IEEE Spectrum October, 2012 - 4

back story
EditOriAl
Susan hassler, s.hassler@ieee.org

Editor in chiEf

ExEcutivE Editor

Glenn Zorpette, g.zorpette@ieee.org

Editorial dirEctor, diGital
ManaGinG Editor

harry Goldstein, h.goldstein@ieee.org

Elizabeth a. Bretz, e.bretz@ieee.org

Jean Kumagai, j.kumagai@ieee.org; Samuel K.
Moore (news), s.k.moore@ieee.org; tekla S. Perry, t.perry@
ieee.org; Philip E. ross, p.ross@ieee.org; david Schneider,
d.a.schneider@ieee.org

SEnior EditorS

SEnior aSSociatE EditorS Steven cherry, s.cherry@ieee.org;
Erico Guizzo, e.guizzo@ieee.org

ariel Bleicher, a.bleicher@ieee.org; rachel
courtland, r.courtland@ieee.org; Joshua J. romero (online),
j.j.romero@ieee.org; Eliza Strickland, e.strickland@ieee.org

aSSociatE EditorS

aSSiStant Editor

Willie d. Jones, w.jones@ieee.org

SEnior coPy Editor
coPy Editor

Joseph n. levine, j.levine@ieee.org

Michele Kogon, m.kogon@ieee.org

Editorial rESEarchEr

alan Gardner, a.gardner@ieee.org

ExEcutivE ProducEr, SPEctruM radio

Sharon Basco

aSSiStant ProducEr, SPEctruM radio

francesco ferorelli,

f.ferorelli@ieee.org
adMiniStrativE aSSiStantS ramona foster, r.foster@ieee.org;
nancy t. hantman, n.hantman@ieee.org
diGital intErn

celia Gorman

When Erico Met Baxter

Mark anderson, John Blau, Stephen
cass, robert n. charette, Peter fairley, david Kushner, robert
W. lucky, Paul Mcfedries, Prachi Patel, Seema Singh, richard
Stevenson, William Sweet, lawrence ulrich, Paul Wallich

Art & prOductiON

campus, Brooks would remain
polite but tight-lipped. Finally, early
this year, he revealed that he was
ready to talk-and give Spectrum an
exclusive look inside Rethink.
Guizzo immediately called
Ackerman, a Californian wellknown to followers of Spectrum's
award-winning robotics blog,
Automaton. Stepping into Rethink's
top-secret lab on that June morning,
Guizzo and Ackerman came face
to face with Baxter, the factory bot
created by Brooks and his team. In
this issue's "The Rise of the Robot
Worker," they describe how Baxter
came to life and how Rethink plans
to market it to U.S. manufacturers.
Ackerman, who credits his
childhood love of science fiction
for his continuing enthrallment
with robots, was impressed by how
Baxter uses vision to make decisions,
and also by its host of safety features.
"It's impressive how much
Baxter is able to figure out on its
own," Ackerman says. "And yes,
it's also nice that it can't kill you." o

citiNg ArticlES iN iEEE SpEctrum
IEEE Spectrum publishes two editions. in the international edition, the abbreviation int appears at the foot
of each page. the north american edition is identified with the letters na. Both have the same editorial
content, but because of differences in advertising, page numbers may differ. in citations, you should include
the issue designation. for example, the data is in IEEE Spectrum, vol. 49, no. 10 (int), october 2012, p. 64,
or in IEEE Spectrum, vol. 49, no. 10 (na), october 2012, p. 80.

NA * iEEE SpEctrum * OctObEr 2012

SEnior art dirEctor

Mark Montgomery

dEPuty art dirEctor

Brandon Palacio

Photo & MultiMEdia Editor
Photo intErn

randi Silberman Klett

Bridget collins

dirEctor, PEriodicalS Production SErvicES
Editorial & WEB Production ManaGEr
SEnior ElEctronic layout SPEcialiSt
WEB Production coordinator

Bonnie nani

Jacqueline l. Parker

MultiMEdia Production SPEcialiSt
lEad dEvEloPEr

Peter tuohy

roy carubia

Michael Spector

Kenneth liu

EditOriAl AdviSOry bOArd
Susan hassler, Chair; Gerard a. alphonse, Marc t. apter,
francine d. Berman, Jan Brown, raffaello d'andrea, J. roberto B.
de Marca, Kenneth y. Goldberg, Susan hackwood, Bin he, Erik
heijne, charles h. house, christopher J. James, ruby B. lee, John
P. lewis, tak Ming Mak, carmen S. Menoni, david a. Mindell,
c. Mohan, fritz Morgan, andrew M. odlyzko, larry l. Smarr, harry
l. tredennick iii, Sergio verdú, Jeffrey M. voas, William Weihl,
Kazuo yano

EditOriAl cOrrESpONdENcE
iEEE Spectrum, 3 Park ave., 17th floor, new york, ny 10016-5997
attn: Editorial dept. tel: +1 212 419 7555 fax: +1 212 419 7570
Bureau: Palo alto, calif.; tekla S. Perry +1 650 328 7570
responsibility for the substance of articles rests upon the
authors, not iEEE or its members. articles published do not
represent official positions of iEEE. letters to the editor may be
excerpted for publication.

AdvErtiSiNg cOrrESpONdENcE
iEEE Spectrum, 3 Park ave., 17th floor, new york, ny 10016-5997
attn: advertising dept. +1 212 705 8939
the publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising.

rEpriNt pErmiSSiON
liBrariES: articles

may be photocopied for private use
of patrons. a per-copy fee must be paid to the copyright
clearance center, 29 congress St., Salem, Ma 01970.
for other copying or republication, contact Business Manager,
iEEE Spectrum.
coPyriGhtS and tradEMarKS: iEEE

Spectrum is a registered
trademark owned by the institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers inc. careers, EEs' tools & toys, Ev Watch, Progress,
reflections, Spectral lines, and technically Speaking are
trademarks of iEEE.

spectrum.ieee.org

Mike Bugda

ne morning this past June,
Senior Associate Editor
Erico Guizzo stood facing a
large 19th-century brick-and-beam
building tucked into a corner of the
Seaport District of Boston. It was
the end of a nearly five-year odyssey.
Guizzo [left] and IEEE Spectrum
contributor Evan Ackerman
[right] were among the first
journalists allowed to visit Rethink
Robotics. The company, which
is the brainchild of former MIT
roboticist Rodney Brooks, is seeking
to transform manufacturing by
building robots that are adaptable,
humanoid, and downright appealing.
Rethink has kept its plans
completely under wraps since its
founding in 2008, and it has raised
more than US $60 million from
several high-profile firms.
None of this was lost on Guizzo,
who has long counted Brooks among
his sources but whose attempts
to extract information from him
had gone nowhere. Cornered at
conferences or accosted on the MIT

contriButinG EditorS

http://spectrum.ieee.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum October, 2012