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Engelberger, known throughout the world as the founding force behind industrial robotics, the Engelberger Robotics Award is the world's most prestigious robotics honor.

Engelberger Technology Award

Field Robotics Center, Robotics Institute: Director

Robotic Engineering Consortium, Carnegie Mellon University: Chief Scientist

RedZone Robotics: Chief Scientist

Fundamental Science and Engineering Questions in Planetary Cave Exploration

A roadmap for planetary caves science and exploration

Terrain Mapping and Pose Estimation for Polar Shadowed Regions of the Moon

Agile Depth Sensing using Triangulation Light Curtains

Ray Tracing and Use of Shadows as Features for Determining Location in Lunar Polar Terrain

Belief Space Planning for Reducing Terrain Relative Localization Uncertainty in Noisy Elevation Maps

Dr. William "Red" Whittaker's research interests centers on mobile robots in unpredictable environments, such as natural terrain and outdoor worksites, including computer architectures to control mobile robots, modeling and planning for non-repetitive tasks, complex problems of objective sensing in random or dynamic environments, and integrations of complete field robot systems.

His work encompasses core research, prototyping, and experimentation with the view that all are important to the evolution of field robots. Increasingly, his research interests are manifested through the work of the Field Robotics Center (FRC), which he directs. He has particular agenda in integrating component technologies into complete systems that prove themselves in both research and real world contexts. At FRC, they developed the remote work systems that explored and remediated the basement of the crippled Three Mile Island reactor containment basement. The Remote Reconnaissance Vehicle performed recovery tasks such as inspection, radiological mapping, material sampling, sludge transport and wall cleaning in a highly radioactive environment. Its successor, the Remote Work Vehicle (RWV), a telerobot of unprecedented capability and nuclear qualification, was developed for a broad agenda of clean-up operations. The RWV can wash contaminated surfaces, remove sediments, demolish radiation sources, apply surface treatments, and package and transport materials.

Dr. Whittaker is the Fredkin Professor of Robotics at the Robotics Institute and the Chief Scientist of the Robotics Engineering Consortium at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the Chief Scientist of RedZone Robotics.

Multisensor Data Fusion

Robotics in Hazerdous Application

Industrial Robotics

Field & Service Robotics

Outdoor Mobile Robots

Robotic Exploration

Robotics

Computer Software

Prototyping

Robotics for Scientific Discovery

Space Robots and Systems

Faculty Profile - The Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University

IRIS Lunar Rover - Carnegie Mellon University

RedZone Robotics

Field Robotics Center

Why Pittsburgh is known for robotics, and where it’s going next

Robotics pioneer Red Whittaker wants to put a robot on the moon, and land Amazon in his backyard

Not NASA, this university's students will send the first American lunar rover to the Moon on May 4

Students will send the first American rover to the moon, ahead of NASA

CMU finalizes plans to put rover on moon

A new CMU exhibition tells the story of Pittsburgh’s robotics innovation

Pittsburgh's Moonshot

The First U.S. Lunar Rover is Headed to the Moon (and Students Made It!)

Autonomous Inspector Mobile Platform

Obstacle Detection Arrangements in and for Autonomous Vehicles

Methods, Devices and Systems for High-Speed Autonomous Vehicle and High-Speed Autonomous Vehicle

Method for Epipolar Time of Flight Imaging

William Red Whittaker

Founders University Research Professor

http://www.weforum.org/

Robots are transforming our world and doing the jobs that humans can't do safely and efficiently, says Dr. William Whittaker in this video for the World Economic Forum. “Robots,” he says “have particular advantage where humans are limited from deep ocean pressure, the vacuum of space, radiation hazards.” Whittaker, who is principal scientist with the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, charts the rise of robots from the factory floor to lunar exploration. 

Click on the video above or read key quotes below. 

On early robots
“When the work began some few decades ago, robotics was mostly science fiction and fantasy. That all changed very quickly on the occasion of a nuclear accident. We rose to create the robots that did the exploration, then the work and the clean up activities." 

“These were a leap of technology at the time. They developed the rudiments of manipulation, combined that with driving machines, achieved the reliability and performed substantial work. Then really crossing a threshold, machines in all kinds of extreme environments and to add the beginnings of what you call intelligence today. This now matters every time we have a leaking gas well in the deep oceans, or it matters every time we lose a downed aeroplane. They’re working day to day, while we’re sitting here.” 

On innovation and impact 
“Perhaps the single greatest impact is to cropping and farming. I am a farmer. I farm 900 acres, 300 cattle, and I couldn’t be here unless my machines were there. One of the things that’s interesting about people, is that you can only be at one place in one time. At some in life you can figure out that you can do anything, but maybe not do everything. It’s so interesting to multiply a presence in these ways.” 

“Underground is another world and so different because there’s no GPS and no radio. No communication that works. The machines determine where they are by using the sensors and then make their decisions about where to turn and where they’re going …. this is incredibly invaluable in rescue, as well as in safety and in driving the machines that increasingly dig underground." 

“Consider for example search recovery of an airplane like Air France 447. Robots searched for two years and found it, identified all the parts and brought up the black box in depths far below humans could go.” 

On future use of robots
“There is no more easy mining. We come from Pittsburg. In Pittsburgh we had easy steel, easy coal, easy iron. There’s no more. As the world looks to resources in the future. It’s smaller seams, deeper mining and tougher conditions." 

“You may know that there is an international space station and that is always supplied. And that used to be supplied by government. And now it is just a commercial endeavour by the kilogram. In many ways for 40 years, governments have been in charge of not going back to the moon. Humans will always use tools, and those tools will always evolve. If it's the Iron Age and you are still using stones, then you probably won’t make it. If you're making cars and you don't embrace the tools, it’s not just a disadvantage ... you can't be in business."

“We used to have astronauts and they used to go places. Now all the destinations are robotic and the missions are robotic, and for many, many good reasons. Eventually people will once again have those experiences, but for now it’s robotic. It’s not a plot, it’s not like there was some intention to take things over, it’s just the better way of doing it.”

Extreme Robotics | William (Red) Whittaker

William (Red) Whittaker
Head of the Field Robotics Center, Carnegie Mellon University

October 11, 2013

Abstract
Field Robotics is automation's breakaway success story. The technology develops, secures, and feeds the world and explores worlds beyond. The success is attributable to huge markets like mining, defense, agriculture and automotive coupled with technical success on land, sea, air and space. Some of this success is coincidence of good timing. Much is a consequence of vision, research, enterprise and people, many with roots at Carnegie Mellon University. This talk chronicles the origins and breakthroughs of the first decades with emphasis on the people who made it happen, and speculates on the future of field robotics.

Speaker Biography
Red Whittaker is the Fredkin professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has developed dozens of technologies and robots, breaking new ground in autonomous vehicles, field robotics, space exploration, mining and agriculture. Whittaker developed the robots that cleaned up the Three-Mile Island nuclear accident. His ground vehicles have driven thousands of autonomous miles. Whittaker won DARPA's $2 million Urban Challenge. Whittaker is competing for the $20-million Google Lunar X Prize for privately landing a robot on the moon.

RI Seminar: William (Red) Whittaker : 30 Years of the CMU Field Robotics Center

RI Seminar: Red Whittaker
October 24, 2008
Robots at Work

Features Bill Pedudo reading a proclamation honoring the CMU Field Robotics Center on their 25th Anniversary in October of 2008.

RI Seminar: Red Whittaker (2008)

http://www.weforum.org/

Robotics expert William Whittaker from Carnegie Mellon University, charts the rise of robots from nuclear clean up to underwater rescue and recovery. He says robots can go where humans can’t, and shows how they help save people and the planet.

Humanitarian Crisis and Disaster Response Robots | William Whittaker

Dr. W illiam (Red) W hittaker
Fredkin University Professor of Robotics in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University

Title: Robots for the High Frontier
Robots have already landed on Mars, the moon, an asteroid and comet. However, these early examples pale beside the
machines, destinations and campaigns yet to come. Even spacecraft, landers and recoverable launch vehicles have become
robots with rockets. Robots are evolving beyond earliest exploration to become our precursors, laborers and co-habitants
beyond planet Earth. Future robots are evolving to produce resources like water, oxygen, metals, electronics and building
materials where and when needed in space. New classes of robot will explore and develop subterranean worlds that are destinations
for lifeseeking and establish habitats that avoid life-threatening radiation, heat and micrometeorites. The first
golden era of space exploration was driven by a cold war and space race. Exploration continues apace, but NewSpace is
also driven by enterprise, utilization and habitation enabled by robotics.

Dr. William L. "Red" W hittaker is the Fredkin Professor of Robotics, Director of the Field Robotics Center, and founder of the
National Robotics Engineering Consortium, all at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the chairman and chief science
officer of Astrobotics.

He has an extensive record of successful developments of robots for craft, labor and hazardous duty. Examples include
robots in field environments such as mines, work sites and natural terrain. Dr. W hittaker's portfolio includes the development
of computer architectures for controlling mobile robots; modeling and planning for non-repetitive tasks; complex
problems of objective sensing in random and dynamic environments; and integration of complete field robot systems.
Dr. W hittaker is widely known for his achievements in the robotics community.

A few of his awards include:
Engelberger Technology Award, Design News Special Achievement Award, Hero of Manufacturing Award, and Aviation &
Space Technology Award

Dr. W hittaker has advised twenty-six Ph.D. students, has sixteen patents, and has authored or co-authored over 200 publications.

NREC 20th Anniversary : Robots for the High Frontier : Red Whittaker, Robotics Institute, SCS, CMU

Cavehopping Exploration of Planetary Skylights and Tunnels

Red Whittaker

Media Inquiry