Robin Roberson Murphy is an American computer scientist and roboticist. She is the Raytheon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. She is known as a founder of the fields of rescue robotics and human-robot interaction and for inserting robots into disasters. Her case studies of how unmanned systems under perform in the field led cognitive systems engineering researcher David Woods to pose the (Robin) Murphy's Law of Autonomy: a deployment of robotic systems will fall short of the target level of autonomy, creating or exacerbating a shortfall in mechanisms for coordination with human problem holders. Her TED tal
“These Robots Come to the Rescue After a Disaster”
was listed i
TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking
as one of the examples of a good TED talk. Murphy is also known for using science fiction as an innovative method of teaching artificial intelligence and robotics.

Early years and education

Murphy was raised in Douglas, Georgia. She received her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

in 1980, worked in the process safety industry, and returned to Georgia Tech for a master's (1988) and PhD. (1992) in computer science under the direction of Ronald Arkin. She was the first person to graduate from the Georgia Tech College of Computing with a PhD in robotics. She was an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Mines from 1992 to 1998, then moved to the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

as an associate professor in 1998 and was promoted to full professor in 2003. In 2008, Murphy moved to

. She was a member of the Defense Science Study Group from 1997 to 1998; this led to her involvement on numerous science boards, including the

Defense Science Board The Defense Science Board (DSB) is a committee of civilian experts appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters. It was established in 1956 on the recommendation of the second Hoover Commission. Charter ...

and the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.

Career in robotics

Disaster robotics

Murphy began research into disaster robotics in 1995, motivated by the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry N ...

. Murphy was the director of th
Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASASR)
from 2002 to 2018, and now serves as the vice-president. Through CRASAR she participated in the 9/11

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

disaster (2001), considered the first use of robots for the emergency response phase of a disaster. Since then she has helped insert unmanned ground, aerial, and marine systems into 27 disasters including Hurricane Katrina, which is considered the first use of small unmanned aerial systems, the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear accident (2011), the Tōhoku tsunami (2011), the Syrian Boat Refugee crisis (2016), and

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

(2017). She wrote the seminal tex
Disaster Robotics
MIT Press, in 2014.

Science fiction

*Murphy's book,
Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Robotics: Case Studies of Successful Systems
' was cited by

Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature tech ...

in ''

Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

''. *She inspired the character of Jae, a rescue roboticist who worked at Disaster City, in ''Skinner'', a science fiction book by

Charlie Huston Charlie Huston is a novelist and TV writer. His twelve novels span several genres from crime to horror to science fiction. His books have been published in English by Ballentine, Del Rey, Mulholland and Orion, and translated into nine other lang ...

. *Murphy has edited a book,
Robotics Through Science Fiction: Artificial Intelligence Explained Through Six Classic Robot Short Stories
' by

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, Brian Aldiss, Vernor Vinge, and

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

, to illustrate key principles in programming artificial intelligence for robotics. The book was originally intended as a companion to the second edition of her textbook ''Introduction to AI Robotics'' but it serves as a stand-alone book for a non-technical audience. *Since 2018, she writes monthly 'science fiction science fact' focus articles for
Science Robotics
' analyzing the realism of robots in the media including ''Star Wars'' and ''Westworld''. *Her blog
Robotics Through Science Fiction
' discusses the scientific accuracy of books and movies.

Awards and honors

* She was named to the 2021 class of Fellows of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

. * She was elected as an ACM Fellow in 2019 "for contributions in founding and advancing the field of computing for disasters and robotics". * In 2014, Murphy received the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...

Eugene L. Lawler Award Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics. Her humanitarian work has been honored with the 2009 Motohiro Kisoi Award for academic contributions to rescue engineering and the AUVSI Foundation's Al Aube Outstanding Contributor Award in 2008. * In 2010, she was made an IEEE Fellow “for contributions to rescue robotics and insertion of robots into major disasters.” * Her book Disaster Robotics,

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

2014, won a Honorable mention 2015 American Publishers Awards PROSE Award for best writing in Engineering and Technology. * Her work on government boards led to the US Air Force Exemplary Civilian Service Award in 2005. * Murphy is frequently cited in the popular press as a WIRED Magazine 'AlphaGeek', one o
15 innovators reshaping Texas
one of th
30 Most Innovative Women Professors Alive Today by The Best Master’s Degrees
and one of th
most influential women in technology
* Murphy was featured in the documentary short film and web film
''Living with Robots'' (Honda)
shown at the 2010

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, with a 90-second version distributed to national movie theaters preceding ''Inception''.

Bibliography

''Robotics Through Science Fiction''
(2018) *
Introduction to AI Robotics
' (2001, 2018) *
Disaster Robotics
' (2014) *
The Role of Autonomy in DOD Systems, Task Force Defense Science Board
' (2012) *
Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Robotics: Case Studies of Successful Systems
' (with D. Kortenkamp and P. Bonasso) (1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Robin Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Texas A&M University faculty American computer scientists American roboticists Georgia Tech alumni Colorado School of Mines faculty University of South Florida faculty 2019 Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science American women computer scientists Women roboticists 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American women engineers