Daniela Rus has spent her career breaking barriers—scientific, social, and material—in her quest to build machines that amplify rather than replace human capability. She made robotics her life’s work, she says, because she understood it was a way to expand the possibilities of computing while enhancing human capabilities.
“I like to think of robotics as a way to give people superpowers,” Rus says. “Machines can help us reach farther, think faster, and live fuller lives.”
Daniela Rus Employer MIT Job title Professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science; director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Member grade Fellow Alma maters University of Iowa, in Iowa City; Cornell
Her dual missions, she says, are to make technology humane and to make the most of the opportunities afforded by life in the United States. The two goals have fueled her journey from a childhood living under a dictatorship in Romania to the forefront of global robotics research.
Rus, who is director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), is the recipient of this year’s IEEE Edison Medal, which recognizes her for “sustained leadership and pioneering contributions in modern robotics.”
An IEEE Fellow, she describes the recognition as a responsibility to further her work and mentor the next generation of roboticists entering the field.
The Edison Medal is the latest in a string of honors she has received. In 2017 she won an Engelberger Robotics Award from the Robotic Industries Association. The following year, she was honored with the Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. The society recognized her again in 2023 with its IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award.
From Romania to Iowa
Rus was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, during the rule of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Her early life unfolded in a world defined by scarcity—rationed food, intermittent electricity, and a limited ability to move up or out. But she recalls that, amid the stifling insufficiencies, she was surrounded by an irrepressible warmth and intellectual curiosity—even when she was making locomotive screws in a state-run factory as part of her school’s curriculum.
“Life was hard,” she says, “but we had great teachers and strong communities. As a child, you adapt to whatever is around you.”
... continue reading