Women in Robotics: Standards and Systems
Building the infrastructure and safety for robotics to thrive.
Behind every breakthrough in robotics lies a foundation of systems, standards, and safeguards that make innovation possible. These are the frameworks that ensure robots don’t just work; they work safely, reliably, and in harmony with the people and environments around them.
This October, we’re continuing our deeper dive into the 2025 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About list, celebrating five honorees each week. This week, we highlight leaders in Standards & Systems — the engineers and researchers building the infrastructure and safety protocols for robotics to thrive.
Whether designing exoskeletons, defining safety protocols, or training the next generation of space explorers, these honorees are shaping how robotics becomes part of everyday life.
They remind us that the future of robotics isn’t built on speed or scale alone, but on care and integrity.
Shuran Song
Shuran Song is an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University and directs the Robotics and Embodied AI Lab. Her research sits at the interface of computer vision and robotics; she has earned best-paper awards at RSS and IEEE Transactions on Robotics, as well as an NSF CAREER Award and Sloan Fellowship.
Song’s group develops low-cost sensors, such as a handheld gripper outfitted with microphones that give robots a sense of hearing, and she shares data through open-source datasets like DROID. She aims to enable robots to perceive and manipulate everyday objects using multimodal cues.
Kathryn Zealand
Kathryn Zealand began her career at X (formerly Google X), where she co‑led a “moonshot for mobility.” Her team built AI‑powered exoskeleton trousers that use machine‑learning controllers to provide task‑agnostic assistance and published the results in Nature. The work showed that exosuits could adapt to different activities without manual tuning.
In 2023 Zealand spun the project out to form Skip, where she is co‑founder and chief technology officer. Skip partnered with outdoor apparel brand Arc’teryx to develop MO/GO powered pants—movewear that supports hikers and aims to ship to consumers in 2025. Zealand advocates for exoskeleton technology that augments natural movement and is creating a new category of “powered clothing.”
Ann Virts
Ann Virts is project leader for the Mobility Performance of Robotic Systems at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She develops test methods, artifacts and datasets to measure the performance and safety of mobile and wearable robots.
Virts also serves as associate project leader for NIST’s Emergency Response Robots program, working with emergency responders and technology developers. She has received numerous awards, including a 2023 NIST Bronze Medal and Department of Commerce honours, for her contributions to exoskeleton test methods and emergency-robot standards.
Carole Franklin
Carole Franklin is director of standards development for robotics at the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). She leads the creation of ANSI and ISO robotics standards for safety and interoperability, and represents the industry in educational outreach. Franklin emphasizes that safe deployment of collaborative robot systems requires careful planning and risk assessment, even for power-and-force-limited robots.
Before joining A3, Franklin worked for more than four years at management consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton, leading projects on business process improvement and communications. Earlier she spent a decade in market research at Ford Motor Company and holds BA and MBA degrees from the University of Michigan. With experience spanning corporate research, consulting and standardization, she bridges the needs of end-users and engineers to advance safe and effective robotics.
Meghan Daley
Meghan Daley is a project manager in NASA’s Engineering, Software Robotics & Simulation Division at the Johnson Space Center. Over nearly two decades she has built training simulators, most notably the Generic On-Orbit Robotic Trainer (GROOT), which teaches the USSF how to perform generic rendezvous, proximity, and robotic operations.
Daley also oversees the Dynamic Skills Trainer and Robotic Onboard Trainer projects, preparing crews for NASA’s missions and future exploration. She is a vocal advocate for diversity in robotics and mentors students through outreach programs.
It's interesting how foundational this is. My Pilates too builds from core.