en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) officially announced the winners of the 2026 Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Awards on April 29, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Hiroshi Fujiwara, Executive Director of the Japan Robot Association (JARA), received the Leadership Award, and Robert Little, co-founder of ATI Industrial Automation, received the Application Award. The awards ceremony is scheduled for the evening of June 24 at McCormick Place in Chicago, coinciding with Automate 2026, North America's largest robotics and automation trade show.
Named after the "Father of Robotics," the Engelberger Awards have been recognized as one of the highest honors in the global robotics field since their establishment in 1977. Winners are selected by a jury composed of past chairs of A3 and the Robotic Industries Association, with each recipient receiving a $5,000 honorarium, a commemorative medal, and a plaque.
Hiroshi Fujiwara has served as JARA's Executive Director since 2009, leading strategic operations and policy advocacy for Japan's robotics industry and promoting industry-government-academia collaborative innovation in the fields of industrial robots and service robots. Prior to joining JARA, he served for nearly three decades at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), holding leadership positions in industrial policy, technology development, economic security, and international trade before retiring from METI in 2009. Additionally, he has held key positions at the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, spanning multiple dimensions of industrial policy, academic research, and infrastructure.
A3 President Jeff Burnstein stated that Fujiwara has helped strengthen one of the world's most important robotics ecosystems, building a collaborative network that spans industry, government, and international markets.
Little has been deeply engaged in the field of robotics applications for over four decades. He co-founded ATI Industrial Automation in 1989, growing the company's revenue from approximately $1 million to over $100 million, making it a global leader in end-effector technologies such as robotic tool changers and force/torque sensors. After ATI was acquired by Novanta in 2021, he successively served as President of the ATI Business Unit and Director of Robotics Strategy. He currently continues to provide corporate strategy guidance for the robotics and automation market through his own consulting firm, Robert Little Robotics, while also serving as a member of A3's Robotics Technology Strategy Board.
Burnstein commented on Little, noting that he has dedicated his life's work to helping manufacturers deploy robots more effectively, providing companies with the tools and technologies to advance automation with greater flexibility and confidence.
The Automate 2026 show is scheduled for June 22-25 at McCormick Place in Chicago, expected to bring together over 800 exhibitors and more than 50,000 attendees. The event will feature a dedicated humanoid robot zone sponsored by NVIDIA for the first time. A3 currently represents over 1,450 organizations, including manufacturers, suppliers, integrators, and research institutions. This award presentation continues to reinforce the industry benchmark that this organization has established in the robotics field for nearly half a century.
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