History

A Brief History of Robotics at Johns Hopkins

Robotics as an engineering discipline is rooted in World War II, with teleoperated systems designed to manipulate radioactive materials. Later, robots were adapted for industry, especially for use in  welding, painting, materials handling and assembly, and a broad range of service applications.  

The field first emerged as an academic discipline when Heinrich Ernst earned his Doctorate of Science from MIT in 1962, writing his  thesis on the MH-1 manipulator, a computer-operated mechanical hand. Interdisciplinary research swiftly followed in laboratories at Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and elsewhere. The field of robotics has expanded dramatically in the years since. 

Robotics research at JHU dates to the early 1960s, when researchers at the Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL) developed the Johns Hopkins Beast, a wheeled mobile robot that could navigate hallways and automatically locate and connect to wall outlets to autonomously recharge its batteries.  

Robotics research at the Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) began with the arrival of Gregory Chirikjian (in 1992) and of Louis Whitcomb and Russell Taylor in 1995. By 1998, the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology (CISST ERC) had been established on Homewood campus, leading to a significant expansion of the robotics research program, with an emphasis on medical robotics. 

The Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR) was established in 2007 to provide infrastructure for a broad interdisciplinary program in robotics research. Johns Hopkins is widely regarded as one of the top robotics research sites in the world and the Robotics MSE program is regularly ranked in the top ten in the U.S. 

In an influential article in Scientific American in 2008, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, identified robotics, and personal robotics specifically, as the next key area for intellectual development, technological innovation, and massive commercialization. Today, applications of robotics technology and systems are abundant in our society. Medical applications include systems like the da Vinci Surgical System, which allow surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures with enhanced precision; advanced artificial limbs with sensors and AI allow natural movement and improved quality of life for amputees. Manufacturing applications are incredibly widespread, from automated sprayers programmed to apply uniform finishes, to systems that efficiently pick, sort, and stack products for streamlined logistics, to robots that maintain sterile environments in food and pharmaceutical production. Robots now navigate the deepest oceans and explore space within–and beyond–our solar system. Robots protect human lives by facilitating disaster recovery and disposing of ordnance, and they make human lives easier by providing care and automations in our homes. As populations grow older globally, robotic applications in our homes will become more and more important. Johns Hopkins University plays an important role in developing the workforce for an emerging market.