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Boston, July 17, 2017
Until The Event Begins
TC Sessions: Robotics brings together the best minds in the industry to chat about current developments and trends shaping the future. The event will be held at… Read More
The agenda for TC Sessions: Robotics (July 17 in Cambridge, MA at MIT’s Kresge auditorium) is almost complete, and before the long July 4 weekend we… Read More
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Heather is Neurala’s co-founder and COO, and brings to the team her diverse executive skills ranging from oversight of multi-million dollar applied research initiatives, strategic planning, product management, and leading translation of research into commercial products. Heather enjoys finding ways in which artificial intelligence can be used to enhance consumer interactions with robots. Previously, Heather has served as the Executive Director and Co-PI of the NSF-sponsored CELEST Science of Learning Center at Boston University. Heather holds a PhD in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University and a BS in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of California at Berkeley.
Colin Angle is chairman of the board, chief executive officer and co-founder of iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT). Angle’s leadership has transformed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off into a global leader of practical robots. One of the world’s leading authorities on mobile robots, Angle is an industry pioneer with more than two decades of experience. Under his guidance, iRobot is at the forefront of the growing robot industry, delivering home and military robots that are making a difference.
A longtime sailor, Angle is known for his ability to bring together and inspire a winning crew. By setting a course of team empowerment, collaboration and innovation, Angle is enabling iRobot to deliver cutting-edge, market-leading robots that save time and lives. Today, more than 14 million home robots have been sold worldwide, revolutionizing the way people clean. More than 5,000 military robots have been delivered to defense forces worldwide, performing thousands of dangerous missions while keeping troopsout of harm’sway.
Angle’s vision for the future of robots and his keen sense of business strategy are driving forces behind iRobot’s successful identification and execution of expansion opportunities. Under Angle’s leadership, iRobot has formed strategic p artnerships with Clorox, Boeing and a variety of other companies, building on decades of expertise from each partner to create new and innovative robot solutions.
In iRobot’s early days, Angle and his team designed the behavior-controlled rovers for NASA that led to the Sojourner exploring Mars in 1997. Angle’s team won the NASA Group Achievement Award for its accomplishments, and his name is inscribed inside the case of Spirit, the Mars exploration rover on displa y at NASA.
Before co-founding iRobot in 1990, Angle was president of Artificial Creatures Inc. Earlier in his career, Angle worked at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where he first teamed with iRobot co-founders Helen Greiner and Rodney Brooks. Angle’s master thesis at MIT produced Genghis, a six-legged auto nomous walking robot that is now at the Smithsonian National Air and Science Museum in Washington, D.C.
Angle’s leadership has been recognized with numerous professional awards. He has been named CEO of the Year by the Mass Technology Leadership Council, a Mass High Tech AllStar, one of Fortune Small Business Magazine’s Best Bosses and New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young . Angle has a ppeared on CNN and CNBC, and has been profiled as an industry expert in media outlets such as Business Week, CNET, the New York Times and Newsweek. Angle is a member of the board of directors at Striiv, Inc.
Angle holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science, both from MIT.
Tye is a leading strategic thinker and engineering professional with more than 25 years of hands-on experience in team leadership, technical management and system design for advanced instrumentation, autonomous vehicles and robotic systems. Tye is chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, where he heads advanced technology and research efforts to further establish Amazon Robotics as the preeminent robotics company in the world. With robotics moving from the aspirational to the everyday functional, Tye believes there’s nothing we can’t achieve or improve through smart robotics when coupled with the right human talent and need.
Prior to Amazon Robotics, Tye spent 15 years with Draper Laboratory in a variety of technical and leadership roles, advancing robotics and spacecraft engineering. He holds a Master’s Degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from MIT. Tye is a founding partner of MassRobotics, a not-for-profit organization serving as a world-class platform for robotic innovation.
Elaine is a startup veteran, product strategy and innovation consultant, and author who has brought numerous hardware and software products to market. Elaine enjoys helping teams find their own way forward by inspiring entrepreneurial thinking. As Founder and Managing Director of ConceptSpring, Elaine works with leaders in established businesses to help them set up and run new product innovation initiatives with the speed and agility of a startup. She is the author of the book, “Bringing a Hardware Product to Market: Navigating the Wild Ride from Concept to Mass Production”.
As the VP of engineering and product management at several startups, including Rethink Robotics, Zeo, Zeemote and SensAble Technologies, Elaine has built, grown, and nurtured several technical organizations from the ground up. She is a co-inventor on 22 patents to date, and has managed IP portfolio strategies for numerous organizations. Elaine’s experience spans multiple verticals from consumer electronics, robotics, CAD/CAM, IT solutions for apparel design, manufacturing and retail, to hardware and software solutions in retail and omni-channel commerce.
Elaine has been working with students at MIT since early 2011. She has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Professional Advisor and Senior Lecturer at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and the MIT Sloan School of Management. She designs, develops and teaches courses and programs in entrepreneurship and primary market research, coaches students on a one-on-one basis, and develops systems and processes to scale up the support to entrepreneurial students. She built the Trust Center’s First Time Founder Knowledge Base from the ground up. In June 2016, she received the Monosson Prize for Entrepreneurship Mentoring by the MIT Sloan School of Management in recognition of her contributions to foster entrepreneurship education at MIT.
Elaine is a thought leader and has been featured in Xconomy, TechCrunch, Forbes and Fortune. She regularly blogs about topics in leadership, entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship. She is active in the community and a sought after speaker. She serves on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, a non-profit organization serving all entrepreneurs in the greater Boston area. Her most recent speaking engagements include MIT-China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum, MIT Global Entrepreneurial Bootcamp in Seoul and MakerCon Bay Area.
Elaine holds a BS and an MS in mechanical engineering from MIT.
Jerome is a founder and co-CEO of 6 River Systems, Inc. (6RS) and manages sales, solutions, and marketing. Prior to founding 6RS, Jerome was on the leadership team at Kiva (now Amazon Robotics) and ran the commercial business unit responsible for over 25 customers and 35 sites globally. He has over 20 years supply chain technology experience, including leadership positions at Yantra (now IBM Smarter Commerce) and Amazon Services. Jerome graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Northeastern University.
Dr. R. David Edelman comes to MIT having distinguished himself as one of the U.S. government’s foremost voices on how technology is changing our economy, national security, and daily lives. An expert on pressing technology challenges facing national security and the global economy, his insights have helped shape national and international policy at the highest levels.
In his most recent role as Special Assistant to the President for Economic and Technology Policy at the National Economic Council (NEC), he led the White House team focusing on the digital economy — including broadband, telecommunications, spectrum, and technology trade — as well as consumer cybersecurity, domestic and international data privacy, high-tech patent and copyright issues, and antitrust/competition.
In his time at the White House he led engagement with hundreds of technology companies around the world; advised the President on a range of emerging technologies such as big data, drones, and autonomous vehicles; and designed and managed over $15 billion of signature programs focused on technology, education, and economic opportunity.
He was awarded the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for his work on intelligence matters, and was twice the recipient of the Meritorious Honor Award for his United Nations negotiations and development of the nation’s cyber diplomacy strategy. He was previously named one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” leaders in Law & Policy, and later chosen as a “30 Under 30 All-Star Alumni” — one of only three in the magazine’s history — for his ongoing contributions to national policy.
Edelman holds a bachelor’s degree in History (with honors) from Yale and Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Oxford in International Relations. His dissertation, “Cyberattacks in International Relations,” examined which forces might restrain state use of offensive cyber capabilities.
Brian Gerkey is CEO of OSRF. Prior to joining OSRF, Brian was Director of Open Source Development at Willow Garage. Previously, Brian was a Computer Scientist in the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI, and before that, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford University. Brian received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2003, his M.S. in Computer Science from USC in 2000, and his B.S.E. in Computer Engineering, with a secondary major in Mathematics and a minor in Robotics and Automation, from Tulane University in 1998.
Brian is a strong believer in, frequent contributor to, and constant beneficiary of open source software. Since 2008, Brian has worked on the ROS Project, which develops and releases one of the most widely used robot software platforms in robotics research and education (and soon industry). He is founding and former lead developer on the open source Player Project, which continues to maintain widely used robot simulation and development tools. For his work on Player and ROS, Brian was recognized by MIT Technology Review with the TR35 award in 2011.
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Helen Greiner commands a presence in the field of robotics. Co-founding iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) in 1990, Helen Greiner served as president until 2004 and chairman until 2008. During her tenure, Helen Greiner guided iRobot into its position as a global leader with the release of the Roomba™, the PackBot™ and SUGV military robots. She built a culture of practical innovation and delivery that led to the deployment of 6,000 PackBots with our troops. In addition, Helen Greiner headed up iRobot’s financing projects, raising $35M in venture capital for a $75M initial public offering. Greiner holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Accolades – One of America’s Best Leaders, named by the Kennedy School at Harvard in conjunction with the U.S. News and World Report “Innovator for the Next Century” by Review Magazine Global Leader of Tomorrow and Young Global Leader by the World Economic forum Received prestigious Pioneer Award from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) DEMO God Award and DEMO Lifetime Achievement Award New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young Inducted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame Distinctions – A Trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston Museum of Science (MOS) On the Board of Visitors of the Army War College (AWC) and Army Science Board (ASB) Served as the elected President and Board Member of the Robotics Technology Consortium (RTC) A Trustee of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)
Dan Jones is the Co-Founder and CTO of VictorOps, a Vertical Collaboration Platform (VCP) designed to enable software operations teams - Ops, DevOps and TechOps - to solve problems regardless of physical location, connected device, or time of day. With almost 25 years in the software industry, Dan has spent the last 15 years architecting and building scalable 24x7 internet services designed to be “always on.” Having served as Chief Architect and VP of Engineering at two successful start-ups in this space (Raindance Communications and Lijit Networks), he is intimately familiar with what it takes to keep a business running when the slightest outage means lost revenue and unhappy customers.
His operations horror story? A 3am alert for slow database response times during the early days at Lijit. After a few hours of troubleshooting with the DBA and sys admin teams, an issue was discovered with the iSCSI file system which ran the entire company infrastructure. The vendor was contacted and a problem with the iSCSI firmware was confirmed. Major upgrades were required and large portions of the infrastructure had to be taken down for this to take place. Through heroic, round-the-clock efforts of the IT and engineering teams, a tricky chess game took place to move around critical VM’s while upgrading iSCSI servers. The team worked non-stop for almost two days but any downtime was successfully averted.
Dan’s motto:
"You know that thing that you thought would never happen? Trust me, it will, and it’s usually in the middle of the night. It’s at that moment when the resourcefulness and dedication of your DevOps team is tested and as a manager you’re most proud."
Manish Kothari, Ph.D., is president of SRI Ventures and is a vice president of SRI International. In this role, Kothari leads the creation of high-value venture opportunities and is intimately involved in the venture creation process from concept through market development, team building, technology transition, seed funding, partner and investor identification, and launch.
Manish joined SRI in 2013 as a program director in the Robotics Program in 2013. In 2014, he moved to SRI Ventures as director of commercial ventures and licensing, with an emphasis on healthcare, engineering, and physical sciences and in 2015 he took over the SRI Ventures team.
Manish is on the boards of a number of robotics companies such Abundant Robotics www.abundantrobotics.com and Superflex, as well as Area 17 http://www.area17.ai/, an innovative drone company. He also served as an advisor to a number of M&A deals and investments in the space area.
He holds multiple patents and is the author or co-author of several peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.
Manish received his M.S. degree and Ph.D. in biomechanical engineering from Cornell University, and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. His bachelor of technology degree in aerospace engineering (summa cum laude) is from the Indian Institute of Technology.
Buddy has a BS, MS and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research has included adaptive control for indoor UAVs, autonomous battery swap for aerial platforms, autopilot design for R&D, and robot learning from demonstration. As CTO, Buddy helps guide the long-term product roadmap to incorporate new developments from industry and academia into the Airware product line.
Brian Pierce is deputy director of Information Innovation Office (I2O) at DARPA. Prior to this, Dr. Pierce served as the deputy office director of the strategic technology Office from 2005 to 2010. He has almost 30 years of experience developing advanced technologies in the aerospace/defense industry.
Before joining DARPA, he was a technical director in space and airborne systems at the Raytheon Company. From 2002-2005, he was executive director of the Electronics Division at Rockwell Scientific Company in Thousand Oaks, California. From 1983 to 2002, he held various engineering positions at Hughes Aircraft Company and Raytheon in southern California.
Dr. Pierce earned a doctor of philosophy degree in chemistry, a master of science degree in chemistry and a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and mathematics from the University of California at Riverside.
Dr. Gill Pratt is the Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Research Institute (TRI), a research and development enterprise designed to bridge the gap between fundamental research and product development. Launched in 2016, TRI’s mission is to enhance the safety of automobiles, with the ultimate goal of creating a car that is incapable of causing a crash. It seeks to provide increased access to cars for those who otherwise cannot drive, including those with special needs and seniors. Furthermore, TRI looks to translate outdoor mobility technology into products for indoor mobility, and accelerate scientific discovery by applying techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning. Dr. Pratt also serves as the Executive Technical Advisor to Toyota Motor Corporation.
Before joining Toyota, Dr. Pratt served as a program manager in the Defense Sciences Office at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from January 2010 through August 2015.
Dr. Pratt’s primary interest is in the field of robotics and intelligent systems. Specific areas include interfaces that significantly enhance human/machine collaboration, mechanisms and control methods for enhanced mobility and manipulation, low impedance actuators, and the application of neuroscience techniques to robot perception and control.
Dr. Pratt holds a Doctor of Philosophy in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His thesis is in the field of neurophysiology. Dr. Pratt was an Associate Professor and Director of the Leg Lab at MIT. Subsequently, he became a Professor at Franklin W. Olin College, and before joining DARPA and then Toyota, was Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Research. Dr. Pratt holds several patents in series elastic actuation and adaptive control.
Designer, inventor and entrepreneur. Founded Matternet and serves as Chief Executive Officer since 2011. Pioneering on-demand drone logistics networks for medical items and commercial goods. Motivated by the desire to solve one of humanity's grand challenges, equal access to goods, by leapfrogging road infrastructure. Holds an BS & MS in Aeronautical Engineering, is a Royal College of Art graduate in Design and is lead inventor in several US and international patents. Speaker, Google Solve for X, 2012 & TED Global, 2013. Tech Pioneer, World Economic Forum, 2015.
Daniela Rus is the Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. Rus’s research interests are in robotics, mobile computing, and data science. Rus is a Class of 2002 MacArthur Fellow, a fellow of ACM, AAAI and IEEE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy for Arts and Science. She earned her PhD in Computer Science from Cornell University. Prior to joining MIT, Rus was a professor in the Computer Science Department at Dartmouth College.
Deepu Talla is vice president and general manager of the Tegra business unit at NVIDIA, where he is responsible for deploying AI technology in autonomous machines and intelligent devices, such as video analytics, factory automation, and UAVs. Previously, he was responsible for NVIDIA’s mobile business unit.
Prior to joining NVIDIA in 2013, he worked at Texas Instruments for more than 10 years in various executive management and technical leadership roles.
Talla holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electronics and communication engineering from Andhra University in India, a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University, and a Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Daniel Theobald is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Vecna, a leader in robotics solutions with a mission of empowering humanity through transformative technologies. Daniel founded Vecna in 1999 and has grown the company to focus on three key areas: Patient solutions, Logistics and Telepresence. Without taking any outside investment, he grew the company to serve a worldwide customer base. A true visionary, Daniel has designed and developed several robots, including the Bear disaster recovery robot, and an end-to-end fleet of logistics robots, as well as advanced automation components, such a biomimetic muscle, hydraulics and machine perception technology.
Daniel graduated at the top of his class from MIT and was honored with the Henry Ford II Scholar Award. He continued his graduate work as an NSF fellow in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory at MIT, developing web-based control algorithms for a robotic Mars explorer. His academic record and research earned him an award from the Hertz Foundation.
Daniel is also the co-founder and President of MassRobotics; he speaks regularly at industry events and conferences; and he has been published in top-tier trade and mainstream media.
Carl is CEO of Soft Robotics Inc. Prior to Soft Robotics, Carl held a variety of senior positions in technology and medical device companies, most recently as Vice President of Marketing at OmniGuide Surgical. Carl served as the Global Franchise Leader for the Joint Repair business at Smith & Nephew, with $500 million in annual revenues and also as Vice President of Global Marketing and Director of Strategy and Business Development for the Endoscopy Global Business Unit. Carl served as Manager of Strategic Planning at 3M and as Division Operations Process Manager at Nestle Waters North America. He began his career a Naval Flight Officer in the United States Navy, retiring from the Naval Reserve in 2013.
Clara is a cofounder and the VP Engineering of Veo Robotics. She is a technology leader who has developed multiple robotics products from inception to market. Clara started her career at iRobot programming robots for oil well exploration; she then moved on to robotic toys and eventually the Roomba.
After iRobot, she cofounded and led the software team at agricultural robotics company Harvest Automation. She has also consulted at Rethink Robotics and at startups in additive manufacturing and IoT.
Clara holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Yale University.
Bruce Welty has been a pioneer and visionary in automating warehouses since before the Internet - he's built, bought and sold some of the industry’s most innovative companies. Bruce has automated warehouses for Fortune500s, e-Commerce startups, and even built a fulfillment company that currently ships more than $1 billion worth of e-commerce orders each year. It was his direct experience with warehouses, fulfillment, and utilizing robotics that inspired him to develop one of the industry's most advanced, flexible, and affordable autonomous robotics solutions: Locus Robotics.
Andy brings over a decade of startup experience to his role, most recently serving as chief technology officer of Adura, where he led the company’s development of energy management systems for commercial buildings. Prior to joining Adura, Andy served as chief technology officer for Tendril Networks, helping consumers better understand and manage their energy usage. He co-founded Ember Corporation, the leading provider of ZigBee network software and system-on-chip devices. Under Andy’s leadership, the company delivered multiple industry firsts, including shipping the first ZigBee system-on-chip, which is now in millions of the smart meters being deployed around the world. He began his startup career at Zipcar. Anyone who has used the car-sharing service has used the embedded wireless in-car technology that Andy developed.
Andy got his start in wireless and embedded technologies at the MIT Media Lab where he deployed large scale sensor networks under a DARPA grant. He was selected for the Technology Review 100 Top Innovators Under 35 award in 2003, and has multiple granted and pending patents in the fields of wireless networking and energy management.
Andy received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT.
Melonee Wise is the CEO of Fetch Robotics, which is delivering advanced robots for the logistics industry. The company introduced their robot system, including Fetch and Freight, in May of 2015. Prior to joining Fetch, Melonee was CEO and co-founder of Unbounded Robotics. Before then, Melonee was Manager of Robot Development at Willow Garage, where she led a team of engineers developing next-generation robot hardware, including the PR2 and TurtleBot from Willow Garage. Melonee also has extensive experience in the growth of ROS as a research and commercial platform. Melonee is currently a Mentor in the Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator.
Josh co-founded Lux Capital to support scientists and entrepreneurs who pursue counter-conventional solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time in order to lead us into a brighter future. The more ambitious the project, the better—like, say, creating matter from light.
Josh is a Director at Shapeways, 3Scan, Lux Research and Kallyope and helped lead the firm’s investments in Planet, Echodyne, Clarifai and Authorea.
He is a founding investor and board member with Bill Gates in Kymeta, making cutting-edge antennas for high-speed global satellite and space communications. Josh is a Westinghouse semi-finalist and published scientist. He previously worked in investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney and in capital markets at Merrill Lynch. In 2008 Josh co-founded and funded Kurion, a contrarian bet in the unlikely business of using advanced robotics and state-of-the-art engineering and chemistry to clean up nuclear waste. It was an unmet, inevitable need with no solution in sight. The company was among the first responders to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. In February 2016, Veolia acquired Kurion for nearly $400 million—more than 40 times Lux’s total investment.
Josh is a columnist with Forbes and Editor for the Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report. He has been invited to The White House and Capitol Hill to advise on nanotechnology and emerging technologies, and a lecturer at MIT, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia and NYU. He is a term member at The Council on Foreign Relations and Chairman of Coney Island Prep charter school, where he grew up in Brooklyn. He graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Economics and Finance.
Jan Stumpf is Head of Architecture for the drone segment at Intel Corporation and CEO of Ascending Technologies, a leading company in the drone development and manufacturing space. In February 2016, Ascending Technologies was acquired by Intel, shifting his role to focus on strategy, architecture and key customer relationships as a part of Intel’s Drone Team.
As one of world’s first and most innovative multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) companies, Ascending Technologies became a leading supplier of high-end commercial, professional and research UAVs. As one of the founders, he led company growth, focusing on engineering, management and acting as the main point of contact of key partners – which included Intel.
As a licensed UAV pilot and private pilot, he uses his experience in aviation and drones as a consultant focusing on UAV regulation and danger assessment. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich (TU Munich), and continued his Master thesis on the underwater drone “AMOUR” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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