Rodney Brooks

Rodney Allen Brooks was born in 1954 in Adelaide, Australia.⁠[1]

He has written that he became a graduate student in artificial intelligence in January 1976.⁠[2]

He received degrees in pure mathematics from the Flinders University of South Australia and, in 1981, a PhD in computer science from Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry.⁠[3]

In 1984 Lucid was founded and developed the first pure Common Lisp compiler; it is the earliest company listed on the companies page of his personal site.⁠[4]

He published Model-Based Computer Vision (UMI Research Press, 1984) and Programming in Common LISP (John Wiley and Sons, 1985), the latter also issued in German and Japanese editions.⁠[5]

In March 1986 he published “A Robust Layered Control System for a Mobile Robot” in the IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation; in 1989, with A. M. Flynn, “Fast, Cheap and Out of Control: A Robot Invasion of the Solar System”; in 1990, “Elephants Don’t Play Chess”; and in 1991, “Intelligence Without Representation” in the journal Artificial Intelligence.⁠[6]

A co-founder of iRobot, he served as a director from its founding in August 1990 and as chairman until February 2004; he was earlier its treasurer and president, and became chief technology officer in June 1997.⁠[7]

He directed MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1997 to 2003 and then the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) until 2007.⁠[3]

In 1999 MIT Press published his Cambrian Intelligence: The Early History of the New AI, and in 2002 Pantheon Books published Flesh & Machines, which argues that humans are machines at root; it was later translated into many languages.⁠[5]

In September 2008 he stepped down as iRobot’s chief technology officer and co-founded Heartland Robotics to develop low-cost industrial robots, serving as its chairman and CTO while on leave from his post as MIT’s Panasonic Professor of Robotics.⁠[8]

In June 2012 he showed the Baxter robot at Rethink Robotics’ Boston office; priced at $22,000, it would, he said, “sell like hotcakes.”⁠[9]

In October 2017 he published an essay in MIT Technology Review that invoked Amara’s Law: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”⁠[10]

On January 1, 2018, he published a set of dated technology predictions on his blog, reviewing them every year afterward.⁠[11]

In October 2018 Rethink Robotics, which had raised US$150 million, shut down after sales fell short of its goals. He said: “I am most proud that we changed industrial robots forever.”⁠[9]

In 2019 he co-founded Robust.AI, where he is chief technical officer.⁠[1]

On September 3, 2021, he appeared on episode 217 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, introduced as former head of MIT CSAIL and co-founder of iRobot, Rethink Robotics and Robust.AI; topics included his first robots, brains and computers, self-driving cars, predictions, iRobot and advice for young people.⁠[12]

In 2023 the Computer History Museum named him a Fellow “For the advancement of robotics and consideration of its implications for humanity.”⁠[1]

On September 26, 2025, he published the long essay “Why Today’s Humanoids Won’t Learn Dexterity,” arguing that training humanoids mainly on human video will not yield human-level dexterity because “Human dexterity relies on a rich sense of touch.”⁠[13]

In his January 1, 2026 predictions scorecard he wrote that he had been in the AI field for 50 years and that “I do not share the hype that surrounds humanoid robotics today.”⁠[2]

On July 26, 2026, he tidied up his 2018 predictions, saying he would continue yearly updates on three sets of technologies every January 1, and noted that Robust AI’s mobile robots were deployed all over North America.⁠[11]

On August 1, 2026, he published a short piece dividing technology’s path from research idea to deployment into four distinct time scales, arguing that people often jump between them and make badly wrong predictions about when a technology will be ready.⁠[14]

As of October 2026 he is the Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus) at MIT and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. Awards listed on his home page include the 1991 IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, the 2008 IEEE Inaba Technical Award, the 2014 Engelberger Robotics Award for Leadership, the 2015 IEEE Robotics and Automation Award and the 2023 IEEE Founders Medal.⁠[15]

Robust AI’s leadership page lists him as co-founder and CTO.⁠[16]

Personal website: Public link: https://rodneybrooks.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

X: Public account: https://x.com/rodneyabrooks (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodney-brooks-1a137517/ (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

Robust.AI: Official website: https://www.robust.ai/ (opens in a new window)⁠[16]