Dr. Whittaker is an educator, researcher, integrator, developer of revolutionary artifacts, founder of technical disciplines and creator of research environments and commercialization pathways for the fulfillment of emerging initiatives. Dr. Whittaker is the Fredkin Research Professor of Robotics, Director of the Field Robotics Center, and Chief Scientist of the National Robotics Engineering Consortium, all at The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition he is Chief Scientist and Co-Founder of RedZone Robotics, Inc. He has founded successful laboratories, centers, consortia, companies, pioneered disciplines and has two decades of organizational, management and leadership distinction. Dr. Whittaker has led over $100M of research programs, led several world-class robotic explorations and operations with significant outreach, education and technology commercializations. His vision is to drive NanoBioLogics technology to fulfillment, and to create nanorobotic agents for enterprise on earth and beyond.

Dr. Whittaker’s research fuses disparate technologies to configure robots for space exploration and servicing, and for terrestrial applications from mining to medicine. His work addresses computer architectures for robots; modeling and planning for non-repetitive tasks; complex problems of objective sensing in random and dynamic environments; and integration of complete robot systems.

Programs under Dr. Whittaker’s direction include: Hyperion sun-synchronous circumnavigation of polar regions, Autonomous Search for Antarctic Meteorites; Nomad 200km exploration of Chilean Atacama Desert; Dante: unmanned robots for volcano exploration Ambler: extreme terrain mobility; Skyworker: assembly, inspection and maintenance of space facilities; Pioneer: mapping and reconnaissance for structural assessment of Chernobyl; robotic tour guide for museums; Demeter: unmanned grain harvesting; FastNav: autonomous strip mine haulage; REX excavation for mine haulage, earthmoving and exhuming buried objects; Workhorse for Three Mile Island cleanup: Navigation LABoratories for unmanned ground vehicle research; Robotic Assistant to work alongside terrestrial field crews; Site Investigatio robotic geophysical data acquisition and processing for site characterization; Autonomous Rover Technologies: navigation, perception, planning, and science autonomy for exploration robots.

Professor Whittaker’s education includes a BS from Princeton (1973), MS (1975) and Ph.D. (1979) from Carnegie Mellon. Dr. Whittaker’s numerous awards, include the Design News Special Achievement Award, Aviation and Space Technology Week Laurels Award for outstanding achievement, and Carnegie Mellon’s Teare Award for Teaching Excellence. Science Digest named him one of the country’s top 100 innovators. He has served on select review panels, including NRC’s Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, NRC’s Committee on Precursor Measurements to Support Human Operations on the Surface of Mars, Peer Review Committee on DOE Environmental Management Technologies, and NRC Committee to Provide Interim Oversight of the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex. Dr. Whittaker has collaborated with six NASA centers and headquarters, and served a decade with NASA’s Telerobotics Intercenter Working Group. He is a member of AIAA, ANS, ASME, IEEE and is a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. He is a member of the Center for the Commercial Development of Space, the Space Studies Institute and Space Frontier Foundation. Dr. Whittaker has advised twenty Ph.D. students, has sixteen patents, and has authored over 160 publications.