ENERGY: Edison Hudson, iRobot Maritime Systems - iRobot's Seaglider "Bluepoint" Mission: Deep Water Horizon Response

Mr. Hudson heads up business, alliance, and advanced product planning at iRobot's Maritime Systems in Durham, NC.  He has been with iRobot for five years and has head roles in Research Program Management, Strategic Alliances, and lead acquisitions and investment teams.  A veteran of robotics for more than 25 years, he holds more than 13 patents in machine design, control systems, and robotics.  He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Duke University, and studied Artificial Intelligence at Oxford University, UK.

MINING: Red Whittaker, Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute -

William "Red" Whittaker is the Fredkin professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.  He has developed dozens of robots, pioneering automation in field robotics, space exploration, mining and agriculture. He developed the robots that cleaned up the Three-Mile Island nuclear accident. His ground vehicles have driven thousands of autonomous miles. Whittaker won DARPA's $2 million Urban Challenge.  He is competing for the $20-million Google Lunar X Prize for landing a robot on the moon. W hittaker is a world authority on robots that operate in underground mines, caves, sewers and tunnels.  He conceived the application and created first-of-kind machines and technologies over 20 years ago.  His technology addresses mechanism, sensing and operation for such environments. Whittaker is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and served on the National Academy of Sciences Space Studies Board. Science Digest named Whittaker one of the top 100 U.S. innovators for his work in robotics. Whittaker’s Astrobotic Technology, Inc specializes in space robotics.  His Workhorse Technologies, LLC performs exploratory modeling of subterranean voids.  His RedZone Robotics specializes in robotic sewer services.