Marc Raibert (born December 22, 1949) is the founder, former CEO, and now Chairman of

Boston Dynamics Boston Dynamics is an American engineering and robotics design company founded in 1992 as a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Boston Dynamics has been owned by the Hyundai Motor Gro ...

, a robotics company known for creating BigDog, Atlas, Spot, and Handle. Before starting Boston Dynamics, Raibert was professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

and an associate professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University. At CMU he founded the Leg Laboratory (1980), a lab that helped establish the scientific basis for highly dynamic robots. Raibert developed the first self-balancing hopping robots, a significant step forward in robotics. Raibert earned an Electrical Engineering, BSEE from Northeastern University in 1973 and a PhD from

in 1977. His dissertation is titled "Motor control and learning by the state space model". Raibert was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 2008 for biomechanically motivated analysis, synthesis, control, and application of multi-legged robots. Raibert's dream is to advance bipedal and quadrupedal robotics to a supernatural state. Boston Dynamics was acquired by

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in December 2013. On the acquisition, Raibert commented that he was "excited by

Andy Rubin Andrew E. Rubin is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Rubin founded Android Inc. in 2003, which was acquired by Google in 2005; Rubin served as a Google vice president for 9 years and led Google's efforts in ...

and Google’s ability to think very, very big... with the resources to make it happen." In March 2016, Google began offering Boston Dynamics for sale. The company was acquired by

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in June 2017. In 2020, Boston Dynamics was acquired by Hyundai Motor Group.

Patents granted to Marc Raibert

Actuator system

* ''Actuator system'', Issued: February 28, 2012 An actuator subsystem preferably for a robot or bionic linkage. A joint between two robotic or bionic members includes at least first and second actuators such as piston-cylinder assemblies connected between the members. A hydraulic circuit includes a sensor subsystem for sensing the magnitude of the load on the piston-cylinder assemblies and/or members. A fluid supply system includes an actuatable control valve operable to supply fluid to one or both piston-cylinder assemblies. A control circuit is responsive to the sensor and is configured to electronically control the fluid subsystem to supply fluid to the first piston-cylinder assembly when the sensor subsystem senses a load below a predetermined magnitude and to supply fluid to both piston-cylinder assemblies when the sensor subsystem senses a load above the predetermined magnitude. Co-inventor: Aaron Saunders

Robot apparatus and method for controlling jumping of robot device

* ''Robot apparatus and method for controlling jumping of robot device'', Issued: November 19, 2002 A robot apparatus that is able to perform jumping. In a leg structure 110 of the robot apparatus, connecting bars 113, 114 and pivots 112a to 112d constitute a four-point link mechanism. A rod 117 is inserted into an opening formed in the distal end of a leg part 116. A coil spring 118 as an elastic member is provided between one end of the rod 117 and the distal end of the leg part 116. A bar member 120 is connected and secured to a preset point of a connecting member 115 as a knee joint. The coil spring 118 is extended/contracted by the stretching/contraction of the connecting member 115. By the operation of the four-point link mechanism, the trajectory of the distal end of the leg part is linear. The coil spring 118 is mounted at a position such that the distance between a driving shaft 101 and the distal end of the bar member 120 has a substantially linear relationship with respect to the force virtually operating between a driving shaft 101 and the distal end of the bar member 120. Co-inventors: Takashi Yamamoto, Martin de Lasa, Shervin Talebinejad, Darrin Jewell, Robert Playter

In fiction

Several of the MIT Leg Lab robots appear in the movie '' Rising Sun''.

Appearances

Raibert was a keynote speaker at the 2016 Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders. On May 11, 2018 Marc Raibert took part in TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics 2018 where he spoke about the SpotMini robot that Boston Dynamics will begin to sell in 2019. In April 2019, Raibert spoke at the TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics 2019, where he presented the newest uses for the SpotMini robot.

References

External links

* ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Raibert, Marc Living people 1949 births American roboticists Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Carnegie Mellon University faculty MIT School of Engineering faculty American technology chief executives