Towards a Stronger and Balanced Workforce in Robotics
When I joined my lab three years ago, I was the only female researcher. While the situation gradually improved, it was a noticeable discrepancy. As one thing led to another, we discovered Women in Robotics Cambridge and launched a small pilot. To our surprise, about 25 % of our audience were men and many became strong supporters. Once the programme gained momentum, patterns began to emerge: it was often difficult to find female speakers, and men consistently showed up in our audience and offered genuine support. Change is a shared effort, but the support is already there.
What can new female researchers entering robotics improve?
Our events and experiences have shown us that women in robotics need strategy; a clear plan to not onlysurvive but thrive. It’s about sustaining energy, protecting motivation, and creating networks that help us grow even when the path feels uncertain. Balancing ambition with well-being always becomes easier through intention and collaboration. Strategy means knowing when to push forward, when to pause, and how to keep our spark alive, while lifting others along the way.
Why does it matter?
Robotics (and more broadly speaking, science) has long been dominated by male perspectives and ideas. This has in some areas lead to stalemates where the state of the art has barely progressed for many years. Introducing fresh ideas and new perspectives is the most natural conclusion. Be confident speakers; your voices matter. Great researchers aren’t always those with vast resources, but those who turn limitations into creativity and challenges into breakthroughs.
My thanks to Prof. Fumiya Iida, my supervisor and a male, who once said, “Why don’t we start something to help more talented women like you break barriers and step into robotics?”. That spark became the beginning of our initiative.
