[May 23, 2018]

RIA to Present Gudrun Litzenberger and Esben Østergaard With Engelberger Robotics Awards

Today the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry's trade organization, announced the winners of the 2018 Engelberger Robotics Awards, the world's most prestigious robotics honor. The 2018 awards will be presented to Gudrun Litzenberger, the General Secretary of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), and Esben Østergaard, CTO and Cofounder of Universal Robots. Litzenberger and Østergaard will be honored at a special ceremony on June 20 in conjunction with Automatica and the International Symposium on Robotics, held June 19-22 in Munich, Germany.

The award is named for Joseph F. Engelberger, known throughout the world as the "father of robotics." Engelberger was 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."

The awards recognize outstanding individuals from all over the world. Since the award's inception in 1977, it has been bestowed upon 126 robotics leaders from 17 different nations. This year the awards will be presented in the categories of leadership and technology.

The Engelberger Robotics Award for Leadership is awarded to Gudrun Litzenberger.

"Gudru Litzenberger has spent much of her career helping our industry better understand the size and scope of the global robotics market," said Jeff Burnstein, RIA president. "Her work has established the IFR as the leading source of global robotics statistics during an era when the interest in robotics is growing exponentially. Furthermore, Gudrun has been a tireless advocate for our industry throughout the world."

The Engelberger Robotics Award for Technology is awarded to Esben Østergaard.

"Esben Østergaard's work in the field of collaborative robot applications has allowed robots to enter previously unthinkable sectors in just about every industry," added Burnstein. "His emphasis on robots that work side by side with people has created enormous interest among many small and medium sized companies who never even considered robots before. In a world that is increasingly characterized by people and robots working together, Esben's pioneering technology advances play a pivotal role."

2018 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Awards Dinner

The Engelberger Awards Ceremony will be held at 6:30pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, Germany as part of the International Symposium on Robotics. For more information on the winners and to purchase tickets for the event, please visit the RIA website: https://www.robotics.org/robotic-content-adv.cfm?id=354.

RIA is a member organization of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). More information on the Robotic Industries Association may be found at www.robotics.org.

About Robotic Industries Association (RIA)

Founded in 1974, RIA is a not-for-profit trade association driving innovation, growth, and safety in manufacturing and service industries through education, promotion, and advancement of robotics, related automation technologies, and companies delivering integrated solutions. RIA represents some 475 robot manufacturers, system integrators, component suppliers, end users, consulting firms, research groups, and educational institutions. The association hosts a number of educational events including the International Robot Safety Conference (October 9-11, 2018 in Detroit), the Collaborative Robots, Advanced Vision & AI Conference (October 24-25, 2018 in Santa Clara, CA (News - Alert)), the A3 Business Forum (January 14-16, 2019 in Orlando) and the biennial Automate Show & Conference (April 8-11, 2019 in Chicago). RIA also provides quarterly robotics statistics and has a content-rich website, Robotics Online. For more details on RIA, visit www.robotics.org or call 734-994-6088.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180523005650/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]