Bernard Roth

Biography

Bernard Roth’s pioneering contributions to robot kinematics and design have shaped the field of robotics and provided the foundation for the advanced capabilities seen in today’s articulated robotic devices. Dr. Roth’s research on spatial linkage synthesis in 1967 led to development of the spatial curvature theory for mixed-motion design specifications for application to robots. In 1979, he co-authored (with O. Bottema) Theoretical Kinematics, considered by one reviewer as the best kinematics book of the century. The book also introduced screw theory to robotics, which had important implications for improving compliant motion in robotic devices. Dr. Roth and his students at Stanford have made innovative contributions to scientific and industrial applications of robotics, including coordination software used for industrial robots, the first continuous curvature (snake-like) robot, the Stanford Arm, and the original grasp matrix for multifingered hands. Dr. Roth’s most recent work focuses on new generations of human-friendly robot design.

Dr. Roth is currently the Rodney H. Adams Professor of Engineering at Stanford University in California, and the academic director of Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design.