Celebrating 10 inspirational women in robotics for National RoboWeek

RoboWeek (8—16 April 2023) carries with it the message of inspiration. It’s objective: simple – to share the buzz and excitement of robotics with people of all ages.

According to a report by the all-party parliamentary group (appg), at the end of 2019 women represented less than a third (27%) of the UK STEM workforce, whilst those with disabilities accounted for just 11%. And it is likely that the ratio of men to women in UK robotics is similar to these figures.

But, there is evidence of growing support for women in tech, with the percentage of females in the industry steadily growing year-on-year.

Making major contributions to the development of robotics and AI, women are now starting to take the lead in shaping the way we interact with technology, and the future of the robotics industry. They are bringing new perspectives and ideas to the table – from playing key roles in shaping policy, and advocating for diversity and inclusivity, to building equality into AI.

By steadily overcoming barriers and stereotypes, women are beginning to shape the way we interact with technology.

Here, Electronic Specifier takes a look at the top 10 women in robotics.

1. Cynthia Breazeal

Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, Cynthia founded and directs the Personal Robotics Group at the Media Lab. She is also Co-Founder, Chief Scientist and Chief Experience Officer of the consumer robotics company, Jibo. She is also the creator of the world’s first social robot, Kismet.

2. Ayanna Howard

Ayanna has held various leadership positions in everything from government to startups and has been recognised as a powerful woman in tech. She is also the Chair of the Interactive Computing School at Georgia Tech, and Co-Founder and Board Member of Zyrobotics – an app to help children learn the basics of coding.

3. Sabine Hauert

Sabine is the Co-founder of Robohub, a hub for connecting the robotics community to the world. She is also the President of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, a global platform for robotics news and discussion.

4. Katherine Kuchenbecker

Katherine is the Director at the Max Plank Institute for Intelligent Systems, who leverages scientific knowledge about the sense of touch to create haptic interfaces that allow users to interact with virtual objects.

5. Kate Darling

Kate is a Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, and an expert on the legal and ethical implications of technology. She is passionate about investigating social robotics and exploring connections between people and lifelike machines.

6. Helen Hastie

Helen is a Professor of Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University and the Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the Edinburgh Centre of Robotics, and an Academic Lead for the National Robotarium. She specialises in multimodal and spoken dialogue systems, human-robot interaction, and trustworthy autonomous systems.

7. Maja Matarić

Chan Soon-Shiong Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics. Maja is passionate about creating human-centred, socially assistive robotic technologies.

8. Claire J. Tomlin

Claire is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley, where she holds the Charles A. Desoer Chair in Engineering. She is a British researcher in hybrid systems, distributed and decentralised optimisation, and control theory.

9. Hiroko Kamide

Psychologist and Professor at Osaka University, Hiroko is a pioneer in the development of robots for nursing care.

  10. Aude Billard

Aude is a Swiss physicist, an expert in robot learning and control, and works in the field of machine learning and human-robot interactions. She is a full professor at the School of Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.