Press Statement

Hanson Robotics
Hanson Robotics was founded in late 2003 in order to pursue the commercialization of socialized robotic characters and their constituent technologies. Hanson Robotics is the brainchild and home base for Dr. David Hanson and his team of visionaries. Dr. Hanson is responsible for core innovations derived from years of research on building robots and their accompanying materials, such as Frubber™, the robots’ internal mechanics (including servo-motors and battery-powering capability), and the software that gives them their capability to interact with humans (AI itself, or the “brain” and “vocabulary” of each robot).

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Academic and public recognition in the press
Hanson’s work has been recognized by national and international resources, such as:

• WIRED magazine, who featured his work in July of 2004 and June of 2005, labeling his work “genius” and awarding his Albert-Hubo robot with a cover in January 2006; in fact, the Albert-Hubo was ranked as the 17th greatest robot in history, using HRI’s Einstein portrait atop the KAIST walking Hubo robot.
• Science magazine, describing Hanson as “head of his class” in sociable robotics, March 28, 2003.
• The BBC, hailing his robots “among the world’s most advanced”.

In addition, Dr. Hanson:

• Has published detailed papers covering his revolutionary work in the fields of materials science, AI, cognitive science and robotics;
• Holds one patent currently, with two more pending;
• Has been featured alongside his robots and art installations in the following media, along with other venues both online and in print:
  • The New York Times
  • Popular Science
  • IEEE Spectrum
  • CNN
  • The Discovery Channel

You can learn more about Hanson Robotics’ progress and innovations online here.

If you are a member of the press and would like to schedule an interview with Dr. Hanson, please contact us.

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The artistry behind the vision
The secret behind Dr. Hanson’s ability to create such realism in his robots lies in his artistic background. Dr. Hanson regards each robot as a four-dimensional sculpture: every action, expression, and movement is sculpted uniquely by the interaction between the mechanics underneath and the revolutionary polymer on the surface of the robot’s face, which are universally recognized as the most humanlike and realistic in the world today. With a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Dr. Hanson has sculpted installations for Universal Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering prior to transitioning into Disney’s Technical Development area, where he headed several robotic and materials projects. Dr. Hanson’s previous art sculptures have garnered positive reviews in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN.

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Awards and honors
Dr. Hanson has received awards in both the art and engineering fields, including:

• Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Best Design Triennial, December 2006
• UTA ARRI Innovation Award, February 2006
• 2005 AAAI award, First Place for Open Interaction (PKD Android)
• NIST ATP Award, “Highly meritorious” designation, 2004 (with funding pending the 2005 Congressional spending bill)
• World Technology Award, nominee and semifinalist: Best IT Hardware, 2004
• National Science Foundation STTR Award to investigate piezo-actuated facial expressions (with Shashank Priya of ARRI)
• Themed Entertainment Association, Best Themed Display Award, First Place for the “World of Disney Themed Store” at Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL, 1996
• Rhode Island School of Design Merit Award, 1992-1996
• Co-recipient of the NASA Inventions and Contributions Space Act Monetary Award, Second Place, for best invention of the year (1994); prize awarded to Dr. Heinrich Gerritsen, Marilou Jepson and David Hanson for a novel space shuttle lighting system. Using a Fourier transform light-filter, this device output a nearly perfect diffusion of light, useful for science experiments and reducing astronaut eye fatigue.
• Nomination for a WTN World Technology Award
• Chair, “Miracles and Monstrosities,” symposium on genetically engineered art at Rhode Island School of Design-Brown University art+tech festival (PONG), 1993
• Odyssey of the Mind educational competition, First Place: Team-built tiny robotic vehicle to navigate an obstacle course, automatically dock to a trailer, gather objects, and deliver to a designated area, 1992

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Public speaking engagements
Dr. Hanson has spoken at numerous corporate and academic venues, including:

• DARPA
• SPIE Smart Materials and Structures Conference, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) Symposium, San Diego, CA, March 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004
• Sandia National Laboratories, Cognitive Systems Workshop, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 2003: “Facial Veracity in Robotics as a Tool for Understanding Human Social Cognition”
• MIT
• Rhode Island School of Design
• Dallas Robotics Club
• Dartmouth University
• Brown University
• Google
• AAAS
• UCSD
• IEEE
• Telecom Tech
• FedEx Institute of Technology
• American Association for Artificial Intelligence conference, in Edmonton, Canada; “Identity Emulation: Integrated Aesthetic Robotics,” August 2002
• University of Texas at Dallas

Dr. Hanson has also demonstrated his lifelike humanoid robots at the following venues:

• Exhibitor of the “Albert Hubo” at the APEC summit in Busan, Korea, November 2005; also at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, February 2006
• Exhibitor and speaker, 2005 AAAI National Conference on Artificial Intelligence
• Exhibitor at WIRED magazine’s NextFest in Chicago, “PKD-A, Philip K. Dick Android,” June 2005
• Exhibitor NEXTfest, WIRED magazine technology festival in San Francisco, May 2004
• Exhibitor at the TED, “Technology Entertainment Design” in Monterrey, CA, February 2004
• Exhibitor (along with the JPL Advanced Actuators Lab) at the JPL Open House, 2002, 2003, and 2005
• Participant and Speaker at the International Workshop on Perceptive Social Agents and Robots in San Diego, January 9-10, 2003
• Co-organizer and Speaker at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting: symposium entitled, “Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robotics,” co-organized with Yoseph Bar-Cohen of JPL/CalTech and Cynthia Breazeal of the MIT AI Lab, Denver, CO, 2003

To schedule a speaking engagement or demonstration with Dr. Hanson for your own company or academic group, please contact us.

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Other affiliations

• Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 2000
• Member, American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) since 2001
• Member, SPIE since 2001
• Member, Visual Sciences Society (VSS) since 2003
• Vice President, Rhode Island School of Design Student Government, 1995-1996