Elena García Armada

Elena Garcia Armada (b. 1971 Valladolid, Spain) is a Spanish researcher, roboticist, business founder and industrial engineer who leads the CSIC group at the Center for Automation and Robotics, (CAR) CSIC-UPM that has developed the first bionic exoskeleton for children with spinal muscular atrophy, for which she received the European Inventor Award Popular Prize in 2022.

Early life and education
Elena Garcia Armada was born in Valladolid, Spain in 1971. She received a doctorate in robotic engineering in 2002 from the Polytechnic University of Madrid by her work “Optimizing the speed and stability of legged robots in natural environments”. She began a career in industry-orientated robotics at the Center for Automation and Robotics, (CAR) CSIC-UPM, as a postdoctoral research fellow. She completed her training at the Leg Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Daniela
In 2009, Garcia met Daniela, a six-year-old girl who had become tetraplegic as a result of a traffic accident. Garcia became determined to engineer paediatric robotic exoskeletons, which were not available in medicine at the time. The goal of these exoskeletons was to provide gait assistance to contribute to the rehabilitation of injured children or children suffering from degenerative neuromuscular diseases.

Career
Garcia continues to work for CAR as a Tenured senior scientist within the Centre for Automation and Robotics (CSIC-UPM). She leads her own research group creating artificial legs and quadrupeds developing versatile artificial muscles. The aim of the groups research is to improve the performance of legged robots, including, active compliance in foot-ground interaction, developing new actuators, improving dynamic stability, and designing and controlling agile quadrupeds and lower-limb exoskeletons for mobility aid.

Garcia cofounded Marsi Bionics in 2013 as a spin-off of CAR. It builds adjustable paediatric exoskeletons that incorporate small motors to mimic muscle movements and provide the person with the strength to walk.

During her Career, Garcia has published 80 international scientific articles and one book on legged locomotion. Additionally, Garcia is a member of the editorial board of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

Awards and honors
In 2020, Robohub (an online communication platform about robotics) considered Garcia as one of the "30 women in robotics you need to know about". In 2021, she received the Community of Madrid "Fermina Orduña" Technological Innovation Award, and a Honorable Mention as Industrial Engineer of the Year from Colegio de Ingenieros Industriales de Madrid (COIIM).

In 2022, she received the Red Cross Gold Medal, a Special Mention in the I UICM Professional Woman Awards and the Business Insiders "Better Capitalism Top Insiders 2022" Award. In June 2022 she received the European Inventor Award Popular Prize, awarded by the European Patent Office (EPO), for her paediatric exoskeleton design.

In February 2023, Garcia was named Doctor honoris causa by Miguel de Cervantes European University, in Valladolid.

In March 2023, she received a "Premio Nacional de Discapacidad Reina Letizia" Research and Innovation Award from Government of Spain Ministry of Social Affairs (Spain) and the Community of Madrid acknowledged Garcia with a Technology Award in "Reconocimientos 8 de Marzo a mujeres destacadas por su talento y liderazgo".

In July 2022, the Spanish Federation of Executive, Professional and Managerial Women (FEDEPE) acknowledged Garcia with the Leadership Professional Woman Award.