Matthew T. Mason
Encyclopedia
Matthew T. Mason is an American
roboticist
and the Director of the Robotics Institute
at Carnegie Mellon University
. Mason is a world-renowned researcher in the area of robotic manipulation, and is the author of two highly cited textbooks in the field.
In 2004, Mason received widespread media attention for developing the first origami
folding robot, demonstrating advances in difficult manipulation tasks.
in 1976, 1978, and 1982, respectively. His M.S. Thesis Compliance and Force Control for Computer Control led Manipulators was advised by Berthold K. P. Horn, and his Ph.D. thesis Manipulator Grasping and Pushing Operations was advised by Tomas Lozano-Perez and Berthold K. P. Horn.
He worked at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a research visitor in 1978, and has been teaching at the School of Computer Science and the Robotics Institute
at Carnegie Mellon University
since 1982. At CMU, Mason served as the chair of the robotics doctoral program from 1995–2004, and is currently the director of the Robotics Institute.
Mason served as the North American Editor of the Butterworths Series in Computer Automation from 1988 to 1994, the technical editor of the IEEE Journal Robotics and Automation from 1989 to 1992, and on the board of editors for the MIT Robotics Review from 1988 to 1992. He is currently a member of the editorial and advisory board for the International Journal of Robotics Research.
Mason was National Science Foundation
Fellow from 1976 to 1980. In 1983 he received the System Development Foundation Prize. In 1992 he became Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
, and in 2000 he became Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
roboticist
Roboticist
A roboticist designs, builds, programs, and experiments with robots. Since robotics is a highly interdisciplinary field, roboticists often have backgrounds in a number of disciplines including computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering...
and the Director of the Robotics Institute
Robotics Institute
The Robotics Institute is a division of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is considered to be one of the leading centers of robotics research in the world....
at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. Mason is a world-renowned researcher in the area of robotic manipulation, and is the author of two highly cited textbooks in the field.
In 2004, Mason received widespread media attention for developing the first origami
Origami
is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...
folding robot, demonstrating advances in difficult manipulation tasks.
Biography
Mason received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1976, 1978, and 1982, respectively. His M.S. Thesis Compliance and Force Control for Computer Control led Manipulators was advised by Berthold K. P. Horn, and his Ph.D. thesis Manipulator Grasping and Pushing Operations was advised by Tomas Lozano-Perez and Berthold K. P. Horn.
He worked at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a research visitor in 1978, and has been teaching at the School of Computer Science and the Robotics Institute
Robotics Institute
The Robotics Institute is a division of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is considered to be one of the leading centers of robotics research in the world....
at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
since 1982. At CMU, Mason served as the chair of the robotics doctoral program from 1995–2004, and is currently the director of the Robotics Institute.
Mason served as the North American Editor of the Butterworths Series in Computer Automation from 1988 to 1994, the technical editor of the IEEE Journal Robotics and Automation from 1989 to 1992, and on the board of editors for the MIT Robotics Review from 1988 to 1992. He is currently a member of the editorial and advisory board for the International Journal of Robotics Research.
Mason was National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
Fellow from 1976 to 1980. In 1983 he received the System Development Foundation Prize. In 1992 he became Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
American Association for Artificial Intelligence
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence or AAAI is an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines...
, and in 2000 he became Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
.
Work
Mason's work is organized around five topics:- Mechanics of manipulation: modeling the physics of manipulation and how these models translates into implementation in robots.
- Robotic origami: the problem of origamiOrigamiis the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...
as a challenging manipulation task for robots. - Manipulation without hands: manipulation with a set of resources instead of just a manipulation subsystem (an arm).
- Locomotion without legs: exploiting all available resources for locomotion, similar to manipulation without hands
- Shortest paths for mobile robots: finding time optimal paths for robot motion.
Publications
Mason has published several books and articles, a selection:- Matthew T. Mason, Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. 2001.
- Pankaj Agarwal, Lydia KavrakiLydia KavrakiLydia E. Kavraki is a Greek-American computer scientist, the Noah Harding Professor of Computer Science and a professor of bioengineering at Rice University and a professor of structural and computational biology and molecular biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine...
, and Matthew T. Mason, editors. Robotics: the Algorithmic Perspective: 1998 Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics, A K Peters: Boston. 1998. - Matthew T. Mason and J. Kenneth Salisbury, Robot Hands and the Mechanics of Manipulation, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. 1985.
- J. Michael Brady, John M. Hollerbach, Timothy Johnson, Tomas Lozano-Perez, and Matthew T. Mason, Robot Motion: Planning and Control, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. 1982.