We spend a lot of time talking about the robots. The latest humanoid, a new demo or another funding round. However, we spend far less time talking about the people actually building them.
For International Women in Robotics Day, we wanted to focus specifically on the women behind that work. They are designing robot bodies and hands, training AI models, developing control systems and determining how robots can safely operate around people.
Humanoids themselves are still early. Many remain prototypes, while others are only just entering factories and customer trials. The investment, research and manufacturing effort behind them, however, is no longer small.
This year, Robotico is highlighting 50 women helping move the industry forward.
The Robotico 50 includes founders, engineers, researchers, operators and communicators working across humanoids, embodied AI, dexterity, perception, human-robot interaction and deployment.
Some are building the robots themselves. Others are building the technology that will determine whether they actually become useful.
1. Agnieszka Wykowska
Principal Investigator, Social Cognition in Human-Robot Interaction, Italian Institute of Technology
Wykowska studies how people interpret and respond to robots, including the iCub humanoid. Her work connects cognitive neuroscience with robot behaviour, giving designers better evidence for building machines that people can understand and work with.
2. Alexandra Prisznyák
Humanoid robotics and AI governance strategic adviser
Prisznyák researches humanoid adoption, governance and human-robot interaction. She has published work on humanoid service robots, run field tests with the Hungarian Red Cross and built a following through frequent, detailed reporting on the European humanoid sector.
3. Alessandra Sciutti
Head of the CONTACT Unit, Italian Institute of Technology
Sciutti studies how robots and people read one another’s actions, attention and intentions. Her work with iCub focuses on the small social signals that determine whether interaction with a humanoid feels clear, natural and predictable.
4. Alina Kolpakova
Chief Strategy Officer, Humanoid
Kolpakova leads strategy at Humanoid, the UK company developing wheeled and bipedal robots for industrial work. She helps connect product development with customers, partnerships and the commercial decisions required to move humanoids beyond demonstrations.
5. Allison Okamura
Professor of Engineering, Stanford University
Okamura is a leading researcher in haptics, teleoperation, medical robotics and soft robotics. Her work on touch and physical feedback is highly relevant to humanoids that must manipulate objects safely and give people a clear sense of what the robot is doing.
6. Alona Pammer (née Kharchenko)
Co-founder and CTO, Devanthro
Pammer is building Robodies: humanoid robotic systems designed for remote presence and care. Devanthro’s work combines robotics, teleoperation and real-world service delivery, with a focus on helping people remain independent at home.
7. Amanda McMaster
Interim CEO and CFO, Boston Dynamics
McMaster is leading Boston Dynamics as it develops the electric Atlas humanoid for industrial applications. Her role covers the operating and commercial side of one of the world’s best-known robotics companies at a key point in Atlas’s move toward deployment.
8. Anca Dragan
Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Dragan’s research asks how robots and AI systems can infer what people want, communicate their own intentions and act in ways people can anticipate. That work is central to humanoids operating safely in shared spaces.
9. Andra Keay
Managing Director, Silicon Valley Robotics; founder, Women in Robotics
Keay connects robotics founders, investors, researchers and operators across Silicon Valley. Through her events, newsletter and industry work, she tracks the companies, funding, safety questions and deployment lessons that matter in commercial robotics.
10. Andrea Thomaz
Co-founder and CEO, Diligent Robotics
Thomaz has spent her career developing socially intelligent robots that can work around people. At Diligent Robotics, she led Moxi from research concept to hospital deployments, giving the wider robotics sector a practical example of human-centred product design.
11. Aude Billard
Professor and head of the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory, EPFL
Billard works on robot learning, manipulation and safe physical interaction. Her research helps robots learn skills from people and adapt them to new situations, which is essential for general-purpose humanoids working outside controlled lab settings.
12. Aya Durbin
Product Lead, Humanoid Applications, Boston Dynamics
Durbin works on where and how Atlas should be used. She brings customer needs, application design and technical capability together, helping Boston Dynamics decide which manufacturing tasks can support reliable humanoid deployments.
13. Ayanna Howard
President, Spelman College; roboticist and startup founder
Howard is Spelman College’s 12th president and a roboticist whose career spans NASA, Georgia Tech, Ohio State and the startup Zyrobotics. Her work includes autonomous field robots, accessible education technology and social humanoids, alongside a long record of making robotics and AI useful to more people.
14. Carolina Parada
Vice President and Head of Robotics, Google DeepMind
Parada leads Google DeepMind’s robotics work, including the Gemini Robotics models used for perception, reasoning and physical action. Her team is developing the intelligence layer that can help different robot bodies learn and complete useful tasks.
15. Catie Cuan
Roboticist, artist and founder, ART Lab
Cuan studies what it feels like to share space with a robot. Her work combines robotics, choreography and interaction design, bringing attention to movement, timing and social comfort - areas that standard engineering benchmarks often miss.
16. Chelsea Finn
Assistant Professor, Stanford University; co-founder, Physical Intelligence
Finn develops methods that let robots learn skills, adapt to new tasks and improve from limited experience. Her research on generalisation and robot learning is part of the technical base behind today’s general-purpose embodied AI systems.
17. Chiara Bartolozzi
Principal Investigator, Event-Driven Perception for Robotics, Italian Institute of Technology
Bartolozzi develops neuromorphic vision and touch systems inspired by the way biological senses work. Her research gives robots faster, lower-power ways to detect motion and contact, both important for responsive humanoid behaviour.
18. Cosima du Pasquier
Co-founder and CEO, Haptica Robotics
Du Pasquier is developing tactile sensing and dexterous manipulation technology for robots. Haptica’s work addresses a basic problem for humanoids: handling varied objects reliably when vision alone does not provide enough information.
19. Crystal Beckvold
Lead Robotics Prototyping Engineer, Humanoid
Beckvold turns early concepts into working humanoid hardware. Her hands-on prototyping work supports Humanoid’s wheeled and bipedal platforms, where rapid iteration across mechanical, electrical and manufacturing problems is critical.
20. Cynthia Breazeal
Professor and director of the Personal Robots Group, MIT Media Lab
Breazeal pioneered social robotics and created Kismet, one of the field’s foundational expressive robots. Her work examines how machines can communicate, support learning and build productive relationships with people over time.
21. Danica Kragic
Professor and Director of the Centre for Autonomous Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Kragic works on robot perception, manipulation and learning, with a long record in systems that operate around people and unstructured objects. She also connects robotics research with industry through board and advisory roles.
22. Daniela Rus
Director, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Rus leads research across robotics, physical AI, soft machines and efficient learning systems. Her work ranges from new robot bodies and sensors to algorithms that let machines adapt and act in the physical world.
23. Dorsa Sadigh
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
Sadigh studies how robots learn from people, coordinate with them and account for human preferences. Her research is directly relevant to humanoids that need to work alongside people without creating confusion or unnecessary risk.
24. Grace Brown
Co-founder and CEO, Andromeda Robotics
Brown founded Andromeda Robotics to build Abi, an expressive humanoid companion for aged care. She has taken the company from an early university project to a funded robotics business focused on reducing loneliness through regular, in-person interaction.
25. Jeannette Bohg
Associate Professor, Stanford University
Bohg leads research in robotic perception, learning, grasping and manipulation. Her lab works on the abilities robots need to handle unfamiliar objects and complete tasks in changing environments rather than repeating one fixed motion.
26. Jennifer Haroon
Chief Operating Officer, Andromeda Robotics
Haroon brings product, policy and operating experience to Andromeda as it deploys Abi in care settings. Her work covers the systems around the robot: partnerships, operations and the practical requirements of using companion robots with vulnerable people.
27. Jesica Chavez
Co-founder and CEO, Robo Success; humanoid robotics industry host and connector
Chavez reports on humanoid robotics, interviews company leaders and helps organise industry events including Humanoids Summit. Her direct, accessible coverage gives founders and engineers a larger audience while helping newcomers follow a fast-moving market.
28. Jesica Alvarez
Co-founder and CMO, XMAQUINA
Alvarez works at the intersection of humanoid robotics, capital and community. At XMAQUINA, she leads marketing and industry engagement for a DAO that opens access to private robotics companies and gives its members a role in deciding how capital is deployed across the sector.
29. Jessica Hodgins
Chief Scientist, RAI Institute; Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Hodgins is known for research on human and robot motion, including dynamic locomotion and physically realistic movement. At the RAI Institute, her work continues to inform mobile robots that must balance, recover and move through difficult environments.
30. Julie Shah
H.N. Slater Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Faculty Director, MIT Industrial Performance Center
Shah directs MIT’s Interactive Robotics Group, where she designs collaborative robot teammates that enhance human capability. Her research uses models of human thinking to improve AI and has been applied in manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and defence.
31. Katja Mombaur
Professor, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Mombaur works on optimisation, control and motion generation for humanoid and wearable robots. Her research addresses the hard mechanics behind walking, balance and human-like movement, with applications in assistance, rehabilitation and industry.
32. Lijin Aryananda
Professor of Autonomous Systems and Mechatronics, ZHAW School of Engineering
Aryananda has worked on humanoid robotics since her research at MIT, including learning and social interaction. She later led robotics platforms and now teaches and develops autonomous systems with a strong focus on useful, working machines.
33. Maja Matarić
Professor, University of Southern California
Matarić is a pioneer in socially assistive robotics. Her research tests how robots can support rehabilitation, health and behaviour change, with an emphasis on systems that help people through interaction rather than physical force.
34. Manuela Veloso
Herbert A. Simon University Professor Emerita, Carnegie Mellon University
Veloso has made major contributions to autonomous robots, planning and multi-agent systems. She co-founded RoboCup and developed the idea of symbiotic autonomy: robots should recognise when they need help and ask people for it.
35. Maren Bennewitz
Professor for Humanoid Robots, University of Bonn
Bennewitz works on navigation, perception and learning for mobile and humanoid robots. Her research helps robots understand crowded, changing environments and move through them while accounting for the people nearby.
36. Maya Cakmak
Professor of Human-Centred Robotics, Imperial College London
Cakmak studies how non-experts can teach, control and live with robots. Her work in assistive and home robotics brings user needs into technical design and asks a practical question: will people actually want these machines in their spaces?
37. Melonee Wise
Chief Software and AI Product Officer, KUKA
Wise has built robotics companies, led deployment teams and helped advance the ROS ecosystem. At KUKA, she is working on the software and AI platform needed to manage robots, fleets and industrial workflows at scale.
38. Nadia Magnenat Thalmann
Director, MIRALab, University of Geneva
Magnenat Thalmann created Nadine, a realistic social humanoid designed to converse, remember people and support service interactions. Her long-running work connects virtual humans, animation and robotics in a physical social agent.
39. Nancy Pollard
Co-founder, FuturHand Robotics; Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
Pollard is a leading researcher in robotic hands, grasping and human motion. Her work combines biomechanics, control and mechanical design to improve dexterity, one of the biggest technical gaps between current humanoids and human workers.
40. Paola Peraza Calderon
Co-founder and CTO, Haptica Robotics
Peraza Calderon builds the sensing, control and learning systems behind Haptica’s dexterous manipulation work. Her focus is giving robots enough tactile information to handle varied objects and contact-rich tasks more reliably.
41. Peggy Johnson
Chief Executive Officer, Agility Robotics
Johnson leads Agility Robotics as it manufactures and deploys Digit, a bipedal robot designed for logistics and industrial work. Her job is to turn advanced humanoid technology into a repeatable product, supported by factories, customers and service operations.
42. Sara Filipčić
Founder and Executive Director, Institute for Humane Robotics
Filipčić focuses on the psychosocial safety of companion robots in homes, schools and care settings. She chairs IEEE P7027, an effort to develop guidance for trust and safety in relationships between people and robots.
43. Serena Ivaldi
Research Director, Inria
Ivaldi leads research on humanoids, teleoperation and physical human-robot interaction. Her work tests how robots can learn from demonstrations, share control with people and perform useful tasks in real environments.
44. Shuran Song
Associate Professor, Stanford University
Song leads the Robotics and Embodied AI Lab at Stanford. Her research covers perception, manipulation and learning for robots that must reason about objects, contact and physical tasks in cluttered, everyday environments.
45. Sonia Chernova
Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Chernova works on robot learning and human-robot interaction, including systems that learn from demonstration and improve through everyday use. Her lab also studies assistive robots designed for homes and care environments.
46. Stefanie Tellex
Professor of Computer Science, Brown University
Tellex develops robots that can understand language, learn from people and work in human environments. Her research connects natural-language instruction with perception and action, giving users more direct ways to tell robots what they need.
47. Vivian Chu
Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Diligent Robotics
Chu helped create Moxi and the technical systems behind its hospital work. Her research and product leadership cover robot learning, manipulation and human-robot interaction, with an emphasis on machines that can operate around busy clinical teams.
48. Rong Xiong
Professor, Zhejiang University; Chief Scientist, Zhejiang Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center
Xiong leads major work in humanoid robotics in China, including research, open platforms and industry collaboration. Her technical work spans perception, control and autonomous systems, while her leadership connects university research with large-scale humanoid development.
49. Yukie Nagai
Project Professor, University of Tokyo
Nagai studies cognitive developmental robotics: how intelligence and social understanding emerge through a body interacting with the world. Her work gives humanoid researchers a model for developing perception, imitation and communication together rather than as separate features.
50. Yulia Sandamirskaya
Professor and Head of Cognitive Computing, ZHAW
Sandamirskaya develops brain-inspired systems for robot perception, cognition and control. She also speaks plainly about what it takes to deploy robots in care settings, including reliability, supervision and the gap between demonstrations and day-to-day use.
The Robotico 50 is an independent editorial selection recognising women working across humanoid robotics and embodied AI. We consider technical and research contributions, company building, industry leadership, and work that helps people understand and participate in the field. Selections draw on publicly available evidence of each person’s work.
Know someone we should consider for the next edition? Send Robotico her name, role, LinkedIn profile and a short note explaining their work.
