Earlier this year, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) awarded the Founders Medal to Rodney Brooks, former CSAIL director, iRobot co-founder, and Robust.AI founder and CTO. Each year, IEEE awards individuals with medals for their innovative research impacting technology, society, and the engineering profession.
Brooks earned his award for leadership in robotics research and commercialization. He is often heralded for his renowned research and business leadership in the field, helping make at-home robots more accessible.
Many peers view Brooks as a trailblazer for his work within the field of autonomous robots. He introduced the world to subsumption architecture back in 1986, a concept associated with behavior-based robotics. Additionally, Brooks developed some of the first practical autonomous mobile robots, initiating a market for service robotics.
In 1991, Brooks co-founded iRobot, designing robots for space exploration, military purposes, and in-home services, such as the Roomba vacuum. He also led the AI lab from 1997 to 2003 and then served as CSAIL director from 2003 to 2007. Currently, he is an executive at Robust.AI, a company that develops robots for logistics and manufacturing operations.
Brooks’ list of honors includes fellowships from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (the other AAAS), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). He is also a Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a Corresponding Member of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS). Last year, Brooks received the EC C&C Foundation Award, as well as the Computers and Thought Award at the 1991 IJCAI (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence).
