Bill Townsend founded Barrett Technology in 1988. He is credited with introducing the WAM arm, the first haptic robot and one of the first haptic devices based on novel differential and high-speed cable drives. Bill holds engineering PhD'88 and MS'84 degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS'82 from

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

. He has been awarded nine US patents and won several professional awards including The

Robotics Industries Association The Robotic Industries Association (RIA) was a United States trade group that serves the robotics industry. It was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The organization is involved in safety standards for robots, and sponsor ...

’s Joseph Engelberger Award in 2003 for pioneering the first haptic robot in the 1980s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, William American businesspeople Living people Year of birth missing (living people)