Coffee & Code Philly

A fun and light code session where tech friends get together in a large and relaxed café space, and code! It's a great opportunity to ask questions, share ongoing projects, help each other out, and meet other awesome coders. We're all about the code, and we hope to make a space for people who like to build.

Notes to keep in mind:

*Guest wireless internet access is good and free

Come out and work, help, or just hang out!

# 🦀 Rust Tuesdays: Agentic Robotics & Physical AI

📅 Tuesday, September 1, 2026
🕡 6:30–8:30 PM EDT
🤖 Rust × AI Agents × Robotics × Physical AI
For the first time, Rust Tuesdays is coming to Philadelphia.
We’re kicking things off with a hands-on evening focused on agentic robotics: what happens when AI agents stop operating purely in software and start interacting with real hardware, sensors, and physical environments.
Rust is increasingly showing up at the intersection of high-performance systems, robotics, AI infrastructure, and real-time software, making it a natural fit for this conversation.
We’ll explore topics including:

• 🦀 Rust for robotics and real-time systems
• 🤖 AI agents controlling physical systems
• 🚙 Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs)
• 🌎 NVIDIA Isaac Sim for robotics simulation and testing
• 🦮 LEASH and agent-native robotics
• 🧠 Agents interacting with cameras, sensors, actuators, and tools
• 🔧 Where Rust fits into the emerging Physical AI stack

## 🎤 Featured Speaker: Eric Manganaro / Superposition

We’ll be joined by Eric Manganaro of Superposition, who has built two UGVs — unmanned ground vehicles — with an agent harness directly in the loop.
Eric will walk through how he built the vehicles, how the agent harness works, and how modern robotics architectures are evolving as AI agents become part of the control stack.
We’ll look at questions like:

• How do you connect an AI agent to a physical robot?
• What does an agent harness for a UGV actually look like?
• How do agents interact with sensors, tools, and actuators?
• Where does Rust fit into the robotics stack?
• How do you move from browser and API agents to agents that can perceive and act in the real world?
• What changes when an AI system can actually make something move?

## 🛠 Get Hands-On With the UGVs

This is not just a presentation.
After the walkthrough, Eric will open things up for attendees who want to get their hands dirty with the actual systems.
You’ll be able to:

• Explore the robotics and agent stack
• Download and inspect the software
• Experiment with the tooling
• Learn how the vehicles are controlled
• Potentially shell directly into the UGVs and explore the systems from the inside

Bring your laptop if you want to participate in the hands-on portion.
You do not need to be an experienced Rust or robotics developer to attend. If you’re interested in systems programming, AI agents, robotics, embedded development, or Physical AI, come join us.

## Projects we'll explore