Robohub.org
 

Supporting Women in Robotics on International Women’s Day.. and beyond.


by
08 March 2017



share this:

International Women’s Day is raising discussion about the lack of diversity and role models in STEM and the potential negative outcomes of bias and stereotyping in robotics and AI. Let’s balance the words with positive actions. Here’s what we can all do to support women in robotics and AI, and thus improve diversity, innovation and reduce skills shortages for robotics and AI.

Join WomeninRobotics.org – a network of women working in robotics (or who aspire to work in robotics). We are a global discussion group supporting local events that bring women together for peer networking. We recognize that lack of support and mentorship in the workplace holds women back, particularly if there is only one woman in an organization/company.

Although the main group is only for women, we are going to start something for male ‘Allies’ or ‘Champions’. So men, you can join women in robotics too! Women need champions and while it would be ideal to have an equal number of women in leadership roles, until then, companies can improve their hiring and retention by having visible and vocal male allies. We all need mentors as our careers progress.

Women also need visibility and high profile projects for their careers to progress on par. One way of improving that is to showcase the achievements of women in robotics. Read and share all four year’s worth of our annual “25 Women in Robotics you need to know about” – that’s more than 100 women already because we have some groups in there. (There has always been a lot of women on the core team at Robohub.org, so we love showing our support.) Our next edition will come out on October 10 2017 to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day.

Change starts at the top of an organization. It’s very hard to hire women if you don’t have any women, or if they can’t see pathways for advancement in your organization. However, there are many things you can do to improve your hiring practices. Some are surprisingly simple, yet effective. I’ve collected a list and posted it at Silicon Valley Robotics – How to hire women.

And you can invest in women entrepreneurs. All the studies show that you get a higher rate of return, and higher likelihood of success from investments in female founders. And yet, proportionately investment is much less. You don’t need to be a VC to invest in women either. Kiva.org is matching loans today and $25 can empower an entrepreneur all over the world. #InvestInHer

And our next Silicon Valley/ San Francisco Women in Robotics event will be on March 22 at SoftBank Robotics – we’d love to see you there – or in support!




Silicon Valley Robotics is an industry association supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies.
Silicon Valley Robotics is an industry association supporting innovation and commercialization of robotics technologies.





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 116 – Evolved behaviour for robot teams, with Tanja Kaiser

  04 Apr 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Tanja Katharina Kaiser from the University of Technology Nuremberg about how applying evolutionary principles can help robot teams make better decisions.

Robot Talk Episode 115 – Robot dogs working in industry, with Benjamin Mottis

  28 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Benjamin Mottis from ANYbotics about deploying their four-legged ANYmal robot in a variety of industries.

Robot Talk Episode 114 – Reducing waste with robotics, with Josie Gotz

  21 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Josie Gotz from the Manufacturing Technology Centre about robotics for material recovery, reuse and recycling.

Robot Talk Episode 113 – Soft robotic hands, with Kaspar Althoefer

  14 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Kaspar Althoefer from Queen Mary University of London about soft robotic manipulators for healthcare and manufacturing.

Robot Talk Episode 112 – Getting creative with robotics, with Vali Lalioti

  07 Mar 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Vali Lalioti from the University of the Arts London about how art, culture and robotics interact.

Robot Talk Episode 111 – Robots for climate action, with Patrick Meier

  28 Feb 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Patrick Meier from the Climate Robotics Network about how robots can help scale action on climate change.

Robot Talk Episode 110 – Designing ethical robots, with Catherine Menon

  21 Feb 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Catherine Menon from the University of Hertfordshire about designing home assistance robots with ethics in mind.

Robot Talk Episode 109 – Building robots at home, with Dan Nicholson

  14 Feb 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Dan Nicholson from MakerForge.tech about creating open source robotics projects you can do at home.





Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


©2024 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence


 












©2021 - ROBOTS Association