EXECUTIVE BIOS

The co-founders of Robotic Research, LLC have built upon their prior work at the Intelligent Systems Division of the National Institute Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop cutting edge technology for vehicle robotics.

Currently Robotic Research employs 13 engineers and 3 support staff. In addition, they have a network of co-investigators, business partners, and subcontractors located at the leading robotics-focused universities in the country and from small and large businesses. Robotic Research regularly forms partnerships in order to bring the highest degree of expertise to programs and Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants.

The resumes of our senior staff are listed below. They are supported by a team of highly qualified engineers who bring expertise from their own areas of study, different university programs, and individual areas of interest.

		Alberto Lacaze - President/Senior Engineer Alberto Lacaze is the President and co-founder of Robotic Research. He has extensive research experience developing planning algorithms for on and off-road autonomous vehicles, software for terrain perception using LADAR hardware, and  registration algorithms for data from multiple sensors. His research has contributed to DoD programs including the Demo III, PerceptOR, FCS, VTI, SARTI and ANS programs. Mr. Lacaze holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University (1994) and a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering from Florida Tech (1992). Mr. Lacaze is a winner of the Jacob Rabinow Applied Research Award for “World leading research and development in robotic perception, planning and control and its application to unmanned ground vehicles.”
		Karl Murphy - Vice President/Senior Engineer Karl Murphy is the co-founder of Robotic Research. He has extensive research experience developing control software for autonomous vehicles (on and off-road), software for terrain perception using LADAR hardware, real-time control software, use of navigation sensors, control theory, stability analysis, and Kalman filters for mobility, and algorithms for sensor calibration and registration. His research has contributed to DoD programs including the Demo I, Demo II, Demo III, PerceptOR, FCS, VTI, SARTI and ANS programs. Mr. Murphy holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University (1984) and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech (1981). While working at NIST he was the Technical Lead for Demo I, Demo II, Demo III and Demo III+.
		Steven Legowik - Senior Engineer Steven Legowik has extensive research experience in LADAR based obstacle detection, terrain mapping,  obstacle registration, LADAR characterization and calibration, 3D LADAR data visualization, and real-time operating systems and communications. His research has contributed to DoD programs including the Demo I, Demo II, Demo III, PerceptOR, FCS, VTI, SARTI and ANS programs. Mr. Legowik has contributed to route planning and sensor mapping for the MAUV (Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). He has an MS in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Mr. Legowik is a winner of the Jacob Rabinow Applied Research Award for “World leading research and development in robotic perception, planning and control and its application to unmanned ground vehicles.”
		Dr. James Albus - Science Advisor Dr. James S. Albus founded and led the Intelligent Systems Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology where he was a Senior Fellow for the last 10 years. Dr. Albus has made many scientific contributions -- in the 1960’s he designed electro-optical systems for more than 15 NASA spacecraft; the 1970’s, he developed a theoretical model of the cerebellum, invented the CMAC neural net, and coinvented the Real-time Control System. RCS has been used over 25 years for a number of systems including the Army Research Lab Demo III Experimental Unmanned Ground vehicle. Dr. Albus received a B.S. in Physics from Wheaton College (Illinois) in 1957, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University in 1958, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland (College Park) in 1972.
		Paula Brooks - Director of Business Paula Brooks is a retired US Naval Officer (LCDR, Supply Corps, USNR) with almost 30 years experience in logistics, business, management, and marketing. She holds a BS in Business Administration/Marketing, from George Mason University, VA (1981). Please address business related inquiries to: Attention: Paula Brooks info@roboticresearch.com