IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Selects Seth Hutchinson as Next President

At their October meeting in Madrid, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) elected Seth Hutchinson to serve as its president-elect under current president Wolfram Burgard.

Hutchinson, a professor and KUKA Chair for Robotics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will assume the Society presidency in January 2020. He is an IEEE Fellow and has served RAS on the administrative committee, as editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, as editor-in-chief of the ICRA Conference Editorial Board, and on numerous other RAS committees and conferences.

“I’m honored to be chosen as the next president of RAS,” said Hutchinson. “I’ve been an active member for 20 years and have greatly enjoyed being a part of the Society. RAS plays an important role in driving research and encouraging collaboration amongst roboticsts from around the world.”

Hutchinson began his tenure at Georgia Tech in January 2018. Previously, he was a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to serving as professor and KUKA Chair, Hutchinson is an associate director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM). His research in robotics spans the areas of planning, sensing, and control. He is the co-author of two books and has published more than 200 papers on robotics.

“We were excited when Seth joined us at Georgia Tech and we knew big things were in his future,” said Gary McMurray, interim director of IRIM. “His selection as the next president of RAS reflects highly not only on his reputation, but also on Georgia Tech’s.”

Founded in 1984, RAS is one of the largest professional societies for roboticists. It sponsors the two largest international conferences on robotics: the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) and the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). Additionally, the Society publishes and co-sponsors multiple peer-reviewed journals, including IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine.