{"id":18629,"date":"2018-02-23T01:27:04","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T17:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/robotics-pioneer-red-whittaker-wants-to-put-a-robot-on-the-moon-and-land-amazon-in-his-backyard\/"},"modified":"2018-02-23T01:27:04","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T17:27:04","slug":"robotics-pioneer-red-whittaker-wants-to-put-a-robot-on-the-moon-and-land-amazon-in-his-backyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/robotics-pioneer-red-whittaker-wants-to-put-a-robot-on-the-moon-and-land-amazon-in-his-backyard\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotics pioneer Red Whittaker wants to put a robot on the moon, and land Amazon in his backyard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Red Whittaker, founder and director of Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Field Robotics Center, with Cave Crawler, a robot developed to autonomously map underground mines. (GeekWire Photo \/ Todd Bishop)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PITTSBURGH \u2014 Asked if he will eventually land a robot on the moon, William \u201cRed\u201d Whittaker doesn\u2019t hold back.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, hell yes,\u201d says the Carnegie Mellon University roboticist, showing the enthusiasm and determination that have fueled his career, leading the development of robots that have changed the nature of what machines can accomplish.<\/p>\n

They haven\u2019t landed one on the moon, yet, but Whittaker and his colleagues have sparked the rise of robots in Pittsburgh and beyond \u2014 in areas including nuclear cleanup, autonomous farming, robotic mining and self-driving cars. Their work in the Field Robotics Center at CMU\u2019s Robotics Institute laid the groundwork the spinoff companies, engineering centers and institutions that now populate this city.<\/p>\n

<\/span> My sense is that it would be a two-way street, where Pittsburgh would be a lot of good for them, and Amazon would be a lot of good for Pittsburgh. We would really get along.<\/span><\/p>\n

A revered figure on campus and in the technology community, Whittaker\u2019s mantra is to \u201cdevelop, secure and feed the world, and explore worlds beyond.\u201d Those efforts started with his early work developing robots for the cleanup of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, extended through his team\u2019s victory in the $2 million DARPA Urban Driving Challenge, and continued with attempts to land a robot on the moon in pursuit of the Google Lunar X PRIZE. And Whittaker isn\u2019t done yet, still working on new projects to further advance the field of robotics.<\/p>\n

Whittaker has led some \u201cinsane robotic exploits over the past three decades,\u201d says Andrew Moore, the dean of CMU\u2019s School of Computer Science.<\/p>\n

Now, he is pursuing another prize: Amazon\u2019s HQ2. Pittsburgh\u2019s proposal for the tech giant\u2019s second headquarters included a letter from Whittaker making the case for Amazon to consider Pittsburgh\u2019s robotics prowess as part of its search. Pittsburgh is one of 20 cities in the running for the $5 billion campus, and while it\u2019s considered a long shot based on Amazon\u2019s requirements, robotics is one of its strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the idea,\u201d Whittaker said of Amazon HQ2 while showing us around The Robotics Institute on a recent Friday afternoon. \u201cI like that kind of energy, I like that kind of progressive technology. I like Jeff Bezos. My sense is that it would be a two-way street, where Pittsburgh would be a lot of good for them, and Amazon would be a lot of good for Pittsburgh. We would really get along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos visits Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh in 2008, talking with Red Whittaker, right, and Chris Urmson, center, who went on to lead Google\u2019s self-driving car project before becoming CEO of autonomous car company Aurora Innovation. The vehicle, named Boss, won the $2 million DARPA Urban Driving Challenge in 2007. (Carnegie Mellon University Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether or not it works, it\u2019s a logical pitch to make. Amazon is one of the world\u2019s largest commercial users of robotics, thanks to its global fulfillment centers, where robots whir around the floors and smoothly lift large pallets of products. Bezos is familiar with Whittaker\u2019s work, having invited the roboticist to Seattle after Whittaker\u2019s team won the $2 million DARPA Urban Driving Challenge.<\/p>\n

Whittaker and Bezos also share an ambition to land on the moon \u2014 the Amazon founder through his Blue Origin space company, and Whittaker through Astrobotic, the spinoff company that pursued the $3 million Google Lunar X PRIZE.<\/p>\n

We spoke a few days after a major robotic milestone: the launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Whittaker marveled at the launch, but focused more on the subsequent dual landing of the Falcon 9 boosters. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t be pulled off without the world of robotics,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople miss the idea that when those boosters come down, and self-land, that is automation in action. It is a robotic lander \u2026 It exceeds the capacity of any human pilot, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Space is one of the places where the advantages of robots over humans is clear. \u201cThe problem with those moon missions, particularly with humans, was that they had to hit-and-run, get-and-go, because on the surface it is oven-hot in day, cryogenic-cold at night,\u201d Whittaker said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the heavy radiation, there are micrometeorites raining in. It\u2019s all bad news, and it\u2019ll all take you out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Red Whittaker on the floor of The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. (GeekWire Photo \/ Todd Bishop)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is a common theme running through Whittaker\u2019s work, reflecting his philosophy about the future of robots and automation: It\u2019s not as much about machines replacing humans or taking our jobs \u2014 it\u2019s about robots doing the stuff that we can\u2019t, shouldn\u2019t or don\u2019t want to do. Asked about how robots and automation will most impact the world in the coming years, for example, he pointed to the safety implications of self-driving cars.<\/p>\n

\"\"But he also cited the importance of robotics and automation on farms. Whittaker has his own farm in Somerset County, Pa., and as he explained, \u201cI picked up my land from old guys. And they had to get out. Not because they hated farming \u2026 they just couldn\u2019t do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

With so much to do here on Earth, why focus on the moon? Sitting at the conference table in his office, Whittaker\u2019s eyes lit up at the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, my!\u201d he said, pointing to the \u201cunambiguous determination of abundant water at the poles of the moon. The water means life support, but as important, it means the kind of propellant resupply that can access deep space and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a personal note, he acknowledged another reason: \u201cI\u2019ve had a very rich and privileged experience of robots on land, sea, air, underwater, underground. And even though there are bits and pieces of technology in prior missions, that\u2019s very different than having your own robot and your own mission up there in perpetuity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Red Whittaker, founder and director of Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Field Robotics Center, with Cave Crawler, a robot developed to autonomously map underground mines. (GeekWire Photo \/ Todd Bishop) PITTSBURGH \u2014 Asked if he will eventually land a robot on the moon, William \u201cRed\u201d Whittaker doesn\u2019t hold back. \u201cOh, hell yes,\u201d says the Carnegie Mellon University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5276,697,1046,5277,21],"class_list":["post-18629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-andrew-moore","tag-astrobotic","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-red-whittaker","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}