WHAT:
Ken Goldberg (UC Berkeley):
"Power to the People: Robots and Representational Democracy"

WHEN:
Monday, March 31, 2008 4:00pm - 5:30pm

WHERE:
Bartos Theater, Lower Level, MIT Media Lab (E15)

SUMMARY:
Ken Goldberg will present the manifesto of the Berkeley Center for new media and propose a controversial definition of "media." He'll then report on experiments and questions raised by robots and social networks, ranging from ouija boards to human "tele-actors," and tell a true story about how invasions of privacy led him and his students to study how robots can assist in monitoring the natural environment. He will describe a robotic system they have deployed to assist the search for the ivory billed woodpecker, a bird of extreme interest to birdwatchers, ornithologists, and conservationists whose last confirmed sighting was in 1944.

BIO:
Ken Goldberg is an artist and professor at UC Berkeley. He is professor of industrial engineering and operations research, with secondary appointments in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and in the School of Information. He is currently director of the Berkeley Center for New Media. Goldberg received his PhD in computer science from CMU in 1990 and studied at the University of Pennsylvania, Edinburgh University, and the Technion. From 1991-95 he taught at the University of Southern California, and in fall 2000 was visiting faculty at the MIT Media Lab. Goldberg and his students work in two areas: geometric algorithms for automation, and networked robots. In the first category, he develops algorithms for feeding, sorting, and fixturing industrial parts, with an emphasis on mathematically rigorous solutions that require a minimum of sensing and actuation so as to reduce costs and increase reliability. In the area of networked robots, Goldberg and colleagues developed the first robot publically operable via the Internet. He has published over 100 research papers and edited four books. In 2004, Goldberg co-founded the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and is founding chair of its advisory board. Goldberg was named National Science Foundation Young Investigator in 1994 and NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow in 1995. He is the recipient of the Joseph Engelberger Award (2000), the IEEE Major Educational Innovation Award (2001), and was elected IEEE Fellow in 2005.