I was hired to work with the legendary MIT professor and A.I. leader, Rodney Brooks on his robotic creation, Baxter.
My first job was to introduce Baxter to the world by designing packaging materials to ease new owners into the robot's assembly and operation. The mandate from Mr. Brooks...all the information required for assembling a 6 foot working robot must be contained within a one page document. Getting Baxter up and running out of the box, was competed as mandated, by cheating. My solution got the job done and earned me a big laugh from Mr. Brooks.
Its a fun story. Ask me about it.
Another, challenging task, designing and refining Baxter's facial expressions. Baxter doesn't talk, so his "face" needs to convey everything from acknowledging your presence to confusion about what is being asked of him. His face is intended to speak its own universal language.
Without a doubt, one of the more interesting problems I've ever designed for.
All Rethink Robotics work was done on a tight deadline, with my efforts being instrumental in Baxter's successful introduction to the workforce and the world.
