With over 46 years of experience in the robotics industry, Prof. Barrett has built practical robotic systems for a wide variety of government, commercial, academic and industrial customers. His current research areas at MIT include, developing mega-scale ocean-based turbine power systems to combat global warming, exploring the fundamentals of fluid turbulence, developing autonomous marine systems and developing trans-oceanic bio-robotic fish. Prior to joining MIT, Prof. Barrett taught mechanical engineering and robotics at Olin College where he was the founder and director of the Olin’s Robotics Lab and developed autonomous vehicles, maritime, warehouse, aerospace, and medical robots in direct collaboration with multiple external partners. Prior to Olin, Dr. Barrett was Vice President of Engineering at the iRobot Corporation. Prior to iRobot, he held positions as a director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Corporation, as a research engineer at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and as a technical director at Draper Laboratory. Dr. Barrett is currently an advisory board member of multiple robotic companies, and an academic curriculum advisor to Cooper Union, MIT, CMU, West Point and Duke University. In addition to his many published articles, Dr. Barrett holds 22 patents with previous colleagues on a variety of robotic systems. He is also an active member of numerous professional societies, including; AAAI, ASME, SNAME, IEEE Robotics and Automation, Vehicular Technology and Ocean Engineering Societies.
Education:
MIT, Ph.D. Ocean Engineering May 1996
MIT, M.S. Ocean Engineering May 1994
MIT, M.S. Mechanical Engineering May 1981
