Mark W. Tilden is a

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

who produces complex robotic movements from simple analog

logic circuit A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, a logical operation performed on one or more binary inputs that produces a single binary output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, ...

s, often with discrete electronic components, and usually without a microprocessor. He is controversial because of his libertarian

Tilden's Laws of Robotics The Three Laws of Robotics (often shortened to The Three Laws or known as Asimov's Laws) are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround (story), Runaround" (included ...

, and is known for his invention of

BEAM robotics BEAM robotics (from biology, electronics, aesthetics and mechanics) is a style of robotics that primarily uses simple analogue circuits, such as comparators, instead of a microprocessor in order to produce an unusually simple design. While not as f ...

and the

WowWee WowWee Group Limited, is a privately owned, Hong Kong-based Canadian consumer technology company. History Initially from Canada, the two founding brothers (Richard and Peter Yanofsky) moved to Hong Kong to form the company in 1982, as an independ ...

Robosapien humanoid robot.

Early career

Born in the UK in 1961, raised in Canada, Tilden started at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

then moved on to the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

where he developed simple robots such as the SATbot which instinctively aligned itself to the

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

of the earth, de-mining insectoids, "Nervous Network" theory and applications, interplanetary explorers, and behavioral research into many solar-powered "Living Machines" of his own design. Tilden later referred to his early robots as "wimpy" for the results of their programming using Isaac Asimov's

Three Rules of Robotics The Three Laws of Robotics (often shortened to The Three Laws or known as Asimov's Laws) are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story " Runaround" (included in the 1950 coll ...

. He accordingly promulgated another set of three rules for what he called "wild" robots, essentially survivalists.

Current Work

Having left government service and moved to Hong Kong, Tilden currently works as a freelance robotics designer, consultant and lecturer. His commercial products are marketed through WowWee Toys.

Biomorphic robot Biomorphism models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices. History Within the c ...

-based items include B.I.O. Bugs (2001), Constructobots (2002), G.I Joe Hoverstrike (2003), RoboSapien (2004),

Robosapien v2 The Robosapien V2 is the second generation of Mark Tilden's Robosapien robot. It is nearly twice the size of the original robot, standing around tall. Instead of the original caveman grunts, the V2 can speak a large list of pre-recorded phrases ...

(2005),

Roboraptor Roboraptor is a robotic toy invented by Mark Tilden and Michael Bellantoni in 2004, and then distributed by Wow Wee Toys International. It is the successor to the RoboSapien robot and uses motion technology based on realistic biomechanics that g ...

(2005), Robopet (2005),

Roboreptile The Roboreptile is a toy robot by WowWee. The Roboreptile has infrared and sound sensors, and is able to autonomously explore its environment while avoiding obstacles. It can also operate in different modes where it simulates behaviors of real ani ...

(2006),

RS Media The RS Media is another product in WowWee's line of biomorphic robots, based on a walking system designed by Mark Tilden. The RS Media uses basically the same body as the Robosapien V2, but a different brain based on a Linux kernel. As the name ...

(2006, co-developed with Davin Sufer and Maxwell Bogue),

Roboquad Referred to as "The first true robotic arthropod," Roboquad is one of the 5 robots that WowWee announced at CES in January 2007. It is a 4-legged robot that somewhat resembles a spider and a dog. Also designed by Mark Tilden, the Roboquad, like ...

(2007), Roboboa (2007), the humanform Femisapien (2008), Joebot (2009), and the Roomscooper floor-cleaning robot (2010). Tilden and his robots have been featured on several television specials, such as "Robots Rising" (Discovery), "The Shape of Life" (PBS), "TechnoSpy" (TLC), "Extreme Machines - Incredible Robots" (TLC), "The Science behind Star Wars" (Discovery), as well as many magazines, newspaper publications, websites, and books. A comprehensive article on Tilden (December-2010) by Thomas Marsh is viewable online through the "Robot" Magazine website. Tilden also was a technical consultant for the robot scenes in the 2001 movie '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider''. His robots are also continuous background props in the TV series ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

''. Movies which feature his robots in prominent roles include ''

The 40 Year Old Virgin ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Judd Apatow, who produced the film with Clayton Townsend and Shauna Robertson. It features Steve Carell as the titular 40-year-old virgin Andy, an employee at an el ...

'', ''

Paul Blart Mall Cop ''Paul Blart: Mall Cop'' is a 2009 American action comedy film directed by Steve Carr, written by Kevin James and Nick Bakay, and produced by James, Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Todd Garner, and Barry Bernardi. It stars James as the titular cha ...

'' and '' X-Men: The Last Stand''. Tilden appeared in the 2016 documentary film
Machine of Human Dreams
', which showed the work of several prominent technologists based in Hong Kong.

References

External links

Robotsrule
- Detailed information site on many commercially available entertainment robots.
Solarbotics
- On-line store for parts, plans, kits, and history of BEAM robotics.
BEAM Discussion Group
- Active on-line discussion group of BEAM robots, builders, events, and history.
"Robot" Magazine
- Detailed article on Mark Tilden's history, philosophy, and robotics approach, with images.
Discover Magazine
- Article about Mark Tilden {{DEFAULTSORT:Tilden, Mark 1961 births Living people Roboticists Canadian roboticists British emigrants to Canada WowWee 20th-century Canadian scientists University of Waterloo alumni 20th-century British scientists Scientists from Ontario Canadian emigrants to Hong Kong

Early career

Current Work

See also

References

External links