On November 11, 2025, at the Forbes Tech Summit business festival held at ETELE Cinema, HUN-REN SZTAKI’s drawing robot and Spot robot dog were both available for visitors to try out, and Deputy Director for Organizational Development Bálint Vanek participated in the panel discussion titled “The Future of Aviation.”
At the all-day event, the portrait-drawing robot Piktor-o-bot, developed by the Research Laboratory on Engineering & Management Intelligence, was also in action: in the lobby, it created felt-tip pen portraits of visitors. Spot, the robot dog presented by researchers from the Machine Perception Research Laboratory, also strolled around in front of the cinema, performing various tricks while attendees learned interesting facts about the institute’s robotics and artificial intelligence research and developments.
Shortly after 10 a.m., the session titled “The Future of Aviation” began on the main stage, featuring Bálint Vanek, Deputy Director for Organizational Development at HUN-REN SZTAKI. He was joined in conversation by Gabriella Gombkötő, a captain at Wizz Air, with the discussion moderated by Iván Zomborácz, senior editor at Forbes. The panel addressed challenges related to the sustainability of aviation, the latest cutting-edge developments, and societal expectations surrounding air travel.
Bálint Vanek has previously appeared in the magazine: a portrait published in the June 2021 issue revealed how his career is connected to sports, how he ended up in the United States, what he thinks about the future of aviation, and how one of HUN-REN SZTAKI’s projects seeks to shape it.
Photos: Forbes