Jeff Bezos is about to host his annual invite-only robot conference. Here's the first picture from the show
- Jeff Bezos annual robotic and space conference is about to take place.
- Trucks are rolling in now to the Palm Springs resort where it is held every March.
- Business Insider has obtained a picture of at least one cool drone that will be on display for attendees.
Even though Amazon is launching a new re:MARS conference in June that will be open to the public, CEO Jeff Bezos is still gearing up for his invite-only soiree called MARS next week.
The MARS conference typically takes place around the third week in March at The Parker Resort in Palm Springs. Things are getting set up at the Parker right now, reports photographer Ric Miller, who lives next to the hotel where the event takes place. Miller sent us some photos.
Amazon has also confirmed to Business Insider that the annual invite-only MARS event will still be called MARS and will be a similar experience as in years past.
MARS stands for Machine learning, home Automation, Robotics, and Space exploration and it is always quite the shindig.
So far this year, Miller has seen Blue Origin logos all around. That's Bezos' rocket company.
And he's also seen a solar-powered sailing drone, known as the Saildrone, trucked in on a trailer parked on the street. Here is the first photo of the show, a picture of that drone from Miller as it is wheeled down the street.
All set up, the Saildrone looks like this:
Last year, Bezos, showed up to the MARS conference with a Boston Dynamics robot dog - reportedly the SpotMini robot seen in a video opening doors. "Taking my new dog for a walk," he said in a tweet.
There were also many tweets of Bezos playing beer pong with a robot.
All sorts of robotics peeps were there in 2018, as well as former astronauts like "Astro Mike" Mike Massimino. Celebrities in attendance included the likes of Mythbusters' Adam Savage, and Michael J. Fox, who talked on stage about his fight with Parkinson's disease.
There was also the iconic photo at the 2017 event where Bezos dressed up in a giant robot suit.
Outsiders can get a glimpse of the conference from the many tweets that stream from it. This year's hashtag will probably be #MARS2019.