When: Monday, November 10, 2:00 p.m.

Where: 3305 Newell-Simon Hall

Dr. Joseph Engelberger

Special Robotics Presentation

Abstract:
For forty years now robotics has served industry as a subset of automation. And, it has served well! But, is it not time to unleash the technology at our command to make personal service robots a reality?

For Isaac Asimov it was prescient science fiction. His three laws of robotics can remain a standard, while we design and build robots to do our personal bidding and to enhance our lives.

After state-of-the-art observations, some arguments, both technical and philosophical, will defend creation of mobile, two-armed, sensate and articulate robots that would fit into our life styles as trustworthy companions.

Joseph F. Engelberger is the founder and was the first president of Unimation Inc. His background includes B.S. and M.S. degrees from Columbia University, and he has authored numerous articles in the instrumentation field and in the field of robotics. His 1980 book entitled Robotics in Practice has been translated into six languages. In 1989, his later book, Robotics in Service, was published simultaneously in the United Kingdom and the United States.

His honors include the Progress Award of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Leonardo da Vinci Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the 1982 American Machinist Award. The University of Liverpool bestowed the first McKechnie Award on him in 1983. In 1984, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering; he was the recipient of the Egleston Medal for distinguished engineering achievement from Columbia University. Honorary doctorates have come from the University of Bridgeport, Spring Garden College, Briarwood College, Trinity College and from Carnegie-Mellon University. In 1992, he was profiled in the London Sunday Times series on The 1000 Makers of the 20th Century. In January 1997, he received the Beckman Award for pioneering and original research in the general field of automation. He is the 1997 recipient of the highest Japanese technology honor, the Japan Prize, for the establishment of the robot industry. The year 2000 World Automation Congress was dedicated to Engelberger who delivered the keynote address.

Engelberger, often called the "Father of Robotics", is generally considered to have been the driving influence in the creation of the industrial robot industry. The Robotic Industries Association annually presents the Joseph F. Engelberger Awards to "persons who have contributed outstandingly to the furtherance of the science and practice of robotics.

Engelberger founded the first industrial robot company, Unimation Inc., in 1961. It was sold to Westinghouse in 1983. Next came HelpMate Robotics Inc. whose mission was to give robots a spectrum of sensory perception so that mobile, sensate robots could work shoulder to shoulder with human mentors in service activities. The company developed the first successful service robot, HelpMate(r), a robotic hospital courier, and in 1999 the company attracted the attention of Cardinal Health, who merged it into Pyxis Corporation, a subsidiary.

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