IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2018 - 101

released its first suite of mobile
therapy and educational products
for children with differing needs.
Kaijen Hsiao is the chief technology officer and Sarah Osentoski is the chief operating officer of
Mayfield Robotics. Hsiao's focus
has been working on the development of Kuri's navigation/mapping
and perception capabilities and on
features such as cameras, sensors,
processors, and mechanisms for
expression and movement. Osen- Figure 3. Some of the Zyrobotics tools for children
toski is the driving force behind with disabilities.
Mayfield's development and is
extremely dedicated to cultivating
an environment where creativity, curiosi- 23 most powerful women engineers in
ty, and ingenuity thrive. Together with the world by Business Insider.
Stephanie Lee, director of mechanical
engineering at Mayfield Robotics, they RAM: Can you tell me how ensuring
have worked to develop Kuri's mechani- the diversity of your team impacts your
cal hardware.
start-up's product?
Radhika Nagpal cofounded Root
Hsiao, Osentoski, and Lee: Kuri is an
Robotics with Ziv Dubrovsky and adorable home robot that brings a spark
Raphael Cherney at Harvard's Wyss of life to any home and becomes part of
Institute for Biologically Inspired Engi- any family. Every family is different, so it
neering. Nagpal is a professor of com- was important to us that the team workputer science at the John A. Paulson ing on her was diverse, bringing ideas,
School of Engineering and Applied Sci- experiences, and backgrounds as wideences and is a colead of the biorobotics ranging as the families Kuri would beplatform at the Wyss Institute. She was come a part of.
named by the journal Nature in 2014 as
Nagpal: Our goal as a company is to
one of the year's top ten scientists. She reach all kids, and that's a diverse demois a strong advocate for an inclusive graphic-to understand the different
culture in science and is passionate motivations, economic and family expeabout gender respect, equity, and diver- riences, and school experiences is not a
sity in academia.
simple thing. What I enjoy the most
Ayanna Howard is a cofounder of about Root as a company is that everyand chief technology officer for Zyrob- one is bringing ideas to the table on how
otics, LLC, which is currently licensing to reach our mission, and we often
technology derived from her research. brainstorm as a group. Having diversity
Howard is the Linda J. and Mark C. in the team means that we can construct
Smith professor and chair of the School better concrete ideas, because different
of Interactive Computing at the Georgia team members notice different aspects
Institute of Technology. She also holds a and have different experiences. Diverfaculty appointment in the School of sity for us includes gender and ethnicElectrical and Computer Engineering, ity, but also where you grew up and
where she functions as the director of what your family construct was. All
the Human-Automation Systems Lab. these things affect how kids learn and
In 2015, she founded and now directs how kids imagine what they will be
the US$3 million traineeship initiative in the future. If we want computer
in health-care robotics and functions as science to reach more broadly, then we
the lead investigator on the National have to broaden our thinking.
Science Foundation's undergraduate
Howard: With the rapid movement
summer research program in robotics. to a touch-based world, people with a
She has been recognized as one of the disability could be at a disadvantage,

and, with Zyrobotics, we develop
assistive technologies to empower
children with disabilities. Zyrobotics produces a lot of childrenfriendly products, which helps
foster inclusiveness irrespective of
ability, race, or gender.
RAM: What kinds of things
should a start-up do to recruit and
retain a talented and diverse team?
Hsiao, Osentoski, and Lee:
When thinking about the culture
we wanted to have at Mayfield, we
placed a high importance on creating an inclusive environment
where people could do their best
work. When a team works in an environment where members feel supported and empowered while also being
challenged, diversity proliferates. Leading by example works. Having a diverse
team makes a huge difference, both in
terms of our products and in terms of
our culture. Bringing in diverse perspectives allows us to create a product
that appeals to a wide range of people
from all walks of life. In terms of company culture, we promote work-life balance and family friendliness. This keeps
team members excited about the work
they're doing and gives them the freedom to recharge, while preventing
burnout. As a result, we've been able to
attract employees with diverse backgrounds and family lives who challenge
one another while simultaneously
maintaining a mutual respect.
Nagpal: Start-ups are volatile because everyone who joins is risk taking,
and many talented people may not be in
a personal situation to take financial
risk. Because of the history on race and
gender in the United States, this directly
affects diversity in a company. Many
populations that we want to bring to the
table have been excluded for centuries
and are vulnerable and less able to take
that risk. For that reason, I also think
that those of us founding start-ups need
to think bigger and take action at the
public policy level; things like publicly
guaranteed, affordable health care; basic
income; paid maternity leave; etc. are

december 2018

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