The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society recognizes and congratulates the following individuals for their outstanding accomplishments and service to RAS and the robotics and automation community.
The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society recognizes and congratulates the following individuals for their outstanding accomplishments and service to RAS and the robotics and automation community.
The recipients listed below will be honored at an award ceremony during the IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA 2026) in May. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding recipients!
Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award
John Leonard, Samuel C. Collins Professor, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (USA)
Pioneering contributions to SLAM and autonomous vehicles on land and in sea.
IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation
Henrik Christensen, Distinguished Professor, Computer Science
University of California, San Diego (USA)
SLAM researcher, robotics advocate, and serial builder of robotics and automation communities locally, nationally, and internationally.
IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award
Yi Guo, Professor and Thomas E. Hattrick Chair Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology (USA)
For outstanding service as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine and contributions in support of RAS conferences.
IEEE RAS Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation
Somil Bansal
Assistant Professor, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Stanford University (USA)
For pioneering scalable algorithms for safety-critical control of autonomous and AI-enabled robotic systems.
Chuchu Fan
Associate Professor, Department of AeroAstro and Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)
For pioneering contributions to safe learning-based control, verification and testing for autonomous robot systems.
Robert Katzschmann, Assistant Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Switzerland
For pioneering bioinspired musculoskeletal and biohybrid robotic systems that advance real-world interaction, sensing, and autonomy in complex environments.
Cristina Piazza, Assistant Professor at the School of Computation, Information and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Germany
For fundamental contributions to grasping and manipulation for robotic and prosthetic applications.
Xiaolong Wang, Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego (USA)
For pioneering contributions to 3D computer vision and embodied AI, enabling robots to perceive, learn, and act in complex environments.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Most Influential Paper Award
Reciprocal Velocity Obstacles for real-time multi-agent navigation.
Jur van den Berg, Sr. Principal Software Developer at Waabi Innovation Inc.
Ming Lin, Barry Mersky & Capital One E-Nnovate Endowed Professor
Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland at College Park (USA)
Dinesh Manocha, Distinguished University Professor of Computer
Science and Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park (USA)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Award for Product Innovation
SEER ROBOTICS EUROPE GMBH
AMR Controller, SRC Series.
IEEE RAS Section Chapter of the Year Award
IEEE RAS Kerala Chapter (India)
IEEE RAS Student Branch Chapter of the Year Award
IEEE RAS Universidade Federal de Campina Grande Student Chapter (Brazil)
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society INSAT Student Branch Chapter (Tunisia)
IEEE North South University Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter (Bangladesh)
