Photo: Sam Brown,




Juanita Albro ’92, grad student at UCI Robotics Lab




Robert Finkelstein PhD ’88, president of Robotic Technology Inc.


Peter Cunningham ’77, SM ’86, principal and founder of Perception Robotics

that it is for geeks and irrelevant to today’s global concerns.  Robotics, particularly in the ocean are pulling back the veil of uncertainty and shedding light on scientific phenomena relevant to daily life, including hurricane formation, climate change, oil exploration and ocean acidification.  Robots that can survive 7 meter (20+ foot) seas are changing our understanding of this ocean planet.  From Cape Cod to Cape Town (South Africa) marine robots are making a difference.

Justin Manley XIII ’96, director of Liquid Robotics

Many perceive robotics to be the study and/or creation of biologically-inspired devices.  While biological systems certainly inspire (and often interface with) many robotic systems, robotics in general simply seeks to design and create systems with some degree of autonomy.  By this definition, an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle navigation system is as much a “robot” as a robotic hand, robotic dog, or robotic humanoid.

Sterling Anderson SM ’09, PhD candidate at MIT Robotic Mobility Group

The biggest stereotype about industrial robotics is that they should resemble what they see in the movies, like 3CPO.  Robots used in industry are actually special purpose machines that are designed for specific applications.  They can use force control and 2D or 3D vision and can adapt to changes in their environments.  While robots fall short of the ability of humans in many ways, they can be designed to be faster, stronger, and cleaner than operators as the examples below indicate.

Spider robots, like the FANUC M-1iA shown, are small robots designed with a pick speed of 200 picks/min.

Heavy payload robots, like the FANUC M-2000iA, can pick 1 ½ tons with complete articulation.

Food option robots, like the M-430iA shown, are fast and can be washed down with caustic solutions for cleaning.

People should keep an open mind about the potential use of robots and not be bound by having a humanoid form.

Dick Johnson SM ’80, general manager of FANUC Robotics America

Thank you to all alumni who contributed!