The Robotic Industries Association (RIA)'s annual Engelberger Robotics Awards were given to Catherine Morris and Dr. Howie Choset.
The Robotic Industries Association (RIA) announced the winners of the Engelberger Robotics Awards. The 2019 Engelberger Robotics Award was given to Catherine Morris, group leader and director of automotive sales at ATI Industrial Automation and a long-time RIA board member and former chairperson; and Dr. Howie Choset, robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University and co-founder of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute.
The award is named for Joseph F. Engelberger, known throughout the world as the “father of robotics.” Engelberger was the founder and president of Unimation, Inc., the world’s first industrial robot manufacturer. The Engelberger Robotics awards are presented to individuals for excellence in technology development, application, education and leadership in the robotics industry. Each winner receives a $5,000 honorarium and commemorative medallion with the inscription, “Contributing to the advancement of the science of robotics in the service of mankind.” Since the award’s inception in 1977, it has been bestowed upon 128 robotics leaders from 17 different nations.
2019 Engelberger Robotics Awards Winners
Catherine Morris is honored in the category of Leadership. “I can think of very few people in the history of the robotics industry who have been as committed to the growth of our industry as Catherine,” said Jeff Burnstein, RIA President. “In addition to helping build ATI into a global leader in robotic accessories and robot arm tooling, she has been a tireless advocate of robotics and the important role that groups like RIA play within it. She’s also been an outstanding role model and mentor for women in robotics – getting more women involved in robotics will be a key to the long-term success of the industry. In her role at ATI since 1995, she has positively impacted the success of robotics end users, robot manufacturers, and system integrators through her high degree of process and mechatronic knowledge.”
Dr. Howie Choset received the award for Education. “In addition to being an inspiring professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Choset has lead key research efforts to help solve significant problems in diverse areas such as surgery, manufacturing, infrastructure inspection and search rescue,” Burnstein said. “Additionally, he has co-founded several companies, including Medrobotics for surgical system, Hebi Robotics for modular robots, and Bito Robotics for autonomous guided vehicles. His FDA-approved surgical snake robot has been in use in the U.S. and Europe since 2015. Add to that his role as a co-founder of the ARM Institute that is aimed at advancing technology development and education for robotics in manufacturing, and his role as a founding editor of the journal Science Robotics, and you see that Dr. Choset is well-deserving of our industry’s highest honor.”
Robotic Industries Association (RIA)
– Edited from an RIA press release by CFE Media. RIA is a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to improving the regional, national and global competitiveness of the North American manufacturing and service sectors through robotics and related automation. The RIA is a part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). A3 is a CFE Media content partner. See more Control Engineering robotics stories.
