Women in Robotics you need to know about 2025

Monica Anderson is a professor at the University of Alabama, researching distributed autonomy and inclusive human-robot teaming.

Lijin Aryananda is a robotics researcher with 15+ years’ experience in humanoids, automation & medical devices. At ZHAW she develops AI methods for tomography, bridging academia & industry with inclusive leadership.

Georgia Chalvatzaki, professor at TU Darmstadt and head of the PEARL Lab, advances human-centric robot learning. Her work blends AI and robotics to give mobile manipulators the ability to collaborate safely and intelligently with people.

Meghan Daley is a NASA project manager who leads teams to develop and integrate simulations for robotic operations to prepare astronauts on the ISS and beyond.

Carole Franklin directs standards development for robotics at the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), leading ANSI & ISO robot safety work. With a background at Booz Allen & Ford, she champions safe, effective deployment of robots.

Dimitra Gkatzia is an associate professor at Edinburgh Napier, advancing natural language generation for human-robot interaction.

Shilpa Gulati is an experienced engineering leader with over 15 years of experience in building and scaling teams to solve complex problems in Robotics using state-of-the-art technologies.

Sabine Hauert is a professor at the University of Bristol, co-founder of Robohub, and a pioneer in swarm robotics for nanomedicine and the environment.

Heba is lecturer at UNSW and co-founder of Contactile, start-up making tactile sensors that give robots a human sense of touch to enable them to perform difficult material handling tasks.

Alona Kharchenko is co-founder & CTO of Devanthro, building embodied AI for homes, and was recognized by Forbes as 30 Under 30.

Mar Masulli is CEO & co-founder of BitMetrics, using AI to give robots & machines vision and reasoning. She also serves on the Spanish Robotics Association board.

Natalie Panek is a senior engineer in systems design and works in the robotics and automation division of the space technology company, MDA. She was named on Forbes 2015 30 under 30 and one of WXN’s 2014 Top 100 award winners.

Joelle Pineau is a Canadian AI researcher and robotics leader and a professor at McGill. She also served as Meta AI’s vice‑president until 2025. She co‑directs the Reasoning & Learning Lab, co‑founded SmartWheeler and Nursebot and champions reproducible research

Nicole Robinson is the co-founder of Lyro Robotics, deploying AI pick-and-pack robots for industry.

Hallie Siegel is a science communicator and former Robohub editor, building global networks that connect researchers and the public.

Shuran Song is a Stanford professor and robotics researcher, building low-cost systems for robot perception and releasing influential open datasets.

Kelen Teixeira Vivaldini is a professor at UFSCar, Brazil, researching autonomous robots, intelligent systems, and mission planning, with applications in environmental monitoring and inspection.

Ann Virts is a NIST project leader developing test methods for mobile and wearable robots, recognized with a U.S. DOC Bronze Medal.

Kathryn Zealand is co-founder of Skip, building powered clothing, "e-bikes for walking". She spun the project out of X and has a background in theoretical physics.

Xiaorui Zhu co-founded DJI and RoboSense and directs Galaxy AI & Robotics, with award-winning research in UAVs, autonomous driving and mobile robotics.