The Engelberger Robotics Award, a prestigious honor in the robotics industry, will be awarded to Richard Litt and Martin Buehler on August 30, during a special ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan. This ceremony will form a part of the 43rd International Symposium on Robotics taking place from August 29 to 31, 2012.
Named after the international “father of robotics,” Joseph F. Engelberger, the awards are sponsored each year by Robotic Industries Association (RIA). A commemorative medallion and a $5,000 honorarium will be granted to each award recipient. Starting with the 1977-year initial presentation, around 115 industry leaders from 16 nations have been chosen for this award.
- The “2012 Engelberger Award for Leadership” will be presented to Richard Litt, the Chairman and Founder of Genesis Systems Group. Litt’s efforts took Genesis to a globally recognized robotic welding company from a small welding supply firm. Litt has been an expert in non-automotive robotic arc welding. He has expertise in the manufacture of high speed, affordable, precise auxiliary motion devices, robot-to-process equipment interfaces, workcell logic devices, and safety interlocks required for successful robotic welding workcells. He was chosen the first Chairman of RIA in 2008 to represent the system integrator community. He supported the establishment of 2012-launched RIA Certified Robot Integrator program, in addition to expanding RIA’s global outreach programs, contributing to a considerable growth of RIA’s membership.
- The “2012 Engelberger Award for Technology” will be conferred to Dr. Martin Buehler. Having over two decades of academic and industrial contributions in creating advanced robotics technology, Buehler is well-versed in directing robot manipulation, technology and services. Serving as a Vice President for Logistics Solutions at Vecna Technologies, Buehler is renowned in the academics for his proficiency in “intermittent dynamical” robotic tasks. Based on his research, several innovations in legged robot projects like BigDog and RHex were carried out. His efforts are still creating revolution in robotic industry as he is currently developing an autonomous hospital delivery robot called QC Bot.