Page 71 - Modern Robotics Building Versatile Macines

REAL-WORLD ROBOTS 51

over many of the time-consuming tasks of daily life, while making
homes safer and more responsive to peoples’ needs.

Hands-on Builder

Colin Angle was born in 1969 and grew up in Niskayuna, a small
town in upstate New York. A large General Electric research facility
was nearby, and young Angle became fascinated with its intricate
machines. As he noted to an interviewer for Business Week Online,
“I was always more interested in hands-on building than theory.”
Angle went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
and received his B.S. in electrical engineering and M.S. in com-
puter science. While studying at MIT, Angle happened to notice the
Mobile Robotics Laboratory run by
pioneer robotics researcher Rodney
Brooks. After they chatted, Brooks
hired Angle as a summer helper on
the project to build Genghis, an
insect-like walking robot.
The opportunity to build or work
on a variety of innovative robots
was exhilarating. Jeff Sutherland, a
computer scientist working nearby,
recalled in his “Scrum Log” blog
that “[Colin] had his early robots
hunting me down in my office” using
their infrared sensors. Angle also
had the opportunity to work at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, California. Here he helped
explore designs for new, smaller,
and cheaper planetary exploration Colin Angle helped robotics pio-
rovers. The National Aeronautics neer Rodney Brooks build plan-
etary rovers. Today, his company
and Space Administration (NASA)
iRobot makes robots that clean
gave him a special commendation
floors and help the military and
for his development of Tooth, an law enforcement. (Photo courtesy
innovative “microrover.” of iRobot)