Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Black in Robotics (BiR) is a new organization that was born to address the systemic inequities found in our robotics community by focusing on three primary pillars - community, advocacy, and accountability. We want to bring the robotics community together around these initiatives!Black in Robotics brings together a global network of Black Roboticists, Allies, and Organizational Sponsors contributing to the goal of enhancing diversity, inclusion and equity in robotics.We believe that to see increased presence of black and under-represented minorities in robotics we must actively build community, advocate for diversity and encourage accountability.Community. Building community through networking and mentorship is a first step to increasing the presence of black and under-represented minorities in the field of robotics. Our objective is to facilitate these connections and support through hosted events and social media. Advocacy. We believe that to effect change, we need to advocate for diversity. We do this by gathering opportunities for talent sourcing, connecting industry, academia and the community. In addition, we purposefully highlight the amazing work being done by our community as a means to increase visibility as well as encourage individuals on their journey. Accountability. We know change is not always immediate, but an important steps is to ensuring progress is to track the progress and highlight success. We hope to work alongside academia and industry to help them find talent, retain talent and highlight progress in increased diversity.To learn more, please see this editorial: “Robots are not immune to bias and injustice” Howard, Kennedy in Science Robotics, 2020.