On November 9th, we launched the Bonn chapter of Women in AI & Robotics and celebrated the new partnership between Women in AI & Robotics and the IWE.

Women in AI & Robotics is a non-profit organization, aimed at fighting the gender gap in the fields of AI and robotics. The organization empowers women by offering them a network, workshops, a platform to share their own work, mentorship programs, and more. Women in AI & Robotics is a global network, with local communities in Germany and Canada. The IWE has partnered up with Women in AI & Robotics, to start a local community in Bonn.

The launch event of the Bonn chapter took place in the DRZE library, where we learned from our speakers about all the different types of research related to the fields of AI and robotics. Prof. Dr. Maren Bennewitz told us about her research on foresighted robot navigation, human-robot interaction, and the use of AI and robotics for sustainable crop production. Prof. Dr. Aimee van Wynsberghe explained that we should not only think about how AI can be used for sustainability, but also look at the sustainability of AI. Modestha Mensah continued on that topic, from a feminist African perspective, teaching us about the people and the parts of the world that suffer most from the hidden costs of AI.

The goal of the event was to establish a local community of people whose jobs or studies relate to AI or robotics and who support the goal of closing the gender gap in these fields. With over 40 people attending the event, and many of them registering as a member of the Women in AI & Robotics community afterwards, we can conclude that the event was a big success!

Our next meetup will take place on Tuesday the 16th of January 2024, at the PhenoRob office of the University of Bonn.
For more information about this meetup, please go to: https://www.eventbrite.de/e/women-in-ai-robotics-meetup-in-bonn-tickets-754457872807

Video recording:

This event has been recorded and will be available on our YouTube channel in January 2024.