Women In Robotics Newsletter: Sept 2025
Save the date: International Women in Robotics Day – October 1, 2025
Our 2025 theme is “Inspire. Connect. Advance.” We’re inviting members, allies, companies, and chapters to celebrate with meetups, panels, open labs, and showcases.
How to get involved: Host or join an event, submit your event to the global map, and share stories using the theme in your title/description.
Joanne Pransky Scholarship
Thanks to community support, the Women in Robotics–sponsored Joanne Pransky Scholarship is directly helping women and non-binary students pursue robotics education and research. If you’re able, please consider a tax-deductible gift to keep the fund growing.
Congratulations to our March 2025 winners!
Welcome, new chapters!
We’re thrilled to celebrate new chapters in Egypt and Argentina, plus a reboot of Paris, France. If you’re nearby, jump in to help with kickoff events and mentoring. Interested in starting a chapter where you are? We’ve got a starter kit and monthly office hours.
Hiring better, building better
Don’t miss the recent article on how to hire women in robotics—practical steps for inclusive job descriptions, structured interviews, and candidate support that improve outcomes for everyone. Share it with your hiring teams and allies.
Member Spotlight
Meet Nasim Fallahiarezoodar, a space roboticist designing cooperative control for dual-arm manipulators in orbit. Her work at the frontier of on-orbit servicing combines reinforcement learning and classical control to enable debris removal and in-space assembly—pushing forward sustainable space operations while building a global, supportive robotics community.
Also meet Mandy Meindersma, a web developer and maker who bridges the gap between software and hardware through playful side projects, from wiring a rotary phone to crafting LED bracelets. Passionate about inspiring the next generation, she’s sharing her skills with young builders through workshops and community events while charting her own path deeper into robotics.
Chapter Highlights
Bay Area
By Revati Naik
Robotics Over Coffee: Building Connections & Sparking Innovation
The Women in Robotics – Bay Area Chapter recently came together for an evening of connection, conversation, and collaboration at our Robotics Over Coffee: Connect, Share & Celebrate meetup. Hosted by Revati Naik, this intimate gathering brought together over 10 incredible women from academia, industry, and startups.
The highlight of the evening was a lightning talk by Chitrangada Devulapalli, who presented “Enhancing Robotic Grasping with Multimodal Sensing.” Her research integrates visual and tactile sensing to improve grasp success prediction in robotic manipulation.
We’re excited to announce that our next Women in Robotics event will focus on Safety Compliance in AI Datasets — a crucial area as AI-driven robotics systems continue to scale. Details will be shared soon, so stay tuned!
Finally, we’re thrilled to welcome new members to our Bay Area community: Chitrangada Devulapalli, Emily Zimmerman, Aastha Sharma, Chesley Austin, Taru Mishra, Julia Jia, and more. We’re thrilled to expand our network of brilliant women and allies who are shaping the future of robotics.
This event was a reminder that our community thrives on shared knowledge, support, and the drive to push boundaries together. Here’s to more conversations, collaborations, and breakthroughs ahead!
New York
By Mandy Meindersma
Upcoming event: Tinker and talk
Date: Tuesday, Sep 16th 2025
Time: 6:00 pm EDT
Join us for a hands-on breadboarding workshop, Human Robot Interaction talk, and networking with fellow tech enthusiasts at Tinker & Talk! We are so stoked to be partnering with Wunderkind to host this event on the 74th floor of the World Trade Center!
If you have any questions for the New York chapter, feel free to DM us: Mandy Meindersma and Jasmine Lawrence Campbell.
Boston
By Colleen Anderson
Our Women in Robotics community continues to grow, and it’s been incredible to see more and more people attending each meetup.
Thank you, Analog Devices and Analog Garage, for opening your doors and providing a wonderful panel of women at various stages of their careers. We loved hearing about your journeys and what brought you to Analog Devices. It was also inspiring to hear how supportive Analog Devices is. The rooftop venue was a fantastic spot for networking. So many great conversations and connections!
Thank you to Analog Devices for sponsoring & Analog Garage for hosting this event—your support made this event possible!
Our next Boston chapter meetup will be sponsored and hosted by the RAI Institute on October 7th. You can register here.
San Antonio
by Stephanie Garcia
The San Antonio chapter of Women in Robotics focuses on connecting young women with industry professionals, helping them explore opportunities, gain mentorship, and build lasting careers in robotics.
Through WiR SA’s community and industry partnerships, Katie and Lin, rising juniors and members of the Lutheran High School robotics team in San Antonio, were selected for mentorships with Alt Bionics, Inc., a local company that develops accessible prosthetics. The opportunity came after a team tour, where CEO & Founder, Ryan Saavedra, was impressed by their STEM experience and passion for equal access. Through the school’s Innovation Hour and Genius Grant program, they worked on self-paced projects exploring prosthetic design, coding, and biomechanics.
Beyond the immediate learning opportunities, these mentorships will significantly enhance both students' resumes and scholarship opportunities. The real-world research experience will provide compelling material for college essays and demonstrate their commitment to STEM fields to admissions committees at top-tier institutions.
Women in Robotics San Antonio congratulates Katie and Lin on their Alt Bionics mentorship and wishes them luck in their future endeavors. Special thanks to Alt Bionics, Inc., CEO & Founder, Ryan Saavedra, for his support.
Resource Corner
By Sonia Roberts
The Robot Academy has a treasure trove of introductory videos about robotics. Here's a gentle introduction to kinematics for a simple robot arm!
Just subbed! Hope you can support my robotics page too! Let’s grow ✨