BOSTON, Mass. / Sept 26, 2024 – MassRobotics, a number one robotics innovation group, introduced its 2024 Robotics Medal and Rising Star recipients on the IEEE ICRA@40 convention in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Robotics Medal is the world’s first main prize to acknowledge the wide-ranging impression of feminine researchers specializing in the event of robotics across the globe. The Robotics Medal is awarded to a woman-identifying, researcher-nominated professor in robotics to acknowledge their impactful contributions to the sphere and features a $50K prize awarded to the person. The Rising Star Awards acknowledge up-and-coming woman-identifying individuals making strides and advancing the sphere of robotics and features a $5K award given to the people.
This 2nd Annual MassRobotics Robotics Medal award, sponsored by Amazon Robotics, might be introduced to Dr. Cynthia Breazeal on the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how for her important contributions to the sphere of robotics, notably for her work establishing the sphere of social robotics and human-robot interplay.
This 12 months two Rising Star awards have been introduced. Dr. Heather Culbertson on the College of Southern California might be awarded the MassRobotics Rising Star in Robotics Medal for her progressive contributions that leverage information of the human sense of contact to create digital haptic interactions which can be indistinguishable from actual life.
Dr. Josie Hughes, at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), will obtain a Rising Star Medal for her key contributions to gentle robotic design and fabrication, enabling robots with novel functionalities and proposing approaches that present distributed Intelligence.
To encourage range within the subject of robotics, Amazon established an endowment with MassRobotics in 2022 to assist these annual awards. The aim of The Robotics Medal isn’t solely to have a good time particular person achievements, but additionally to encourage and encourage girls and different underrepresented teams to take part in shaping the way forward for the world by robotics.
“By endowing the Robotics Medal, we aspire to showcase and have a good time girls robotics professors worldwide who’ve made a big impression to the development of the sphere of robotics,” mentioned Tye Brady, chief technologist at Amazon Robotics and chair of MassRobotics’ board. “It’s an honor to be the founding sponsor of the Robotics Medal and we’re grateful for the numerous contributions and teachings made by our rising stars and legendary pioneers within the subject of robotics and synthetic intelligence.”
Nominations for the awards got here from throughout the US together with Texas, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania, in addition to throughout the globe from nations together with Canada, Japan, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, and India. Submissions spanned a variety of robotic know-how fields and areas of analysis, from new supplies for gripping, exoskeletons and assistive applied sciences, human robotic interplay, and movement planning.
Since 2017, MassRobotics has grown from a Massachusetts-based incubator to a worldwide robotics hub, serving to assist the adoption of robotics worldwide and offering startups with the sources wanted to develop and scale. Of the present 85+ startups that MassRobotics homes at its facility in Boston, greater than 50% are from out of state and 25% are from outdoors the U.S.
MassRobotics hosts STEM and robotics initiatives particularly developed for highschool girls and continues to advertise girls in robotics by occasions and networking to make sure girls are acknowledged and heard.
“We have been thrilled by the overwhelming variety of certified nominations we acquired and impressed with the variety of robotic fields and analysis occurring throughout the globe,” mentioned Joyce Sidopoulos, cofounder at MassRobotics. “It displays the highly effective contributions girls have made, and can proceed to make, to this essential, vibrant, and rising subject supporting almost all industries.”
The Robotics Medal and Rising Star recipients have been chosen by a committee of robotics specialists, led by MassRobotics, which convened a number of instances and methodically evaluated the importance, depth, and originality of technical contributions every nominee has made within the general subject of robotics.
“The sphere of robotics urgently wants the insights, creativity, and management that extra feminine professionals can convey to drive innovation throughout the science, engineering, and real-world purposes of this pivotal self-discipline,” says Daniela Rus, Director of the Laptop Science and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT and member of the MassRobotics board. “The Robotics Medal represents way more than its financial worth; it stands as a logo of recognition and celebration of the extraordinary achievements of girls who’ve damaged new floor in robotics. These pioneers lead by instance, ignite curiosity and ambition within the subsequent era of roboticists, and encourage future innovators.”
A proper Gala awarding the medals and celebrating the recipients might be held in Boston on the MIT Samberg Convention Heart on October 26, 2024. Tickets and reserved tables for the occasion can be found right here.
MassRobotics has created an endowment and welcomes contributions to assist future money prizes for The Robotics Medal. Contact award@massrobotics.org to study changing into an underwriter of The Robotics Medal. Nominations for the 2025 Robotics Medal and Rising Star at the moment are open and have to be acquired by December twentieth, 2024. Extra data could be discovered right here.
About MassRobotics
MassRobotics is the biggest unbiased robotics hub devoted to accelerating robotics innovation, commercialization, and adoption. Our mission is to assist create and scale the subsequent era of profitable robotics and AI know-how firms by offering entrepreneurs and startups with the workspace, sources, programming, and connections they should develop, prototype, take a look at, and commercialize their merchandise and options. Whereas MassRobotics originated and is headquartered in Boston, we attain and assist robotics acceleration and adoption globally. We work with startups, academia, business, and governments each domestically and internationally. See massrobotics.org for particulars.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by 4 rules: buyer obsession relatively than competitor focus, ardour for invention, dedication to operational excellence, and long-term considering. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Buyer-Centric Firm, Earth’s Finest Employer, and Earth’s Most secure Place to Work. Buyer evaluations, 1-Click on purchasing, personalised suggestions, Prime, Achievement by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Profession Selection, Hearth tablets, Hearth TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Simply Stroll Out know-how, Amazon Studios, and The Local weather Pledge are a number of the issues pioneered by Amazon. For extra data, go to amazon.com/about and observe @AmazonNews.
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