Teaching Robots to Read the Lay of the Land on Strange New Worlds
Ayanna Howard can thank the Bionic Woman, her all-time favorite TV series, for inspiring her to get where she is today. The robotics research engineer made a name for herself designing systems so robots can safety traverse rough terrain - a skill useful here on Earth and on other planets.
She's been dubbed the robot wrangler.
"I was inspired by the TV show The Bionic Woman, in which a severely injured woman attains extraordinary powers through artificial (bionic) limbs," Ayanna said. "I decided at age 11 that I wanted to create artificial limbs for people. I planned to go to medical school, but discovered I hated biology -- especially dissecting frogs. Then I heard about robotics and realized that, if I became an engineer, I could do exactly what I wanted to do."
Her work will help NASA's next-generation Curiosity rover tackle challenging terrain. On Earth, Ayanna designed smart snowmobile like robots that can help monitor climate change in remote ice fields.
Ayanna is especially enthusiastic about sharing her career with the community. In addition to speaking about robotics at local schools, she reads to children at the library and helps put on cultural arts festivals where unknown artists interact with the community.
"All the community efforts actually occupy a lot of my time, but it's fun because they're social activities with a good cause," she said. "It's really rewarding when you hear people say, 'Maybe I can do that,' or 'I want to hear more.' I look at their eyes and think, 'Wow, I really do have a cool job.'"
One of Ayanna's priorities is to get young girls interested in learning math and science and pursuing related careers. She is concerned when she sees young girls lose hope with those subjects after having one or two bad experiences.
"I think the problem is that parents and teachers allow girls to give up at such an early age, so I try to encourage them," she said. "They don't have to be nerds that wear glasses and pocket protectors; they can still join clubs and play sports. Getting into math or science doesn't mean they have to lose their social aspects."
She also advises girls who want to get into robotics to have a strong sense of determination.
"Don't let anybody persuade you to give up," she said. "Know that you are going to experience adversity, but deal with it and keep going in spite of it."
Ayanna received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Brown University, her M.S.E.E. from the University of Southern California, and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles in 1999. She worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1993 to 2005 before moving on to a teaching career at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, Ga.
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