or WA. The following jurisdictions may accept reciprocal credit: AZ, AR, CT, NJ, and HI. A general certificate of attendance and necessary materials will be provided for all other jurisdictions to support self-application.
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