Page 9 - Making things move_ DIY mechanisms for inventors, hobbyists, and artists

About the Author

Dustyn Roberts is a traditionally trained engineer with nontraditional ideas about
how engineering can be taught. She started her career at Honeybee Robotics as an
engineer on the Sample Manipulation System project for NASA’s Mars Science
Laboratory mission, scheduled for launch in 2011. While at Honeybee, she also
designed a robotic drill; led field operations of a robotic truck in an Australian mine;
supported proposal efforts for DARPA, NIH, NASA, and DOD; and led a project with
Goddard Space Flight Center to create a portable sample manipulation system for
lunar operations. After consulting with two artists during their residency at Eyebeam
Art + Technology Center in New York City, she founded Dustyn Robots (www
.dustynrobots.com) and continues to engage in consulting work, ranging from gait
analysis to designing guided parachute systems. In 2007, she developed a course for
New York University’s (NYU’s) Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) called
Mechanisms and Things That Move, which led to the book you are now holding in
your hands.
Dustyn holds a BS in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon
University, with minors in Robotics and Business, and an MS in Biomechanics and
Movement Science from the University of Delaware, and is currently pursuing a PhD in
Mechanical Engineering at NYU-Poly. She has attracted media attention by Time Out
New York, PSFK, IEEE Spectrum, and other local organizations. She currently lives in
New York City with her partner, Lorena, and cat, Simba.