Welcome to my attempt to reveal technology as an artistic medium. The presentable results of this endeavor are a collection of pictures, widgets, robots and napkin drawings.
Ryan Wistort is a graduate student in the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab where he builds and studies robots as a human interface. His research interests include finding cost-effective ways of enabling rich social interactions with robots. He is most interested in using these technologies to develop new education applications capable of reaching large audiences.
Tech Radar 04.21.09
MIT projects that are set to revolutionise your life
WIRED 02.10.09
Creepy MIT ‘Tofu’ Robot Has OLED Eyes, Mimics Disney Cartoons
Boing Boing 01.15.09
TOFU is the best dancing robot
Fast Company 01.15.09
MIT's 'Tofu' Robot Mixes Science, Ridiculous Cuteness
Engadget 01.15.09
TOFU robot probably tastes like chicken
MIT Technology Review 09.17.07
Robots That Sense Before They Touch
GOAL: Develop robots that change the world for the better and look good doing it.
Masters of Media Arts and Sciences (Personal Robots) Present -
University of Washington, Seattle WA
Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering
Graduation Date: August 2007
Operating Systems: MacOS X, Linux, UNIX, Windows
EE: PCB layout, Labview, Verilog, FPGA (Altera & Xilinx)
Embedded systems: PIC, dsPIC, x86, AVR, TI DSP
Mechanical: Avid machinist, proficient in SolidWorks and Mastercam.
2007 – 2008 Intel Research Seattle Intern developing low level hardware and software systems for mobile manipulation robotics applications.
2006 Insitu Group intern developing software and hardware subsystem for controlling engine temperature of a semiautonomous UAV.
2005 Founded company RyBOTS as a developer of small walking robot kits for educational use. End to end development from napkin drawing to documented product.
2004 JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories) intern - robotics specialist for mission design team - focusing on Mars mission scenarios.
2004 Made CNC milling machine using upright mill and DC servo motor technology.
2002-2004 Undergrad researcher developing software and mechanical systems for robotic power cable inspection system.
2002 Newton Research Labs intern assembling and testing robot products based on machine vision.
2000 FIRST robotics team - Active high school member, (Awards judge of FIRST event. 2008)
Pre 1999 Strange and curious kid, obsessed with: circuits, Star Wars, building forts, cardboard, duct tape, Makita cordless drills, scrap wood construction and TRS-80 programming.
2004 International Student Paper Contest, IEEE Transmission and Distribution, 2nd place
2003 NASA Space Grant Scholarship
2003 Mary Gates Research Scholarship
2002 Intel ISEF science and engineering fair – third place in international engineering division.
1999 Robothon - Best of Show Grand Prize winner.
R. Wistort, C. Breazeal, “TOFU: A Socially Expressive Robot Character for Child Interaction,” in 8th International Conference on Design and Children (IDC2009) Como, Italy, 2009
Smith, J.R., E. Garcia, R. Wistort, G. Krishnamoorthy. "Electric field imaging pretouch for robotic graspers," Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2007, pp.676-683, Oct. 29 2007-Nov. 2 2007.
B. Jiang, A. P. Sample, R. Wistort, and A. V. Mamishev, "Autonomous Robotic Monitoring of Underground Cable Systems,"Proceedings of International Conference on Advanced Robotics, 2005.
[ EDUCATION ]
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MAMasters of Media Arts and Sciences (Personal Robots) Present -
University of Washington, Seattle WA
Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering
Graduation Date: August 2007
[ SKILLS ]
Computer Languages: Java, Ruby, Python, C, HTML/CSS, MatlabOperating Systems: MacOS X, Linux, UNIX, Windows
EE: PCB layout, Labview, Verilog, FPGA (Altera & Xilinx)
Embedded systems: PIC, dsPIC, x86, AVR, TI DSP
Mechanical: Avid machinist, proficient in SolidWorks and Mastercam.
[ EXPERIENCE ]
2008 MIT Media Lab Graduate student and Research Assistant at the MIT Media lab under Cynthia Breazeal in the Personal Robots Group.2007 – 2008 Intel Research Seattle Intern developing low level hardware and software systems for mobile manipulation robotics applications.
2006 Insitu Group intern developing software and hardware subsystem for controlling engine temperature of a semiautonomous UAV.
2005 Founded company RyBOTS as a developer of small walking robot kits for educational use. End to end development from napkin drawing to documented product.
2004 JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories) intern - robotics specialist for mission design team - focusing on Mars mission scenarios.
2004 Made CNC milling machine using upright mill and DC servo motor technology.
2002-2004 Undergrad researcher developing software and mechanical systems for robotic power cable inspection system.
2002 Newton Research Labs intern assembling and testing robot products based on machine vision.
2000 FIRST robotics team - Active high school member, (Awards judge of FIRST event. 2008)
Pre 1999 Strange and curious kid, obsessed with: circuits, Star Wars, building forts, cardboard, duct tape, Makita cordless drills, scrap wood construction and TRS-80 programming.
[ HONORS ]
2009 IDC New Technologies for Learning and Play - Nominated Presenter2004 International Student Paper Contest, IEEE Transmission and Distribution, 2nd place
2003 NASA Space Grant Scholarship
2003 Mary Gates Research Scholarship
2002 Intel ISEF science and engineering fair – third place in international engineering division.
1999 Robothon - Best of Show Grand Prize winner.
[ PUBLICATIONS ]
W. Stiehl, A. Chang, R. Wistort, C. Breazeal, "The Robotic Preschool of the Future: New Technologies for Learning and Play" in 8th International Conference on Design and Children (IDC2009) Como, Italy, 2009R. Wistort, C. Breazeal, “TOFU: A Socially Expressive Robot Character for Child Interaction,” in 8th International Conference on Design and Children (IDC2009) Como, Italy, 2009
Smith, J.R., E. Garcia, R. Wistort, G. Krishnamoorthy. "Electric field imaging pretouch for robotic graspers," Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2007, pp.676-683, Oct. 29 2007-Nov. 2 2007.
B. Jiang, A. P. Sample, R. Wistort, and A. V. Mamishev, "Autonomous Robotic Monitoring of Underground Cable Systems,"Proceedings of International Conference on Advanced Robotics, 2005.
[ DOWNLOAD ]
CV 07.2009 PDFrwistort [at] media.mit.edu
ryan wistort
M I T Media Lab
20 Ames St, E15-468
Cambridge, MA 02139