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GRASP Seminar Series: Fall 2009
November 13th, 11:00 a.m., Wu & Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall (3330 Walnut Street)
Marc Raibert
Boston Dynamics
"BigDog, the rough-terrain robot - What's done, what's next?"
Abstract: BigDog is a quadruped robot designed to operate in rough terrain. It has hiked in rocky, muddy and snowy terrain, traveled 12 miles without stopping, followed a human leader visually, and done limited autonomous cross country travel. This talk will give an overview of BigDog technology, progress so far, as well as a sketch of our plans for BigDog's next steps.
Biography: Marc Raibert has been the president of Boston Dynamics since 1992. The company develops advanced dynamic robots, such as BigDog and PETMAN, as well as human simulation products for virtual prototyping and training. The company has ongoing robotics R&D sponsored by the DARPA, US Army, OSD, Marine Corps, Air Force and others.
Before founding Boston Dynamics, Raibert was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT from 1986 – 1995. Raibert's laboratory at MIT, the Leg Laboratory, is well known for its work on legged robots that are biologically inspired and that moved dynamically, including one-, two- and four-legged robots. These robots balance actively and use ballistic flight phases as they run, bounce, jump and do gymnastic maneuvers. Several of Boston Dynamics’ products are outgrowths of research done by Raibert's group at MIT.
Before joining MIT, Raibert was Associate Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie-Mellon University from 1980 - 1986. One of the robots developed there, the 3D one-legged hopper (aka The Raibert Hopper) was inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in 2008. Before Carnegie-Mellon, Raibert was a Member of Technical Staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1977 - 1980.
Raibert is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, has served on a variety of editorial boards and government panels, and has published widely. Among his most prized publications are the BigDog videos, which currently top the YouTube charts in the category of Science and Technology.
Dr. Raibert received his Bachelor's of Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in 1973 and Ph.D from MIT in 1977.
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