ROBOTICS LECTURE SPONSORED BY SABRE, THE SOUTHLAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND KERA
Thursday May 8th one of the top robotics engineers in the country from MIT will be in Town Hall presenting a lecture and his robots. The program is sponsored by Sabre, Travelocity, Southlake Public Library and KERA. The program begins at 6:30 in the training rooms on the 3rd floor. The library has worked out a deal with Sabre and KERA to have people they contract to do lectures to also provide lectures for the library at no charge.

“Dances with Robots: The Story of One Engineer, 112 Little Robots, and the Toys, Insects, and Star Wars Movies that Made it all Possible”

The presentation starts with a lighthearted look at society’s views on robots, Hollywood’s portrayal of them, the current state of the art, and the future of the technology. Philosophical questions about the nature of intelligence are discussed, as they pose serious problems for the creation of artificially intel¬ligent devices. The final conclusion? Robots are phenomenally stupid and we should be more concerned about the next asteroid strike than a robotic rebellion. In spite of this, robots are still useful, and swarms are the future of robotics. McLurkin mo¬tivates the need for swarms of robots, and explains the technology required to produce group be¬haviors on one hundred robots. Live robot demonstrations and video clips of the swarm in action punctuate the main points. The presentation concludes with an autobiographical sketch that traces the events, ideas, and toys that have influenced McLurkin’s career. Starting with cardboard boxes and tape, moving through LEGO and video games, this high-energy slide show concludes with a behind-the-scenes look at the construction of the iRobot Swarm.

James McLurkin was the 2003 recipient of the Lemelson-MIT student prize for invention. He has been recognized by Time magazine as one of five leading robotics engineers and by Black Enter¬prise magazine as one of its "Best and Brightest Under 40." He has appeared on the PBS NOVA scienceNOW series and the Discovery Channel.