Humanoids and Women in Robotics
More calls for startups, and other robotics opportunities and events
Women in Robotics has released the 2025 Women in Robotics You Need To Know About list, celebrating International Women in Robotics Day on October 1st. There was a Women in Robotics luncheon at CORL and through out the month of October, various chapters and companies around the world are hosting events for/about women in robotics.
Women in Robotics (WiR) is a non-profit organization, with 24 chapters around the world and several thousand online community members. WiR provides scholarships, mentoring, resources and events, and since 2013 has published a list of Women in Robotics You Need To Know About to celebrate women’s impact across the robotics ecosystem, in academics, industry, art, governance and policy.
On October 1st, IEEE Humanoids in Seoul held a well attended Women in Robotics luncheon. Ironically, I wasn’t able to attend it myself as it clashed with the Humanoids Steering Committee meeting. All in all, a good problem to have!
IEEE Humanoids was a sell out, with over 1000 registrations. Colocated on Sept 30 with CORL, the Conference on Robot Learning, both conferences had to close registration as the venue maximum capacity of 3000 was reached. Next year CORL will return to Austin, TX and Humanoids will be held in Silicon Valley at Santa Clara Convention Center from Dec 6-9 2026. Both conferences will be planning for increased interest.
2025 Women in Robotics You Need To Know About
Heba Khamis
Heba Khamis is lecturer at UNSW and co-founder of Contactile, start-up making tactile sensors that give robots a human sense of touch to enable them to perform difficult material handling tasks.Kelen Teixeira Vivaldini
Kelen Teixeira Vivaldini is a professor at UFSCar, Brazil, researching autonomous robots, intelligent systems, and mission planning, with applications in environmental monitoring and inspection.Natalie Panek
Natalie Panek is a senior engineer in systems design and works in the robotics and automation division of the space technology company, MDA. She was named on Forbes 2015 30 under 30 and one of WXN’s 2014 Top 100 award winners.Joelle Pineau
Joelle Pineau is a Canadian AI researcher and robotics leader and a professor at McGill. She also served as Meta AI’s vice‑president until 2025. She co‑directs the Reasoning & Learning Lab, co‑founded SmartWheeler and Nursebot and champions reproducible researchHallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel is a science communicator and former Robohub editor, building global networks that connect researchers and the public.
Xiaorui Zhu
Xiaorui Zhu co-founded DJI and RoboSense and directs Galaxy AI & Robotics, with award-winning research in UAVs, autonomous driving and mobile robotics.Lijin Aryananda
Lijin Aryananda is a robotics researcher with 15+ years’ experience in humanoids, automation & medical devices. At ZHAW she develops AI methods for tomography, bridging academia & industry with inclusive leadership.Georgia Chalvatzaki
Georgia Chalvatzaki, professor at TU Darmstadt and head of the PEARL Lab, advances human-centric robot learning. Her work blends AI and robotics to give mobile manipulators the ability to collaborate safely and intelligently with people.Mar Masulli
Mar Masulli is CEO & co-founder of BitMetrics, using AI to give robots & machines vision and reasoning. She also serves on the Spanish Robotics Association board.Alona Kharchenko
Alona Kharchenko is co-founder & CTO of Devanthro, building embodied AI for homes, and was recognized by Forbes as 30 Under 30.
Nicole Robinson
Nicole Robinson is the co-founder of Lyro Robotics, deploying AI pick-and-pack robots for industry.Dimitra Gkatzia
Dimitra Gkatzia is an associate professor at Edinburgh Napier, advancing natural language generation for human-robot interaction.Sabine Hauert
Sabine Hauert is a professor at the University of Bristol, co-founder of Robohub, and a pioneer in swarm robotics for nanomedicine and the environment.Monica Anderson
Monica Anderson is a professor at the University of Alabama, researching distributed autonomy and inclusive human-robot teaming.Shilpa Gulati
Shilpa Gulati is an experienced engineering leader with over 15 years of experience in building and scaling teams to solve complex problems in Robotics using state-of-the-art technologies.
Shuran Song
Shuran Song is a Stanford professor and robotics researcher, building low-cost systems for robot perception and releasing influential open datasets.Kathryn Zealand
Kathryn Zealand is co-founder of Skip, building powered clothing, “e-bikes for walking”. She spun the project out of X and has a background in theoretical physics.Ann Virts
Ann Virts is a NIST project leader developing test methods for mobile and wearable robots, recognized with a U.S. DOC Bronze Medal.Carole Franklin
Carole Franklin directs standards development for robotics at the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), leading ANSI & ISO robot safety work. With a background at Booz Allen & Ford, she champions safe, effective deployment of robots.Meghan Daley
Meghan Daley is a NASA project manager who leads teams to develop and integrate simulations for robotic operations to prepare astronauts on the ISS and beyond.
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COMMUNITY NEWS
Nebius Robotics & Physical AI Awards celebrate emerging startups and scale-ups that use AI to shape the future of the industry.
Our mission is to showcase transformative technology, foster collaboration between founders, industry leaders and researchers and power the next generation of breakthroughs in AI.
Companies from the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia are invited to apply, with the winners announced at the Nebius Robotics and Physical AI Summit & Awards Ceremony at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on December 9, 2025.
Selected winners will also receive up to $100,000 in compute credits for Nebius AI Cloud, accelerated by NVIDIA AI infrastructure.
Mona Li, Director of Startup Ecosystem at Nebius, described the rationale behind the awards.
“Physical AI is the next frontier where robotics and intelligence truly converge,” she said. “Together with NVIDIA, we are excited to celebrate the pioneers turning this vision into reality.”
PearX is our 12-week accelerator program for pre-seed companies, and our W26 cohort kicks off in January. In addition to funding, we provide hands-on support for founders, office space, hiring and GTM services, and more.
Know a great founder? Refer them here.
Physical AI Breakfast for SF Tech Week
Join Schematic in kicking off Tech Week with breakfast bites and presentations on the future of physical AI. Participating companies will demo embodied systems, intelligent hardware, autonomous robotics, and the infrastructure powering them.
• Juan Aparicio with Reshape Automation
Fueling the Machine: The Data Powering Robotics
Ananya’s research on the new landscape of robot AI continues with data requirements for building robotics systems, including a founder deep dive and an overview of the categories where Schematic is actively investing.
FIRA USA for AgRobotics
I'm excited to share a special invitation with you for this year's FIRA USA, taking place from October 21st - 23rd in Woodland, CA. This unique event focuses on autonomous solutions for specialty crops and large-scale farming, making it a must-attend for anyone in the agricultural robotics market.
As a partner of FIRA USA, Silicon Valley Robotics is proud to support this incredible event, and we hope you will join us. We've arranged a special 20% discount code for registration. Feel free to use this code as many times as you need.
20% registration discount code: NAOMISHISAIKEGUESTS
Register here
This year, Reservoir Farms will be exhibiting and will also be a stop on the "CA Ag Robotics Tour" hosted by FIRA USA. It's a fantastic opportunity to see the latest innovations in action on various farms.
Silicon Valley Robotics Investor/Startup Database
Are you a startup fundraising atm? Fill out our "For Investors Eyes Only" sheet.
These investors write checks anywhere from angel and seed stage to $5-50 million.
Feedback from the startups - high quality inbound interest from investors.
Feedback from the investors - incredible depth and range of robotics startups.
If you’re an accredited investor and haven’t already signed up for the spreadsheet - Sign up here for great robotics deal flow!
Robotics News
Kodiak Robotics went public on the Nasdaq via SPAC. The Silicon Valley company builds autonomous trucking technology, and changed its name to Kodiak AI as part of its public listing.
This Robotics Startup Just Emerged From Stealth With $300 Million to Create an ‘AI Scientist’ Periodic Labs will use robots to conduct experiments and accelerate scientific discovery. - Inc.
Samsung accelerates humanoid robot R&D to stake future role in robotics ecosystem - DigiTimesAsia
Nvidia and Fujitsu agree to work together on AI robots and other technology - Yahoo Finance
With new open models and simulation libraries, Nvidia aims to accelerate robotics R&D - silicon angle
Seven-Eleven Japan, Telexistence to Develop Humanoid Robots - AI Business
Why iRobot’s founder won’t go within 10 feet of today’s walking robots - Ars Technica
Interview with Stanford university Professor Jan Rifhardt, founder of OpenMind, who developed robotOS - MAEIL Business Newspaper
DoorDash unveils Dot, its autonomous robot built to deliver your food - TechCrunch
InOrbit.AI Secures Series A Funding to Scale Robot Orchestration Platform, Unlocking a New Era of Software-Driven Physical Workflows - BusinessWire
‘Delivery robots will happen’: Skype co-founder on his fast-growing venture Starship - The Guardian
Food delivery robots have human names and blinking eyes. But they’re not our friends - CNN
Your Delivery Robot Is Here - Wired
Wave Function Ventures Closes $15 Million Fund to Back Robotics And Deep Tech - AI Insider
Australian solar farm deploys AI-powered robots to install almost 500,000 panels - Interesting Engineering
Researchers develop incredible AI-powered robots for crucial task: ‘Remarkable precision’ - Yahoo Tech
Australia’s SwarmFarm Robotics Raises $30 Million to for US Expansion of its Farm Robotics - AI insider
Elon’s Robots Will Quickly Become Dead Husks on Mars, Expert Warns - Futurism
Elon Musk Plans Optimus Robots for Mars by 2026, Experts Warn of Challenges - WPNews
Elon Musk is ‘wrong’ on robots, says Cuban who calls him ‘very smart ad ahead of the curve’ - Times of India
China is winning the race for AI robots - WSJ Opinion
The Chinese Billionaire Whose Robots and Cars Should Worry Detroit—and Silicon Valley - The Information
Horrible news: exploit found in Humanoid robots capable of ‘creating a robot botnet that spreads without user intervention’ over Bluetooth - PC Gamer
Robotics Supplier to Top US Brands Says Trump’s New Tariffs Miss the Mark - Bloomberg
Robotics Events
Oct 6 - Physical AI Breakfast - Schematic Ventures SF
Oct 21-23 - FIRA USA, Woodland CA - (use our code “NAOMISHISAIKEGUESTS” for 20% discount)
Oct 27-30 - ROSCON Singapore -
Thursday Oct 30 - Women in Robotics event at CL MV
Wed Nov 5 - Bots&Beer in SF or CL MV - tbc
Nov - Online Robotics Manufacturing Workshop - tbc
Sat Nov 22 - Robot Party and Brazilian BBQ at CL MV
Wed Dec 3 - Bots&Beer in SF or CL MV - tbc
Wed Dec 10 - Robotics Investment Summit and Manufacturing Workshop
Humanoids Summit - Dec 11-12
Join the organizing team at Silicon Valley Robotics - bots&beer@svrobo.org
