Today is Ada Lovelace Day, an event to mark the importance of women in areas of technology. Bloggers around the world are creating blog posts, podcasts, and other online media to showcase women that have influenced and inspired them.

For me, it was a difficult choice, but I ultimately chose Helen Greiner. Greiner is the co-founder of iRobot, most notably known as the creators of the Roomba cleaning device. iRobot has also developed innovating military robots such as the PackBot, which limit exposure to explosives and chemical agents for service men and women.

Greiner was inspired by the world of robotics after being introduced to R2D2 at the age of 10. She would go on to learn how to program her family's TRS-80 PC to control some of her older brother's coveted toys, study artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), develop repair-performing robots during her internship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and work with California Cybernetics in the development of automobile manufacturing. In 1990, she would use her MIT connections to form iRobot with Rodney Brooks and and Colin Angle.

Through Helen Greiner's work, we're able to realize the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence in our personal and professional lives.

Wall-Street Journal profile here.

Dataquest information here.

U.S. News & World Report article here.

2008 Women of Vision award speech here:

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