I photographed Dr. Rodney Brooks on September 17, 2021, at his high-rise condo on Vallejo Street in San Francisco. The soft light filtered through the large windows, casting a warm glow as we sat discussing the state of robotics, its history, its present challenges, and its uncertain yet exhilarating future.
At one point, he held Genghis on his lap, a six-legged robot he built at MIT in the 1980s. Genghis was a breakthrough in robotics, demonstrating how complex behaviors like crawling could emerge from a network of simple, decentralized controllers. It was a fascinating moment, seeing the legendary roboticist reunited with one of his most influential creations, a machine that helped redefine the way engineers think about artificial intelligence and movement.
Brooks has long been an advocate of building intelligence from the ground up rather than imposing it from above. His work in embodied cognition and behavior-based robotics has reshaped the field, challenging the once-dominant paradigm that robots must think before they can act. His influence extends from the realm of industrial automation to the everyday world of household robotics, with his ideas forming the intellectual backbone of everything from Roombas to advanced robotic assistants.
Our conversation reflected his relentless curiosity and refusal to accept technological stagnation. Even as we spoke about the limitations and setbacks facing the industry today, his excitement for the future of robotics remained palpable. To Brooks, challenges are not roadblocks but invitations, problems waiting to be solved through ingenuity, iteration, and an unwavering belief in progress.
A visionary in his field, Brooks continues to push the boundaries of what machines can do, and how they might one day coexist with us in ways both seamless and unexpected. His career is a testament to the idea that intelligence, whether artificial or biological, is not something that simply emerges but something that must be built, step by step, in the messy, wonderful reality of the physical world.
