James McLurkin

James McLurkin (born 1972) is a Senior Hardware Engineer at Google.[1] Previously, he was an engineering assistant professor at Rice University specializing in swarm robotics. In 2005, he appeared on an episode of PBS' Nova[2] and is a winner of the 2003 Lemelson-MIT Prize.[3]

James McLurkin
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California at Berkeley
Known forInventing the world's smallest self-contained autonomous robots
Scientific career
InstitutionsGoogle, Rice University
ThesisAnalysis and Implementation of Distributed Algorithms for Multi-Robot Systems (2008)

Early life

McLurkin was born in 1972 in Baldwin, New York and graduated from Baldwin Senior High School in 1990.[4] He built his first robot, Rover, in 1988.[4]

Education and career

McLurkin completed his PhD in computer science in May 2008 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Previously, he earned his master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and B.S. from MIT.

As part of his doctoral research, McLurkin developed algorithms and techniques for programming "swarms" of autonomous robots to mimic the behavior of bees, including their abilities to cluster, disperse, follow, and orbit.[5]

In 1995, McLurkin was invited by the Smithsonian Institution to speak about his life and career in a presentation for schoolchildren sponsored by the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.[6]

References
  1. Gilmore, Molly (October 17, 2017). "Nerdy Google inventor to share his passion for towel rods and other stuff on Thursday". The Olympian. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  2. "Profile: James McLurkin". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. "Robotic ants inventor James McLurkin wins $30K Lemelson student prize". MIT News. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  4. "James McLurkin's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  5. "James McLurkin | Lemelson-MIT Program". lemelson.mit.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  6. Article outlining McLurkin's "Innovative Lives" presentation for the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center Archived 2008-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
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