The third Annual MassRobotics Robotics Medal award, sponsored by Amazon Robotics, is offered to Dr. Maja Matarić, Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Laptop Science, Viterbi Faculty of Engineering, College of Southern California, for her pioneering work within the subject of socially assistive robots and for making vital developments to the sector of distributed robots and studying in human-robot programs.
MassRobotics, a number one robotics innovation group, introduced its 2025 Robotics Medal and Rising Star recipients on the IEEE ICRA convention in Atlanta. The Robotics Medal is the world’s first main award to acknowledge the wide-ranging influence of feminine researchers specializing in the event of robotics across the globe. The Robotics Medal is awarded to a nominated lady researcher in robotics to acknowledge her impactful contributions to the sector and features a $50K prize awarded to the person. The Rising Star Medal acknowledges up-and-coming girls making strides and advancing the sector of robotics and features a $5K award given to the person.
Daniela Rus , Maja Matarić, Tania Morimoto, Joyce Sidopoulos
The third Annual MassRobotics Robotics Medal award, sponsored by Amazon Robotics, is offered to Dr. Maja Matarić, Chaired and Distinguished Professor of Laptop Science, Viterbi Faculty of Engineering, College of Southern California, for her pioneering work within the subject of socially assistive robots and for making vital developments to the sector of distributed robots and studying in human-robot programs.
Dr. Tania Morimoto, Affiliate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering on the College of California, San Diego, is awarded the MassRobotics Rising Star in Robotics Medal for her contributions to novel mushy and versatile medical robots and human-machine interfaces designed to enhance entry to high-quality care.
To encourage variety within the subject of robotics, Amazon established an endowment with MassRobotics in 2022 to assist these annual awards. The aim of The Robotics Medal is to not solely have fun particular person achievements, however to encourage and encourage girls and different underrepresented teams to take part in shaping the way forward for the world by means of robotics.
“Because the founding sponsor of the Robotics Medal, we purpose to acknowledge and honor feminine robotics professors across the globe who’ve made exceptional contributions to advancing robotics know-how,” defined Tye Brady, who serves as each the chief technologist at Amazon Robotics and chairperson of MassRobotics’ board. “We’re deeply grateful for the invaluable insights and academic contributions supplied by each Dr. Matarić and Dr. Morimoto to our bodily AI neighborhood and we’re proud to assist this recognition in honor of their achievements.”
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 95+ startups that MassRobotics homes at its facility in Boston, greater than 50% are from out of state and 25% are from exterior the U.S.
MassRobotics hosts STEM and robotics initiatives particularly developed for highschool girls and continues to advertise girls in robotics by means of occasions and networking to make sure girls are acknowledged and heard. Over the previous 5 years the MassRobotics Jumpstart Fellowship program has graduated practically 100 college students who’ve since enrolled in notable universities together with MIT, Harvard, Northeastern, Boston College, Stanford, Georgia Tech, College of Michigan, Purdue College, and the College of Massachusetts.
Though strides are being made and girls now make up 48 % of the overall workforce, simply 34% of the STEM workforce is made up of ladies, and solely 16% are in engineering and robotics roles, in keeping with the Nationwide Ladies Collaborative Mission.
Nominations for these awards got here from round the USA 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.
“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,” stated Joyce Sidopoulos, cofounder at MassRobotics. “It displays the contributions girls have made, and conjures up the subsequent technology who will make an influence on this increasing subject touching practically each trade.”
The Robotics Medal and Rising Star recipients have been chosen by a committee of robotics specialists, led by MassRobotics, which convened a number of occasions and methodically evaluated the importance, depth, and originality of technical contributions every nominee has made within the total subject of robotics.
“Robotics as a subject advances most quickly when it attracts from numerous mental views and technical approaches. The contributions of main feminine researchers have been instrumental in fixing a number of the most difficult issues in our self-discipline,” stated Daniela Rus, Director of the Laptop Science and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT and member of the MassRobotics board. “The Robotics Medal acknowledges the distinctive scientific achievement and technical innovation that has essentially superior the sector.”
A proper Gala awarding the medals and celebrating the recipients will probably be held in Boston on the MIT Samberg Convention Heart on October 25, 2025. Tickets, reserved tables, and sponsorship alternatives 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 turning into an underwriter of The Robotics Medal. Nominations for the 2026 Robotics Medal and Rising Star are open till December twentieth, 2025.
