Women in Robotics you need to know about 2024

This year, as we Shine a Light on women in robotics, we pause to honor the pioneers who cleared the path we walk today. Decades before robotics programs were widespread and conference halls were diverse, a small cohort of women were already publishing, presenting, and laying the foundations of a field that would reshape industry, medicine, and daily life.

The first International Conference on Robotics and Automation took place in Atlanta Georgia, on March 13-15, 1984, and its proceedings are available online. Many of the 1984 authors are now fixtures in the field; Joseph Engelberger, Marc Raibert, Ron Fearing, and Ruzena Bajscy among them. Perhaps less well appreciated is the fact that of the 75 papers, at least 7 authors were women:

Alicia Casals
Carol Crawford
Dianne E. Britton
Eleanor G. Wells
Linda Shapiro
Susan Hackwood
Ruzena Bajscy

Read more about these trailblazers in our full article

Diane E. Britton

RCA Laboratories

Alicia Casals

Full Professor in the Automatic Control and Computer Engineering Dept | Leader of the Robotics Group at IBEC .... Professor of the department of Automatic Control, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPS).

Technical University of Catalonia ....Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPS).

EU/CAT

Carol Crawford

Professor of Mathematics at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD

Susan Hackwood

Senior Policy Fellow at the School of Public Policy and Director of the Science to Policy (S2P) program at the University of California, Riverside

Linda Shapiro

Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical and Informatics and Medical Education

Eleanore G. Wells

RCA Laboratories