William L. Whittaker

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William L. "Red" Whittaker is a roboticist and research professor of robotics. He is currently the Fredkin Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute as well as the Director of the Field Robotics Center and Chief Scientist of the Robotics Engineering Consortium, both located at the university.

Contents

[edit] Education

  • B.S., Civil Engineering, Princeton University, 1973
  • M.S., Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 1975
  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 1979

[edit] Awards and honors

  • Design News Special Achievement Award, 1998
  • Vector/Pittsburgh, Man of the Year in Technology for 1994
  • Laurels Award, Aviation Week and Space Technology for outstanding achievement, 1994
  • American Association of Artificial Intelligence, AAAI Fellow, 1993
  • Carnegie Mellon University Alumni Merit Award for Outstanding Achievement, 1992
  • Computerworld, Smithsonian Award 1992
  • Science Digest's Top 100 US Innovators for robotics work, 1987
  • Teare Award for Teaching Excellence, Carnegie Mellon University
  • National Science Foundation Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University
  • CIT Fellowship, Carnegie Mellon University

[edit] Research areas

Red Whittaker has lead design and engineering teams for a number of robots and robotics projects, including those for NASA, DARPA, and robots that have entered Three Mile Island nuclear plant and reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

His goal is to design robots that can function autonomously in environments that present a high degree of spacial complexity, including those where the environment is shifting constantly.

One of the more recent projects is Red Team Racing, an ongoing project to complete and win the DARPA Grand Challenge. In the 2004 competition, the Red Team vehicle travelled 7.4 miles, the farthest of any participant. In 2005, Whittaker's teams captured 2nd and 3rd place, behind the vehicle of his colleague, former Carnegie Mellon professor Sebastian Thrun.

[edit] Professional activities

  • Chief Scientist of RedZone Robotics, a company he co-founded to develop robots for harsh environments that could be sold or leased.
  • Fellow, American Association for Artificial Intelligence
  • Member, National Research Council, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, Committee on Advanced Space Technologies
  • Member, American Nuclear Society; Robotics and Remote Systems Division
  • Member, National Academy of Sciences Peer Review Committee on DOE Environmental Management Technologies, 1994 - 1995.
  • Member, National Academy of Sciences Committee to Provide Interim Oversight of the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex, 1988-1989.

[edit] See also

  • Sandstorm, one of Red Team's autonomous vehicles

[edit] External links

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