Gabriela Gallegos Garrido – Winner 2017

Gabriela is a naturally gifted designer. Her innate passion for mobile robotics is evidenced by more than 12 years of experience during which she designed and prototyped numerous robots, ranging from robotic arms to fully autonomous vehicles.

To name just one of Gabriela’s achievements, during her PhD she designed and implemented a novel algorithm for SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) and used it to build a robot that could map its surroundings and determine its location in real-time by utilising data from laser range finders, odometry, and an omnidirectional camera.

After completing her PhD, she worked for 4 years for a start-up in Paris (Balyo) automating fleets of forklifts to navigate around warehouses and complete programmed tasks autonomously. She was instrumental in shipping award-winning designs and soon became the leader of the company’s Hardware Team.

In Cambridge, Gabriela volunteers for Robogals, an organisation that helps empower girls to pursue STEAM careers. Gabriela currently mentors three different Robogals chapters in the EMEA region and is looking at opening a new chapter at London South Bank University in London.

In her current role as a Research Fellow at the London South Bank Innovation Centre, she designs mobile robots that inspect weld lines in ship hulls and similar structures. This is a highly challenging task that requires robots that can climb vertical walls, navigate uneven surfaces, and work for extended periods of time while communicating the results of inspections wirelessly.