A3 Achievement Awards
Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award
The World's Most Prestigious Robotics Honor
2022 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award Winners
Bertil Thorvaldsson
2022 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award Winner for Leadership
Bertil is perhaps best known for developing RobotStudio, a highly respected software product that has revolutionized the way robot systems are designed, visualized, and commissioned. Bertil has also been instrumental in driving adoption of Virtual and Augmented reality in Robotics, technologies that will fundamentally change the way robot systems are operated. He was also a pioneer in what is now known as Digital Twin technology. Bertil has now reached retirement age but is still active in Product Management at ABB as evangelist of Metaverse Manufacturing. He is also engaged in Academia as Senior Advisor at University of Skovde where he gives some of his experience back to the community by developing new modern course programs in Digital Manufacturing, making public presentations, and guiding students and researchers. He has always been willing to give back to our industry, as several successful leaders who have had the benefit of sharing his experience and visionary outlook can attest.
Bruno Siciliano
2022 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award Winner for Education
Bruno Siciliano is Professor of Control and Robotics, Past Director of the Interdepartmental Center for Advanced Robotics in Surgery (ICAROS) and Coordinator of the PRISMA Lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at University of Naples Federico II. He is also Honorary Professor at Óbuda University where he holds the Kálmán Chair. His research interests include robot manipulation and control, human–robot cooperation, and service robotics. His book , Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control is one of the most widely adopted textbooks world-wide and has been translated into Chinese, Greek and Italian. He is co-editor of the award-winning Springer Handbook of Robotics. He has delivered more than 30 keynotes, as well as 150 invited lectures and seminars at institutions worldwide. His group has been granted more than twenty European projects, including an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council. He has served as the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society President and as a Board Director of the European Robotics Association and is currently a member of the International Foundation of Robotics Research Board.
Melonee Wise
2022 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award Winner for Technology
Melonee Wise is the Vice President of Robotics Automation at Zebra Technologies. She joined Zebra through the acquisition of Fetch Robotics where she was the CEO. Melonee was the second employee at Willow Garage where she led a team of engineers developing next-generation robot hardware and software, including ROS, the PR2, and TurtleBot. Melonee serves as the Chair of the IFR Service Robot Group and as a robotics technology strategy board member for the Association for Advancing Automation. Melonee has received the MIT Technology Review’s TR35 Award for Technology Innovators under the age of 35 and has been named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Women of Influence and 40 Under 40, and as one of eight CEOs changing the way we work by Business Insider. Melonee has given countless presentations throughout the world, has helped develop the critically important autonomous mobile robot safety standards, and is an inspiration to the growing number of women, as well as men, entering the robotics field.
Michael P. Jacobs
2022 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award Winner for Leadership
Mike Jacobs, the Founder and CEO of Applied Manufacturing Technologies (AMT), one of our industry’s most successfully systems integration companies, which he launched in 1989. Prior to starting AMT, Mike made significant contributions to the success of GMF Robotcs (now FANUC). He also is a pioneer in product development and market introduction of robot simulation and offline robotic programming systems. Throughout his career he found time to be active on several committees in Robotic Industries Association ultimately serving as Chair of the association. As an association Board member he played a key role in the strategic plan that culminated in the official launch of A3 in 2021. He remains active today as a board member on A3’s artificial intelligence strategy board.
Oussama Khatib
2022 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award Winner for Education
Oussama Khatib is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and the Director of the Robotics Lab at Stanford University. His research in advanced robotics focuses on methodologies and technologies in human-centered robotics including humanoid control architectures, human motion synthesis, interactive dynamic simulation, haptics, and human-friendly robot design. As a teacher of both basic and advanced robotics concepts, Professor Khatib has impacted an incredible number of students and robotics researchers, many of whom are also making their mark in the robotics field. He has won too many awards to mention, including the Japan Robot Association Award in Research and Development, as well as several awards from IEEE such as the George Sardis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation.
Marc Raibert
2022 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award Winner for Technology
Marc Raibert is Founder and Chairman of Boston Dynamics, a company that creates some of the world’s most advanced robots, such as Atlas, Spot and Stretch. These robots are inspired by the remarkable ability of animals to move with agility, dexterity, perception and intelligence. Before starting Boston Dynamics, Raibert was Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at MIT and Carnegie Mellon. While there, he founded the Leg Laboratory, a lab that helped establish the scientific basis for highly dynamic robots and that set the stage for the work done at Boston Dynamics. Raibert is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering.