2016 RAS Award Recipients Announced

The IEEE Robotics & Automation Society recognizes and congratulates the following individuals for their outstanding accomplishments and service to RAS and the robotics and automation community. They will be honored during an award luncheon to be held at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation (ICRA 2016) on 19 May at the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Center, Stockholm, Sweden. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding recipients!

RAS Pioneer Award

Daniel Koditschek - University of Pennsylvania (PA), United States
"For his seminal contributions to the mathematical and empirical foundations of robotics, leadership in robotics research, inspired mentorship of the next generation of roboticists"

RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation

Ken Goldberg - University of California-Berkeley (CA), United States
"For his exceptional leadership, innovations and contributions to advancing automation science and engineering, particularly public outreach and archival publications"
Nikos Papanikolopoulos - University of Minnesota (MN), United States
"For his leadership, innovation, and dedication in RAS conference activities"

IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award

Raj Madhavan - HumRobTech, LLC (MD), United States 
"For his distinguished service and contributions to RAS industrial and humanitarian activities"
Jing Xiao - University of North Carolina at Charlotte (NC), United States
"For her leadership in RAS member activities, and distinguished service in support of RAS conferences and committees"

RAS Early Career Award (Academic)

Dmitry Berenson - Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA), United States
"For contributions to the theory and implementation of robot motion planning and manipulation"
Ludovic Righetti - Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany
"For contributions to the theory of, and experiments in, robot locomotion and manipulation"

RAS Early Career Award (Industry/Government)

Ioan A. Sucan - Google[x], (CA), United States
"For contributions to open source software for robot motion planning"

IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production

Jean-Paul Laumond - Laas-Cnrs, France
"For outstanding contributions to motion planning commercialization in the robotics and automation industry"

IEEE Robotics and Automation Award for Product Innovation

Grabit Inc.
"In recognition of the Grabit Panel-Series Grippers that provide innovative and effective fabric handling based on electroadhesion"

RAS Most Active Technical Committee Award

Technical Committee on Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Chairs: Anibal Ollero, YangQuan Chen, Kimon P. Valavanis

RAS Chapter of the Year Award - Two Recipients this Year!

IEEE Eastern North Carolina, USA RAS Chapter
Chairs: Rodney Radford, Grayson Randall
IEEE RAS Monterrey, Mexico Chapter
Chair: Marco Ivan Ramirez Sosa Moran