10 Women Shaping the Future of Robotics

Jun 04, 2024 — IFR decided to give women in robotics more visibility and acknowledgment. This should inspire girls and young women to pursue a career in STEM subjects or robotics and will also help companies to reach gender equality and overcome shortage of staff.

Selected Women in Robotics 2024 (copyright International Federation of Robotics)

IFR decided to give women in robotics more visibility and acknowledgment. This should inspire girls and young women to pursue a career in STEM subjects or robotics and will also help companies to reach gender equality and overcome shortage of staff (see our press release to find out more about the economic effect of gender equality).

From 2024, we will select a list of 10 women each year to officially award as “IFR's Women in Robotics: 10 Women Shaping the Future of Robotics”.
We asked the robotics community to come up with nominations and ended with an impressive list of women from many different countries, different levels of hierarchy and different company sizes and scopes.

We are happy to share the first list of "10 Women Shaping the Future of Robotics in 2024: 

  • Yasmin Al Enazi, Director Business Development & Corporate Alliance UAE Country at MARSES Robotics
  • Michelle Frumkin, Global Marketing Manager Robotics Segment - Abrasive Systems Division at 3M
  • Christelle Keefer, Global Product Manager / Education Director at ABB
  • Mar Masulli, CEO and Co-Founder of Bitmetrics
  • Clionadh Martin, Founder and CTO of Coalescent Mobile Robotics
  • Sofie Nilsson, Product Manager at Cognibotics
  • Daniela Sanchez, QC Engineer / QA Manager at Lionsbot
  • Dr. Nadja Schmiedl, CTO at United Robotics Group
  • Dr. Ulrike Tagscherer, Chief Innovation Officer at KUKA
  • Dr. Xiaorui Zhu, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of RoboSense Inc.

The list consists of 10 women from different countries, different company scopes, sizes and different levels of hierarchy. Among the selection criteria were contributions to and achievements in the field of robotics overall, driving the industry further, as well as activities towards the encouragement of young women to decide for a career in STEM subjects or robotics.

We will feature one women about every 2-3 weeks in our blog section and share insights on what made them decide to choose a career in robotics, what drives them to push robotics forward and what they do to support and inspire other women to do alike.


We would also thank all women that have been nominated but not see their names on the list for their engagement. Their names will remain in our pool and will be the basis for next years selection. We will announce the 2025 call by the end of the year. 

Press Contact IFR

Carsten Heer

IFR Press Inquiries


Phone: +49 40-822 44 284
E-Mail: press(at)ifr.org

Dr. Susanne Bieller

IFR General Secretary

Lyoner Str. 18
DE-60528 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: +49 69-6603-1502
E-Mail: secretariat(at)ifr.org