James McLurkin Biography

As a child, James McLurkin was constantly building with LEGO bricks, cardboard boxes, or any other materials he could access. Today, he continues this tradition using Mother Nature as a model researching and developing algorithms and techniques for constructing and programming large swarms of autonomous robots.

McLurkin is a leader in the field of distributed robotic systems. As manager of the iRobot Swarm project, he developed the world's largest swarm of robots, and software algorithms to control them as a group. His previous projects include two other robotic communities and some of the world's smallest robots.

Inspired by the behavior of ants and bees, his “SwarmBots” perform individual tasks that collectively contribute to the goals of the group. He originally created them during his five-year post as Lead Research Scientist at iRobot, one of the world's leading robotics companies.

Currently a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, McLurkin constructed his first robot, Rover, in 1988, and created the Robotic Ants at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab for his undergraduate thesis.

As an independent consultant, McLurkin has advised many mechanical and engineering projects for clients such as Walt Disney Imagineering, Sensable Technologies and MicroDisplay, Corp. As a speaker for organizations such as Interval Research Inc., Dartmouth College, LEGO Advanced Design Center, Association of Science-Technology Centers, he is dedicated to illustrating the fun and excitement in science and engineering.

In 2003, McLurkin received the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, which is awarded to burgeoning MIT student inventors. Also in 2003, he was recognized by Time Magazine as one of five leading robotics engineers in their "Rise of the Machines" feature, and by Black Enterprise magazine as a "Best and Brightest Under 40." In 2002, he was featured in the Lemelson Center's nationwide interactive traveling exhibit, Invention at Play, which began at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

McLurkin is a native of Baldwin, NY, where his parents were very encouraging and began cultivating his inventiveness and engineering prowess at a young age. From Lego bricks to BMX bicycling to programming self-designed video games, he continues to follow his passion. "My goal is to understand where intelligence comes from, how it works, and how to construct artificial intelligence on real robots."

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