Celebrating Innovation, Management, and Neighborhood: Highlights from the third Annual Ladies in Robotics Medal Gala

MassRobotics welcomed our group to the third Annual Ladies in Robotics Medal Gala, an evening devoted to celebrating two exceptional girls who’re main the best way in robotics innovation and influence.

The gala is greater than an awards ceremony, it’s a celebration of progress, mentorship, and the collective energy of our robotics ecosystem. This yr’s occasion introduced collectively trade leaders, lecturers, startup founders, and college students, all united by a shared purpose: to honor the achievements of ladies who’re shaping the way forward for robotics and to encourage the following era to observe of their footsteps.

A Evening of Recognition and Gratitude

Thanks to Amazon Robotics for establishing an endowment with MassRobotics to make sure that our medal recipients not solely obtain recognition but additionally a significant money award.

We need to lengthen heartfelt due to our sponsors and companions who make this night attainable:

• Amazon Robotics – Our platinum sponsor, founding associate, and supporter of packages just like the annual Drone Academy (now in its eighth yr) in addition to our annual Gala.
• Massachusetts Expertise Collaborative – Our gold sponsor and longtime supporter, together with sponsoring the videographer for the night.
• Harmonic Drive – A founding and annual sponsor in addition to sponsor of the evenings desk centerpieces.
• Orrick – Sponsor of our Ladies Founders Desk.
• And our further desk sponsors: Analog Units, Boston College, Brown College, Locus Robotics, MIT CSAIL, MIT Media Lab’s Private Robotics Group, UMass Amherst, and UMass Lowell.
  

We had been additionally honored to have members of the MassRobotics Board in attendance, together with Government Director Tom Ryden, Tom Hopcroft, and Professors Daniela Rus and Tye Brady, in addition to previous rising star recipient Dr. Alyssa Pierson from Boston College and 2024 medal recipient Professor Cynthia Breazeal from MIT’s Media Lab.

Empowering the Subsequent Technology: The Jumpstart Fellowship

At MassRobotics, we’re equally obsessed with cultivating the following era of various expertise in robotics. We host the annual Ladies Jumpstart Fellowship Program, a five-month Saturday program that gives highschool women with technical expertise in CAD, programming, electronics, and fabrication, in addition to mentorship from trade leaders.

The fellowship, supported by La Fondation Dassault Systèmes, MassTech Collaborative, and UMass Lowell, has now graduated over 98 younger girls, most of whom have gone on to pursue STEM fields.

This yr, we had been delighted to listen to from Mirudulaa Suginathan, a Jumpstart alumna from Cohort 4 and present UMass Amherst engineering pupil, who shared her journey and reflections on how this system formed her path.

We’re grateful to the various mentors who dedicate their Saturdays to instructing, inspiring, and guiding these college students. Two mentors particularly, Betsy Jasper and Rachel Naoum, had been honored with our inaugural Unsung Hero – Ironheart Medal Award for his or her distinctive dedication and lasting influence on this system.

Celebrating Ladies Main Robotics

Our Board Chair and Chief Technologist of Robotics at Amazon, Tye Brady, reminded us that whereas girls make up solely about 19% of the robotics engineering workforce, the tide is shifting — and with it, the way forward for robotics.

Tye’s inspiring phrases highlighted that the progress we’re making at present stems from pioneers like Ada Lovelace, Daniela Rus, and Cynthia Breazeal, and continues by means of each girl within the discipline at present. “We’re not simply constructing robots,” he mentioned, “we’re constructing a future the place innovation is aware of no bounds and alternative is aware of no gender.”

Honoring the 2025 Medal Recipients

Daniela Rus, Director of MIT Laptop and Synthetic Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) and extremely embellished roboticsist launched this years medal recipients.

Rising Star Medal: Professor Tania Morimoto, UC San Diego

Professor Morimoto was acknowledged for her groundbreaking work in mushy and versatile medical robots and human–machine interfaces that enhance entry to high-quality healthcare. Her improvements deliver us nearer to a world the place robotics enhances affected person care, enabling safer, extra exact, and extra accessible medical procedures.

Robotics Medal: Professor Maja Matarić, College of Southern California

The Robotics Medal, accompanied by a $50,000 prize, was awarded to Professor Matarić for her pioneering contributions to socially assistive robotics — a discipline she helped outline. Her work explores how robots can join, inspire, and look after individuals, with profound purposes in rehabilitation, training, and elder care.

In her heartfelt acceptance speech, Maja mirrored on her journey from Yugoslavia to MIT to USC, crediting her household, mentors, and college students for shaping her path. “I needed to have the ability to say to my kids, ‘Mama makes robots to assist individuals’ — so I needed to make that come true,” she shared. Her story embodied the spirit of the night — mind with empathy, and innovation with humanity.

Wanting Forward

Nominations at the moment are open for the 4th Annual Ladies in Robotics Awards, together with the 2026 Robotics Medal and Rising Star Award. Submissions are accepted by means of December 20, 2025, at TheRoboticsMedal.org, with recipients to be introduced at ICRA in Might 2026.

A Toast to the Future

Because the evening closed and visitors gathered for desserts and cocktails, one message resonated all through the room: once we assist girls in robotics, we don’t simply advance expertise, we advance humanity.