Full Name
Rodney Brooks
Job Title
Cofounder and CTO, Robust.AI; Founder, Chairman, and CTO
Company
Rethink Robotics
Brief Biography
Dr. Rodney A. Brooks is a pioneering roboticist, computer scientist, and entrepreneur whose work has fundamentally reshaped the robotics industry. He is the Cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of Robust.AI, a company focused on building cognitive engines for intelligent and collaborative robots.
Prior to Robust.AI, Dr. Brooks was the Founder, Chairman, and CTO of Rethink Robotics, where he led the development of groundbreaking collaborative robots like Baxter and Sawyer. He also co-founded iRobot Corp. (Nasdaq: IRBT), serving as Board Member and CTO, where he played a key role in bringing autonomous consumer and defense robotics into the mainstream.
Dr. Brooks served as Director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and then the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) from 1997 to 2007. He holds the title of Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus) at MIT, where he joined the faculty in 1984. He previously held research positions at Carnegie Mellon and MIT and a faculty position at Stanford.
His research contributions span computer vision, robot navigation, micro-actuators, planetary exploration, artificial life, and human-robot collaboration. Dr. Brooks has published extensively and remains a thought leader in the intersection of AI and robotics.
Dr. Brooks holds degrees in pure mathematics from the Flinders University of South Australia and a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the AAAS, AAAI, ACM, and both Australian academies of science and engineering.
His many honors include the 2023 IEEE Founders Medal, the IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production, the Engelberger Robotics Award for Leadership, and the Computers and Thought Award from IJCAI. He is also the author of Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us and was featured in the Errol Morris documentary Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.
Prior to Robust.AI, Dr. Brooks was the Founder, Chairman, and CTO of Rethink Robotics, where he led the development of groundbreaking collaborative robots like Baxter and Sawyer. He also co-founded iRobot Corp. (Nasdaq: IRBT), serving as Board Member and CTO, where he played a key role in bringing autonomous consumer and defense robotics into the mainstream.
Dr. Brooks served as Director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and then the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) from 1997 to 2007. He holds the title of Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus) at MIT, where he joined the faculty in 1984. He previously held research positions at Carnegie Mellon and MIT and a faculty position at Stanford.
His research contributions span computer vision, robot navigation, micro-actuators, planetary exploration, artificial life, and human-robot collaboration. Dr. Brooks has published extensively and remains a thought leader in the intersection of AI and robotics.
Dr. Brooks holds degrees in pure mathematics from the Flinders University of South Australia and a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the AAAS, AAAI, ACM, and both Australian academies of science and engineering.
His many honors include the 2023 IEEE Founders Medal, the IEEE Inaba Technical Award for Innovation Leading to Production, the Engelberger Robotics Award for Leadership, and the Computers and Thought Award from IJCAI. He is also the author of Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us and was featured in the Errol Morris documentary Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.
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