Robots! Albert Huang ’99 MY PATH TO ROBOTICS started with
nobody’s sitting in the driver’s seat. We
in part because we’re at a point where a
computers — I’d been interested in using
spent the month leading up to the final race
great deal of robotics research is ready to be
them to alternately have fun and solve
testing at an abandoned military air base in
developed for widespread use. At Heartland,
problems since I was a kid, including my
Southern California during wildfire season,
we’re building affordable robots to help
days at MB. Back then, there weren’t really
and at some points it had this weird post-
revitalize manufacturing in the U.S. by
any computer science classes (hopefully
apocalyptic future feel because we were
making small-business operations more
there are more options now!), but in my
driving around deserted barracks in a robot
productive.
junior year, I took a class at Brown. Every
car while we could see (and smell) the hills
Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, I’d
of California burning in the distance. Some
Albert Huang graduated from Brown and
rollerblade down Thayer Street to make it in
people I met in that project have since gone
went on to receive his Ph.D. in computer science
time for class.
on to lead the Google self-driving car project
at MIT. While a student at MB, Albert ran
that’s been in the news lately; I’m hoping
cross-country and played handbells. At MIT,
until midway through graduate school.
that they’ll take those techniques and
he focused on machine vision for mobile robots
Looking back, I think I’d always been
eventually build a car that can take me
and even saw his work mentioned in Popular
intimidated by all the math involved, but
somewhere with the push of a button.
Science and on CNN. He also co-wrote a
finally decided to take the plunge because it
book on Bluetooth, Bluetooth Essentials for
seemed so interesting. The idea of building
because we’re able to leverage all of these
Programmers. Albert can be reached at
something that could perform complex
great technologies coming out of other
ashuang@gmail.com.
tasks and help solve real problems was so
sectors and use them to build robots. This
alluring to me that I completely switched
includes not only computer chips, but also
At the heart of it: Albert’s new employer,
research topics several years into my Ph.D.
lightweight materials, and even developments
Heartland Robotics, predicts that, “Robots will
to study robotics.
from entertainment industries. For example,
change the way we work.” The company is located
a recent project I worked on at MIT involved
in Boston’s Innovation District, where Albert works
work on in graduate school was the DARPA
outfitting a small robotic quadrotor helicopter
for founder Rodney Brooks, former director of the
Urban Challenge, a robotic car race where
with a Microsoft Kinect to autonomously
MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
we modified a Land Rover LR3 to drive itself
navigate confined indoor spaces while
Laboratory (and inventor of the Roomba).
60 miles through an urban road network
building high-resolution 3D maps.
Heartland’s goal is to introduce robots into places
while safely interacting with other cars
Eventually, we could use robots like this to
that have not been automated before, making
(both human and robot-driven) and obeying
give a detailed view of areas inaccessible to
manufacturers more efficient, workers more
California state traffic laws. There’s
people, such as an unstable building after
productive and keeping jobs from migrating to
something incredible about being in a car
an earthquake, or inside a nuclear reactor
low-cost regions. Thomson Reuters’ Venture Capital
while it’s driving itself around using the
with dangerously high radiation levels.
Journal recently ranked Heartland number seven on
software that you’ve written — when
its Top 20 Most Promising Startups list.
I didn’t actually get started in robotics
One project I was fortunate enough to
In general, robotics is exciting right now
I transitioned from academia to industry
photos: Jason Dorfman/MIT
Autonomous forklifts, vehicles and more: Albert Huang, shown “working” on a robot, parlayed an interest in computers into a career.
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