Jean-Daniel Nicoud

Richard D. (Dick) Klafter, one of the early leaders in the field of robotics and automation and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, was born on 5 August 1936 and died 11 November 2019. He received an undergraduate degree at MIT, two graduate degrees from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the City University of New York (1969).

In this interview, Hagita discusses his work in robotics, with a focus on human-robot interaction, agent systems and networked robots, visual perception, and pattern recognition and learning. He recounts his robotics work at various research laboratories, such as Steven Palmer's lab at UC Berkeley, and his time and contributions at NTT and ATR. He reflects on the influences and successes of his career, his involvement in creating the IRC and Media Information Lab at ATR, and the collaborations on various projects (such as Robovie and RFID tags). Additionally he comments on the evolution and difficulties of robotics, and provides advice to young people interested in the field.

In this oral history, Larry Matthies covers his professional life in the field of Computer Robotics, taking us through his collegiate education and his career in robotics research, specifically his work with computer vision. Matthies offers his personal insight on the various projects he has collaborated on as well, from working for DARPA to NASA and his experience with the NASA Mars Rover project, for which he dedicated most of his career to. Matthies also touches upon his move back to academia and his thoughts on the future of the field of computer robotics.

In this interview, Craig discusses his early interest in robotics and his contributions and achievements throughout his career. Additionally, he reflects on the changes in, and future challenges of, the field of robotics.

In this interview, Jean Paul Laumond discusses his movement from mathematics to robotics and his career contributions to the field, especially in regards to motion planning and anthropomorphic motion. Describing his involvement at CNRS and in other robotics projects, such as HILARE, he comments on the distinction in perception between the robotics approach and a mathematics one.

Bajscy is currently Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Director Emeritus of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Science (CITRIS) at the University of California, Berkeley. There she continues to do innovative research on machine perception, robotics and artificial intelligence, winning the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science for her recent work.