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Innovation at the Interface: Technological Fusion at MIT

Edward B. Roberts '57, SM '58, SM '60, PhD '62 Rodney A. Brooks Robert S. Langer Jr. ScD '74: January 21, 2004; Running Time: 1:30:00

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

When disciplines converge, innovation results. To prove the point, two inventers offered rich and varied examples from their respective areas: artificial intelligence and biomedicine. Rodney Brooks describes robots exploring dangerous bunkers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and intelligent prosthetic limbs. He predicts that in a few decades, helper robots will be as prevalent as computers are today. Aging baby boomers, says Brooks, will insist on remaining in their own homes as long as possible. They’ll require high tech caretaking, as well as entertainment and education opportunities. Brooks believes that low-paid assisted living jobs, as well as agricultural and manufacturing work, will gradually migrate to smart machines. Robert Langer has a string of remarkable biomedical inventions to his credit. He tells us that not so long ago, sausage casing was used for dialysis tubing and mattress stuffing for breast implants. Langer turned the medical world on its head by creating new materials for clinical application: chemical compounds for skin grafts and for targeted cancer therapy. He has created an artificial scaffold for tissues and organs that may also help rebuild spinal cords. The latest research involves microchips that can deliver precise doses of drugs, and respond by remote control like a garage door opener.

Lecture Details

Location: Kresge Auditorium

“Whenever you come up with what you think is an important idea, you can be sure that other people won’t like it. ”

Robert Langer

About the Speakers

Edward B. Roberts '57, SM '58, SM '60, PhD '62

David Sarnoff Professor of the Management of Technology
Chair, MIT Entrepreneurship Center

During the past 45 years, Ed Roberts has become internationally known for his research, teaching and active involvement in many aspects of technology management, including technology strategy, corporate venturing, product innovation management, and technology-based entrepreneurship. He served as co-director of the MIT International Center for Research on the Management of Technology.

Roberts was a founding member of the MIT System Dynamics Group, is Founder and Chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and was a founder and for more than 30 years chaired MIT Sloan's Management of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group. He co-founded and for nearly 20 years chaired the mid-career MIT Management of Technology (MOT) Program. Most recently he co-created and directs the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation MBA Track.

He has been a co-founder and/or director of numerous emerging technology companies. Roberts has authored more than 160 articles and eleven books.

Roberts holds 4 degrees from MIT.

Rodney A. Brooks

Founder, Chairman and CTO, Heartland Robotics, Inc.
Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus)

Rodney Brooks is the Panasonic Professor of Robotics (emeritus) at MIT. He is a robotics entrepreneur and Founder, Chairman and CTO of Heartland Robotics, Inc. He is also a Founder, Board Member and former CTO (1991 - 2008) of iRobot Corp. Dr. Brooks is the former Director (1997 - 2007) of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and then the MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). He received degrees in pure mathematics from the Flinders University of South Australia and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1981. He held research positions at Carnegie Mellon University and MIT, and a faculty position at Stanford before joining the faculty of MIT in 1984. He has published many papers in computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics, and artificial life. Brooks is a Founding Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Robert S. Langer Jr. ScD '74

David H. Koch Institute Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 2002 Draper Prize Award Recipient

Robert Langer has more than 500 issued or pending patents worldwide. In 2005, Langer received the $500,000 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, America's top prize in medicine. In 2002, he received the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers, from the National Academy of Engineering. Among numerous other awards Langer has received are the Heinz Award for Technology, Economy and Employment (2003), the John Fritz Award (2003) (given previously to inventors such as Thomas Edison and Orville Wright) and the General Motors Kettering Award for Cancer Research (2004). Langer is one of very few people ever elected to all three U.S. National Academies and the youngest in history (age 43) ever to receive this distinction.

He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.

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