IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2015 - 158

Society News

2016 IEEE RAS Leadership

ince 2002, the IEEE, through
sponsorship of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
(RAS), has presented the IEEE
Robotics and Automation Technical
Field Award. In 2016, Raffaello
D'Andrea joins a long list of leaders in
the community as the winner of the
award (Figure 1). "For pioneering contributions to design and implementation of distributed, cooperative
robotics and automation systems for
commercial applications."
Spanning academics, business,
and the arts, Raffaello D'Andrea's
career is built on his ability to bridge
theory and practice. He was the faculty advisor and system architect of
the Cornell Robot Soccer Team, fourtime world champions at the international RoboCup competition. He was
one of the first in the controls community to use a multivehicle test bed
for research. At the ETH Zurich,
Switzerland, his research redefines
what autonomous systems are capable of. He is cofounder of Kiva Systems, a robotics company that
revolutionized material handling by
deploying thousands of autonomous
mobile robots in warehouses. He
recently founded Verity Studios, a
company developing a new breed of
interactive and autonomous flying
machines. Raffaello D'Andrea is a
professor of dynamic systems and
control at the ETH Zurich.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2015.2486581
Date of publication: 10 December 2015

158

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

2016 RAS Leadership
Announced
Leadership will change in January
2016, when Satoshi Tadakoro steps into
the role of RAS president. Joining him,
the following individuals will take the
vice president roles for the RAS boards.
They were approved at the 31 May
2015, RAS Administrative Committee
meeting, and their roles will end in
December 2017.
● Conference Editorial Board-Martin
Buss
● Financial Activities Board-Ron
Lumia
● Industrial Activities Board-Erwin
Prassler
● Member Activities Board-Jing Xiao
● Publication Activities Board-Lynne
Parker
● Technical Activities Board-
Fumihito Arai.
New Student Volunteers:
Regional Student
Representatives
The RAS Student Activities Committee (SAC) recently launched the
Regional Student Representatives
(RSR) initiative.

Figure 1. Raffaello D'Andrea.

Regional diversity presents a challenge for RAS to effectively implement
universal programs and engage students.
In response, the RSR program assigns
representatives to serve as ambassadors
from the SAC to local Student Chapters
to better facilitate communication
between the two groups.
The primary responsibilities for each
representative include
● initiate regional specific programs
and competitions
● participate in regular SAC meetings
to represent local Student Chapters
● oversee student communication via
mailing lists and social media.

Figure 2. From left: Thassyo Pinto, Emad Omari, Victor Carranza, Tony K James.

DECEMBER 2015

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