Lisa Winter (born 1985/1986) is an American engineer, roboticist, and television personality. She is best known for her work on the television series BattleBots, where she competed with numerous robots and is currently a judge.
Growing up in Wisconsin, from an early age Winter expressed an interest in robotics.[2] In 1996, she joined her father in building robots for battle competitions.[3] She attended Miramonte High School, and went on to graduate from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[1]
Robot competitions
She was a part of the team "Robot Action League".[4]
Robot Wars
Winter first competed in 1996, when she was 10 years old, at Robot Wars in San Francisco.[5] Her robot was called "Dough Boy", and consisted of an aluminum base and horizontally spinning blades.[5][6] She eventually became the Robot Wars middleweight world champion.[7][1]
BattleBots
Winter has been a part of every season of BattleBots. She competed in seasons 1 through 7, and was a judge for seasons 8 through 12.[8][9] Her BattleBots include: Tentoumushi, Mr. Squeeky, Plan X, and Mega Tento.
In 2000, Winter and fellow competitor Christian Carlberg appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to demonstrate their robots and perform a mini fight.[10][11]
Career
After graduating from UCSC, she worked part time for her father's robotics company before being hired by an industrial design company. She cofounded Robot11, a smart toy company, in 2011. In 2013, she designed a social wearable device for Kwame Corp. As of 2020 she is the Engineering Project Manager at Mattel.[1][12]
Personal life
Winter is on the board of directors for Women In Robotics.[13] She also volunteers her time to make "hat tags" for The Marine Mammal Center in Marin, California.[14] She is a vegan.[1]