Christopher Granger Atkeson (born 28 May 1959) is an American

roboticist Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

and a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the

Robotics Institute The Robotics Institute (RI) is a division of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. A June 2014 article in ''Robotics Business Review'' magazine calls it "the world's best robo ...

and Human-Computer Interaction Institute at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

(CMU). Atkeson is known for his work in

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments and working alongside humans, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipeda ...

soft robotics Soft robotics is a subfield of robotics that concerns the design, control, and fabrication of robots composed of Stiffness#Compliance, compliant materials, instead of kinematic chain, rigid links. In contrast to rigid-bodied robots built from met ...

, and

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

, most notably on locally weighted learning.

Early life and education

Atkeson graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1981 with an A.B. in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

. He received his S.M. degree in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...

in the same year, also from Harvard. He then attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

and received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in brain and cognitive science from them in 1986, advised by Emilio Bizzi.

Career

Before joining the faculty at CMU in 2000, he was an assistant, then associate professor in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT from 1986 to 1993. He was also an associate professor at the College of Computing,

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

from 1994 to 2000. Inflatable Robotic Arm

Atkeson's work in soft robotics helped influence production on the 2014 Disney film '' Big Hero 6'', and he consulted with the film's production team on the design of

Baymax Baymax is a fictional superhero character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau, Baymax first appeared in ''Sunfire & Big Hero 6'' #1 (September 1998). Baymax begins his ex ...

Honors and awards

* National Science Foundation Engineering Initiation Award, 1987–1988. * National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1988–1993. * W. M. Keck Foundation Assistant Professorship in Biomedical Engineering, 1988–1990. * Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, 1989–1991. * W. M. Keck Foundation Associate Professorship in Biomedical Engineering, 1990–1991. * Teaching Award from the MIT Graduate Student Council, 1990. * Edenfield Faculty Fellowship Award, 1995. * Elected by faculty to College of Computing Dean's Advisory Committee, 1995–1996, 1996–1997. * Finalist, Best Paper Award, ICRA 2000.

Personal life

Atkeson is married to

Jessica Hodgins Jessica K. Hodgins is an American roboticist and researcher who is a professor at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute and School of Computer Science. Hodgins is currently also Research Director at the Facebook AI Research lab in Pittsburgh next ...

, Professor of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and

Robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

at CMU, and former director of

Disney Research Disney Research is a network of research labs supporting The Walt Disney Company. Its purpose is to pursue scientific and technological innovation to advance the company's broad media and entertainment efforts. It has facilities in Los Angeles, ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

References

External links

Home Page

Mathematics Genealogy Project profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkeson, Christopher G American artificial intelligence researchers Georgia Tech faculty Carnegie Mellon University faculty Living people Machine learning researchers American roboticists 1959 births Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Sloan Research Fellows Disney Research people Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni