When it comes to robotics, the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon University has always been one of the world-renowned leaders in the field. In 1979, for instance, CMU added a Robotics Institute to its curriculum, the first university in the country to do so. Many of its graduates have gone on to work for NASA, while other alumni have started their own companies dedicated to further advancing the robotics industry.
The Robotics Institute is more than just about education, however, as it offers hands-on experience as well, tackling real-world issues and creating prototypes for various agencies of the United States government. CMU robots have also found success at competitions sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), while the university’s faculty members were the original organizers of RoboCup, in which teams of robots face off against each in games of soccer.
Author Lee Gutkind spent six years at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute during the first decade of the twenty-first century, monitoring projects under development, tagging along with various teams of scientists, and obtaining a first-hand understanding of the mechanics of the research facility. His resulting book, Almost Human: Making Robots Think, is thus not merely about the cutting-edge breakthroughs within the field of robotics but a study of the men and women at CMU who are at the forefront of those advancements.
As Gutkind points out in Almost Human, the best and the brightest have always gravitated to Carnegie Mellon University. The Computer Science Department – which the Robotics Institute is associated with – was originally founded by Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Smith, the “father of artificial intelligence,” and Allen Newell, one of the first scientists to use computer simulations to better understand the human mind.
It was future dean Raj Reddy who came up with the idea of a Robotics Institute and persuaded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation to donate five million dollars for its founding in 1979. Reddy was assisted in those early days by William “Red” Whittaker, the “father of field robotics.” Along with fellow roboticist David Wettergreen, Whittaker is one of the primary focusses of Almost Human.
“Whittaker is a visionary type,” Lee Gutkind writes. “He gets his kicks out of being somewhere first. He is charismatic and can motivate people. Whittaker’s colleagues use the word ‘magician’ when referring to him – he makes things that are absolutely impossible, possible. Whittaker believes that the world presents a series of monumental problems, which only monumental change and daring technological revolution can solve. Wettergreen, on the other hand, is the make-it-happen type. He is also visionary, but is less reliant on the power of personality. His focus is on building teams and selecting managers who can turn visions into reality, opportunity into productivity.”
It was under Red Whittaker’s guidance that Carnegie Mellon University created the Remote Reconnaissance Vehicle, which inspected Three Miles Island in 1983 to confirm that the sealed-off sections of the crippled nuclear power plant were safely secured. Another robot, CoreSampler, later drilled core samples to help determine how far the resulting radioactivity had penetrated the concrete walls of the facility.
After the fatal disaster of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, meanwhile, Whittaker became one of the leading advocates for using robots instead of live astronauts for space exploration. His efforts resulted in numerous research grants for Carnegie Mellon University.
That funding began to dry up after 9/11 when the priorities of the Bush Administration shifted from space exploration into the area of national defense. It was also around this time that David Wettergreen began making his own impact on the Robotics Institute. Wettergreen received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from CMU, and was a postdoctoral research associate at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, before joining the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University.
Like Whittaker, Wettergreen’s focus is on real-world applications but he also understands the limitations of the Robotics Institute. Because it is an education facility, it does not receive the “big government grants” awarded to professional establishments like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena or the Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We do developmental work,” Wettergreen explains in Almost Human. “We determine what is possible – we test future concepts.”
Thus while Red Whittaker has the tendency to focus on the “big idea,” David Wettergreen believes in the smaller steps that ultimately lead to larger results. “One of the ways in which Red and I differ is that I view progress as incremental – there is an order for things,” Wettergreen told Lee Gutkind. “In the last century, exploration meant a bunch of people on a boat who went to Antarctica, got stuck in the ice for two years and ate penguins. Half of them survived and then came back and told the story. But with robotics, that doesn’t need to happen. We can explore previously impenetrable places and expand the frontier of knowledge further than anyone could have ever imagined – and no one has to die. This is what I want to do, expand the frontier of knowledge.”
Because of William “Red” Whittaker and David Wettergreen – a well as numerous other students and faculty members spotlighted within the pages of Almost Human – the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University has already “expanded the frontier of knowledge” in ways that were previously unimaginable. CMU may not receive the billion dollar grants awarded to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or the Johnson Space Center, but its accomplishments are just as important and noteworthy as those of its better funded counterparts.
“We are a pretty transparent organization,” David Wettergreen explains in Almost Human: Making Robots Think. “People can come and visit us and see the chaos happening day and night. Mistakes are made. Corners are cut. They will also see a lot of excitement and energy and sometimes, incredible innovation. Having been one of those children, it amazes me what can be accomplished. There is something about this place that allows young and inexperienced people to ramp up fast.”
As a result, the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute has been the ideal place to study and conduct robotics research for decades – and will no doubt continue to be well into the twenty-first century.
Anthony Letizia