From Mexican immigrant to MIT, from Girl Power in Latin America to robotics entrepreneurs in Africa and India, the 2019 annual "women in robotics you need to know about" list is here! We've featured 150 women so far, from 2013 to 2018, and this time we're not stopping at 25. We're featuring 30 badass #womeninrobotics because robotics is growing and there are many new stories to be told. So, without further ado, here are the 30 Women In Robotics you need to know about – 2019 edition! There are 150 more stories on our 2013 to 2018 lists. Why not nominate someone for inclusion next year!

Around 35 Members of World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM), all democratic former Heads of State and Government, will join representatives from governments, civil society, academia and tech companies in a discussion to define policy solutions that address the challenges of digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) in our societies. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of WLA-CdM and former President of Latvia, warns of the big governance challenges that the technological transformation brings along, while also acknowledging its great opportunities. With this in mind, WLA-CdM has partnered with the IE School of Global & Public Affairs in the organization of its 2019 Policy Dialogue titled'Digital Transformation and the Future of Democracy: How can Artificial Intelligence Drive Democratic Governance?' "The rise of AI will change our societies in ways researchers are only beginning to examine, and democratic governments simply cannot afford to lag behind. We must govern the technological game before it governs us, not through censorship or trying to stop innovation, but by acquiring competencies and a better understanding of how AI could work for us", says President Vike-Freiberga. AI is set to bring about a radical transformation that will disrupt economic and social trends, raise new ethical dilemmas and change the existing balance of power between states. At a time of growing inequality and wide-spread mistrust of institutions, democracies will need to work out AI's rollout in our societies without giving up on their foundational values.

WASHINGTON/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The U.S. government expanded its trade blacklist to include some of China's top artificial intelligence startups, punishing Beijing for its treatment of Muslim minorities and ratcheting up tensions ahead of high-level trade talks in Washington this week. The decision, almost certain to draw a sharp response from Beijing, targets 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight companies including video surveillance firm Hikvision, as well as leaders in facial recognition technology SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology Ltd. The action bars the firms from buying components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval - a potentially crippling move. It follows the same blueprint used by Washington in its attempt to limit the influence of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for what it says are national security reasons. U.S. officials said the action was not tied to this week's resumption of trade talks with China, but it signals no let-up in U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line stance as the world's two biggest economies seek to end their 15-month trade war.

Deepfake videos can be fun, but not when it comes to politcs and pornography. Now, the state of California is doing something about it with two new bills signed into law last week by Governor Gavin Newsom. The first makes it illegal to post any manipulated videos that could, for instance, replace a candidate's face or speech in order to discredit them, within 60 days of an election. The other will allow residents of the state to sue anyone who puts their image into a pornographic video using deepfake technology. Deepfake videos have become more convincing as of late, especially recent ones from Ctrl Shift Face that show comedian/actor Bill Hader's face replaced by Tom Cruise.

HONG KONG/BEIJING – Donald Trump's latest salvo against China threatens to derail a $1 billion coming-out party for a prominent startup backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., while curtailing the country's broader ambitions of leading artificial intelligence in the coming decade. The U.S. placed eight Chinese technology giants on a U.S. blacklist Monday, accusing them of being implicated in human rights violations against Muslim minorities in the country's far-western region of Xinjiang. Among those singled out for sweeping American export restrictions were SenseTime Group Ltd., the world's largest AI startup, and Megvii Technology Ltd. -- two giant enterprises Beijing is counting on to spearhead advances into a revolutionary technology, aided by billions of dollars in foreign backing. The White House's actions -- announced days before sensitive trade negotiations resume in Washington -- cast a pall over not just Megvii's capital-raising effort but the burgeoning Chinese sector. Leading players like SenseTime and Megvii, already having trouble securing financing during an economic downturn, had considered international forays to sustain a sizzling pace of growth.

Visitors are tracked by face recognition technology from state-owned surveillance equipment manufacturer Hikvision at the Security China 2018 expo in Beijing. Hikvision is one of several firms that have been added to a U.S. trade blacklist. Visitors are tracked by face recognition technology from state-owned surveillance equipment manufacturer Hikvision at the Security China 2018 expo in Beijing. Hikvision is one of several firms that have been added to a U.S. trade blacklist. The Commerce Department has issued a list of 28 state security bureaus and tech companies in China that it says are being used to suppress the country's Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities – a move that blocks them from doing business with U.S. firms.

The world is getting smaller. Transportation routes are getting faster, storage times shorter. Resources are available anytime, anywhere. The worldwide trade knows no bounds, and it comes in many shapes and forms. In the future, intelligent international trading companies will shift from focusing on transactions and wares to the interaction with customers and suppliers.

If you live in Houston, your next Domino's pizza delivery may be by an unmanned vehicle. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not hear Domino's petition on whether its website is accessible to the disabled is considered a loss for the pizza giant and a win for disability advocates. The case was one of a long list of those the Supreme Court announced it wouldn't hear, and as is usual the high court made no comment in declining to take the case. Monday was the Supreme Court's first day of arguments after its summer break. The order to not hear the case keeps in place a January ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Domino's and other retailers must make its online services accessible.

Military leaders recognize AI's potentially seismic impact on their mission and operations, and they expect practical applications to proliferate, from threat monitoring to asset tracking to predictive maintenance. The accelerated delivery of AI-enabled capabilities and the cultivation of a much-needed tech workforce in the US evolved as result of both the Department of Defense's AI strategy launched in February followed by the White House's executive order on "Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence". Russia, China and other countries make substantial investments in AI capabilities, posing threats to US capabilities in this field. The traditional US military decision-making cycle OODA (observe, orient, decide, and act) paired with AI can provide commanders and executives a practical, high-level framework to consider potential military and national security applications for the technology, according to defensesystems.com. Observing (sensing) – Every soldier is a potential sensor for internet-of-things application.

TUM has been studying the complex interactions of science, technology and society since 2012 through the work of the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS), which was established under the 2012 Excellence Initiative. As part of the MCTS, the TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence (IEAI) will focus on ethical implications of artificial intelligence. The US company Facebook is supporting this TUM initiative by a 6.5 million euro donation not subject to any conditions or expectations. At today's opening symposium for the Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence (IEAI) at TUM, Dorothee Bär, the Federal Government Commissioner for Digital Affairs, said: "To some extent, machine learning algorithms are already playing a role in choosing the news articles we read. But the possible applications extend far beyond that, for example into such areas as medical diagnostics. These far-reaching technological changes raise many ethical issues. It is a good thing that TUM is getting involved in addressing these issues."