Jeff Bezos generates new rounds of buzz at Amazon’s mysterious MARS conference
Which is more viral, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos getting buzzed by a robotic dragonfly, or Bezos buzzing in Lift Aircraft’s Hexa passenger drone?
Those are just a couple of today’s highlights from Amazon’s annual invitation-only festival in Palm Springs, Calif., celebrating Machine learning, Automation, Robotics and Space. As usual, we’re on the outside looking in, based on tweets with the #MARS2019 hashtag and reports from those on the scene at The Parker Resort.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University, has emerged as the most reliable tweeter about the MARS goings-on. She’s the one who tweeted out a video clip of Bezos keeping watch amid a crowd of attendees as a robo-dragonfly flitted around the conference grounds. She also shared imagery showing Bezos in the driver’s seat of Lift’s ultralight aircraft at the Palm Springs Air Museum.
The moments echoed Bezos’ viral photo op with Boston Dynamics’ SpotMini robo-dog at last year’s MARS meeting, and his grand entrance in a giant robot to kick off 2017’s event.
It’s Hexa! At the Palm Springs sir museum! #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/eOT57KAI19
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 19, 2019
And here is @JeffBezos being mobbed by a robotic dragonfly. Forbidden Planet!! #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/QfnmQJZ9Dj
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
So far, flying contraptions have been dominating the MARS goings-on. But there’s lots more to keep watch for, including the occasion celebrity sighting.
We know that “Star Wars” star Mark Hamill is there because he shows up in the background of a selfie from gravitational-wave researcher Chiara Mingarelli:
When Luke Skywalker photobombs your selfie… you’re at #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/f7VTRGITcz
— Dr Chiara Mingarelli (@Dr_CMingarelli) March 18, 2019
We know that retired NASA astronaut Story Musgrave, one of the spacewalking saviors of the Hubble Space Telescope, is also in attendance — thanks to a couple of tweets from Wobbly Labs game developer Robin Baumgarten:
Wobbling with astronaut Story Musgrave, nbd 👨🚀🚀🕹️ pic.twitter.com/6BsXAY6hTA
— Robin Baumgarten 🛠️🕹️ (@Robin_B) March 18, 2019
Another former NASA astronaut, Mike Massimino, tweeted a selfie in a flight simulator for NASA’s Orion deep-space capsule. (He and others no doubt took advantage of MARS’ policy of not charging admission for astronauts.)
Checking out the @NASA #orion spacecraft simulator at #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/xnujSi67aR
— Mike Massimino (@Astro_Mike) March 18, 2019
Attendees are getting in on a wide assortment of demos and tech talks, with plenty of time for geeking out and partying down. As you can expect, there’s an emphasis on what Amazon is doing on the tech frontier, and what Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is doing on the final frontier.
“Our goals are simple and remain unchanged from the first event,” Bezos wrote in his welcome to this year’s fourth annual MARS conference. “We’ll consider this gathering a big success if you find something inspiring, make a new friend or two, and — most important — have some fun!”
After three years of MARS, Bezos and his Amazon teammates are planning an open-to-the-public version of the conference, called re:MARS, from June 4 to 7 in Las Vegas. But the fact that this week’s event is hush-hush and invitation-only adds a sense of mystery that re:MARS may find hard to match.
Check out the tweets below to get a taste of the MARS magic.
And we’re off! First morning of MARS! pic.twitter.com/pmQ01zNW5v
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
Going for 1,000 autonomous data-gathering sail drones worldwide. Tracking weather, climate, biomass…amazing. TODAY their app is available so we can all participate! @saildrone MARS pic.twitter.com/Q7oqnDlMmp
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
Making smaller and smaller autonomous flyers: DelFly Nimble. #MARS2019 fluid dynamicists zoom in — cool figure! pic.twitter.com/3iE6u8XGoM
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
And #Delfly flies! Beautiful. Can search for people after disasters, can pollinate crops. #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/jqgV3E1cEo
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
#MARS2019 – where dreams come true! Talking robot sidekicks with the Master. pic.twitter.com/xlvCbI64pD
— dor skuler (@dorskuler) March 19, 2019
Robots…#Centauro robot yoga…1/2 #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/h3z2CGhCSV
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
And Robots…#Centauro robot martial arts…2/2 #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/m3ip3JH1xC
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
We’re excited to be demoing the advantages of thermal for ADAS here at #MARS2019! Be sure to check out the demo. Learn more: https://t.co/y9fNt8t2pR pic.twitter.com/PxCRAF42Au
— FLIR (@flir) March 18, 2019
3D-printed super-safe quiet ultralight. Sign me up. #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/sGsqmMDDEk
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
Robotic friends roaming the grounds of #mars2019! Such an incredible first half of the day! #Robotics #MachineLearning #IoT #technology pic.twitter.com/W99PusEIfo
— Andrew Morawski (@amorawski) March 18, 2019
Deep space orbital hab model from @LockheedMartin. #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/We54SGds2R
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
Just touching a @blueorigin rocket that was launched and returned FIVE times #MARS2019 @amazon pic.twitter.com/X2XunYZeAV
— Natalya Bailey (@natalya926) March 18, 2019
two beautiful sights at #MARS2019: the view at lunch, and a @blueorigin engine! pic.twitter.com/NMSjGNjZsd
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 18, 2019
Turns out all these papers in AI I have been writing were maybe really just a way to get tennis lessons from @BrainGameTennis (also coaching @DjokerNole) and @AmerDelic at #MARS2019 :) Thanks, was a lot of fun, learned and sweated a lot! pic.twitter.com/SYmc77Mkhp
— Pieter Abbeel (@pabbeel) March 19, 2019
Hanging out with some robot people at #MARS2019. pic.twitter.com/TrCf28bWmf
— Siddhartha Srinivasa (@siddhss5) March 19, 2019
Enjoying #MARS2019! Psyched about the future of planetary exploration @ltelkins @EllenStofan @Astro_Mike @SolarGirl2018 #scottbolton #jeffbezos pic.twitter.com/xFkOYM7f3S
— Dava Newman (@DavaExplorer) March 19, 2019
This is how the amazing stretching effect of the Enterprise going to warp speed was made! #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/muoIPvNH1g
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 19, 2019
And…Star Wars too! Mark Hamill! #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/ycyFJKd3KX
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) March 19, 2019
“I loved the force because it was a way to address spirituality that didn’t make people uncomfortable” @MarkHamillMedia #mars2019 @amazon pic.twitter.com/p2JMDcWlfT
— Natalya Bailey (@natalya926) March 19, 2019
This is an updated version of a report first published at 9:20 p.m. PT March 17. I’ve corrected a version that listed Elkins-Tanton as a planetary scientist at “Amazon State University.” The Seattle-based retailer is known for moving aggressively into new markets, but not quite that aggressively. Thanks to Rami Grunbaum for pointing out the error.