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dataset_11 pdf 2.1 MB • Feb 3, 2026 • 14 pages
DAVID HANSON
ART ISI , SCIFNT IS1 PH.D.
Plano, TX 75075
Website: www.HansonRobotics.com, Portfolio:
(http:Ihwew.racebook.comt media iseunet =a.10150121106857024.279436.676407023)
VISION I quest to realize Genius Machines —machines with greater than human
intelligence, creativity, wisdom, and compassion. To this end, I conduct
research in robotics, artificial intelligence, the arts, cognitive science, product
design and deployment, integrating these efforts in the pursuit of novel
human robot relations. Through this work, I pursue scientific understanding
of human mind, purpose, and our context in the cosmos, seeking to
philosophically and computationally model the physical nature of mind,
consciousness, creativity, and emergence, and to empower our algorithms
with these magical abilities. I also query: what can and should we (as a
civilization, in symbiosis with our technology and with nature) create next?
How can we increase the likelihood of beneficial results, and lower the
probabilities of existential threats resulting from our creations? I believe that
building human-inspired character agents can push our A.I. to grow positive
humanlike values, build strong human-machine relations, and that these
developments will be needed for intelligent machines to be safe as they
approach general (human-level) intelligence and creativity. Raising such
machines among us as works of art—to be protagonists, friends, and
members of our family—may push them to convergently evolve values
analogous to ours, and thus come to truly care for us and earn our trust.
While we have a long way to go before making machines truly alive, even the
early versions of the robot have made strong leaps forward towards this goal,
resulting in numerous awards, breakthrough abilities in conversational
capabilities and abilities to see people, see people's expressions, hold
intelligible conversations, model who you are and what you believe, feel and
know, in robots that inspire the love (and fear) of people around the world.
Given the potentially profound impacts on humanity if we achieve our goals,
the Genius Machines movement certainly must weigh the ethical
consequences of a brave new world of living media; hopefully our cautious
approach will unleash super-friends, not super-monsters. To achieve such
FRIENDLY Genius Machines, however, will require much bolder efforts, both
in development, and consideration of consequences. To this end, I work to
forge networks of collaboration and dialogue with scientists around the
world, in a growing open-source movement to achieve Genius Machines with
deep benevolence, love and caring for humans, life, and all we hold dear.
BIO Dr. David Hanson creates androids—humanlike robots with intelligence and
feelings. Via integrated research in cognitive A.I., bio-inspired mechanics,
material science, sculpture and animation, expressive robotic faces and
walking robot bodies, Hanson strives to bring robots to life, literally, as
synthetic organisms. The walking, talking robots resulting from Hanson's
efforts have been heralded as "genius" by WIRED magazine and PC magazine,
and featured in Scientific American, National Geographic, BBC, Popular
David Hanson, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 p. 1
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Science, Le Figaro, Science Magazine, and many other venues. A former Walt
Disney Imagineer, Hanson received and co-received awards from TEA, NASA,
NSF, AAAI, Tech Titans' Innovator of the Year, and Cooper Hewitt Design
Triennial, and several best poster and paper awards. Hanson invented or co-
invented numerous technologies, including patented lipid-bilayer nanotech
for naturalistic skin, expressive face mechanisms, virtual character tools, and
neurocognitive-inspired software systems for machine cognition. He has
published over 30 peer-reviewed papers with IEEE, Science, Springer, Cog Sci,
AAAI, and SPIE, chapters in 4 books, and coauthored a book with JPL senior
scientist Yoseph Bar-Cohen. As an artist in various media, Hanson exhibited
at the Cooper Hewwit, the Tokyo Modern, the Reina Sofia, and many other
museums and galleries, as well as sculpting for the Atlantis Resort, Universal
Studios Islands of Adventure, and Disney Imagineering for Tokyo Disneyland,
Tokyo Disney Sea, and Disneyworld, and receiving positive art reviews in the
New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Atlantic, Ubiquity and others. Hanson
received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas in Aesthetic Studies/
Interactive Arts and Engineering, with over 40 hours of graduate
neuroscience and cognitive science courses, and holds a BFA in
film/video/animation from Rhode Island School of Design. David Hanson
founded Hanson Robotics to pursue character robot research and to
transition the results into helpful robot products. Since then, Hanson and
team released numerous noted robots, including the Philip K. Dick Android,
the walking Einstein portrait Albert-Hubo (in collaboration with KAIST),
Bina48, and the small Zeno RoboKind. These robots serve a wide range of
research in cognitive science, autism treatment, and robotics at institutions
including JPL, Cambridge University, KA1ST, UCSD, and the University of
Geneva, U. Pisa, and the Autism Treatment Center in Dallas. Currently
Hanson's research explores uses of these robots for autism treatment,
science education, the arts, safety equipment test platforms, arts, science,
and several other applications. Ultimately, by emulating human blo-systems,
from cognition to locomotion to social expression, Hanson seeks to unlock
mysteries of human nature and yield machines that are creatively brilliant,
truly conscious, and friends with us. Towards this end, In 2009 Hanson
founded the nonprofit Initiative for Awakening Machines (IAM), GLUE.AI, and
GENI.Al initiatives, dedicated to realizing friendly genius machines. Hanson
actively collaborates with many researchers in numerous scientific and arts
disciplines, seeking to bridge these Into an integrated "superdiscipline", in
pursuit of insights into the nature of mind and meaning.
PUBLICATIONS Hanson, D., Lowcre, M. M. M. "Organic creativity and the physics within".
Philadelphia, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2012.
Hanson, D., "Genius Machines", Ho::Bo Press, 2012.
Ranatunga, I., Torres N., Stevenson M., Patterson R., Hanson D., Bugnariu N.,
Popa, D. "RoDiCA a Human-Robot Interaction System for Early Diagnosis of
Childhood Autism Spectrum Disorders", IROS, 2012.
Hanson, D., Mazzei, D., Garver, C., De Rossi, D., Stevenson, M. "Realistic
Humanlike Robots for Treatment of ASD, Social Training, and Research;
Shown to Appeal to Youths with ASD, Cause Physiological Arousal, and
Increase Human-to-Human Social Engagement", PETRA (PErvasive
Technologies Related to Assistive Environment), 2012.
Bergman, M.S., Zhuang, Z., Wander, J., Hanson, D., Heimbuch, B., McDonald,
M., Palmiero, A., Shaffer, R., Husband, M. "Development of an Advanced
Respirator Fit Test Headform", DTIC, 2012.
Coursey, K., Hanson, D. "Computational Compassion", a funded SBIR proposal
David Hanson. Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 p. 2
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with the National Science Foundation, 2012.
Bergman, M., Zhuang, Z., Palmiero A., Wander, J., Heimbuch B., McDonald, M.,
Hanson, D., "Testing of a Novel Advanced Respirator Fit Test Headform",
International Society for Respiratory Protection Sixteenth International
Conference in Boston. MA. 2012.
Mazzei, D., Lazzeri, N., Hanson, D., De Rossi, D. "HEFES: An Hybrid Engine for
Facial Expressions Synthesis to Control Human-Like Androids and Avatars",
The Fourth IEEE RASIEMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics
and Biomechatronics, 2012.
Bergman, M., Zhuang, Z., Palmiero, A., Wander, J., Heimbuch, B.,
McDonald,M., Hanson, D., "Development of an Advanced Respirator Fit Test
Headform", AIHce in Indianapolis, IN, 2012.
Editor on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Advanced Robotic
Systems, 2012.
Hanson, D. "Robotics in the World of Entertainment", American Physical
Society (APS) March Meeting Abstracts, 2011 - adsabs.harvard.edu, March
21-25,2011.
Hanson D., Baurmann S., Riccio T., Margolin R., Dockins T., Tavares M.,
Carpenter, K., "Zeno: a Cognitive Character", Al Magazine, and special Proc.
of AAAI National Conference, Chicago, 2009.
Bar-Cohen., Y., Hanson, D., The Coming Robotics Revolution, Springer Press,
2009.
Mavridis, N., Hanson, D. "The Ibn Sina Center: A case study in Augmented
Reality Theater with Intelligent Robotic and Virtual Characters" Proc. IEEE
Ro-Man 2009.
Kasap, Z., Moussa, M., Chaudhuri P., Hanson D., Magnenat-Thalmann N.,
"From Virtual Characters to Robots - A novel paradigm for long term
human-robot interaction", ACM/IEEE Human Robot Interaction Conference
2009.
Poster presentation at IEEE ARSO'08: "Zeno, a Cognitively Capable Character",
in Taiwan, 2008.
Hanson, D. "Humanizing Computer Interfaces with Humanlike Appearance
and Capabilities", Ph.D. dissertation, the University of Texas at Dallas, May,
2007.
Hanson D., Priya S. "An Actuated Skin for Robotic Facial Expressions, NSF
Phase 1 Final Report", National Science Foundation STTR award, NSF 05-
557,2006-2007.
Tadesse, Yonas; Priya, Shashank; Stephanou, Harry; Popa, Dan. and Hanson,
David "Piezoelectric actuation and sensing for Facial Robotics" Journal of
Ferroelectrics, vol. 345, Issue], PP.13-25,2006 (12 pages).
Hanson, David; Bergs, Richard; Tadesse, Yonas; White, Victor. Priya, Shashank
"Enhancement of EAP actuated facial expressions by designed chamber
geometry in elastomers" Edited by Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, Proceedings of the
SPIE , vol. 6168, pp. 49-57,2006.
Hanson D. "Expanding the Design Domain of Humanoid Robots", Proc. ICCS
CogSci Conference, special session on Android Science, Vancouver, 2006.
Oh, J.H., Hanson, D., Kim, W.S., Han, Y., Kim, J.Y. and Park, I.W., 2006,
"Design of android type humanoid robot albert HUBO," in Proc. IEEE/&15
IROS Robotics Conference, Beijing, 2006. Int. Conf. on Intel'. Robots and
Sys., IEEE/RSJ, pp. 14F-1433.
Hanson D., Bergs R. , Tadesse Y. , White V. , Priya S. "Enhancement of EAP
Actuated Facial Expressions by Designed Chamber Geometry in
Elastomers",Proc. SPIE's Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices Conf.,
David Hanson, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 P. 3
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10m Smart Structures andMaterials Symposium, San Diego, USA, 2006.
Hanson D. "Expanding the Aesthetics Possibilities for Humanlike Robots",
Proc. IEEE Humanoid Robotics Conference, special session on the Uncanny
Valley; Tskuba, Japan, December 2005.
Hanson D. "Bioinspired Robotics", chapter 16 in the book Biomimetics, ed.
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, CRC Press, October 2005.
Hanson D., Olney A., Prilliman S., Mathews E., Zielke M., Hammons D.,
Fernandez R., Stephanou H., "Upending the Uncanny Valley", Proc. AAA/'s
National Conference, Pittsburgh, 2005.
Hanson D., White V. "Converging the Capabilities of ElectroActive Polymer
Artificial Muscles and the Requirements of Bio-inspired Robotics", Proc.
SPIE's Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices Conf., 70TH Smart
Structures and Materials Symposium, San Diego, USA, 2004.
Hanson D. "The Neural Basis of the Uncanny Valley", graduate research paper
for Alice O'Toole in UTD Brain Sciences. Sept, 2003.
Hanson D., "Chapter 18: Applications for Electrically Actuated Polymer
Actuators," in Electrically Actuated Polymer Actuators as Artificial Muscles,
Bar-Cohen Y. (Ed.) SPIE PRESS, Washington, USA, Vol. PM98, 2nd ed. March
2004.
Hanson D., Rus D., Canvin S., Scmeirer G., "Applications of Bio-inspired
Robotics", Ch.10 of Biologically Insoired Intelligent Robots. Bar-Cohen, Y
and Breazeal, C. (Ed.) SPIE Press, May 2003.
Hanson, D. "EAP Actuator Design for Biologically-inspired Face-Based
Communication Robots". Proc. SPIE's Electroactive Polymer Actuators and
Devices Conf., 9th Smart Structures and Materials Symposium, San Diego,
USA, 2003.
Pioggia G., Hanson D., Dinelli S., Di Francesco F., Francesconi R., De Rossi D.
"The Importance of Nonverbal Expression to the Emergence of Emotive
Artificial Intelligence Systems", [4695-51), Proc. SPIE's Electroactive
Polymer Actuators and Devices Conf., 8or Smart Structures and Materials
Symposium, San Diego, USA, 2003.
Hanson, D. "Bio-inspired Facial Expression Interface for Emotive Robots",
Proc. AAAI National Conference in Edmonton, CA, 2002.
Hanson D. and Pioggia G., "Entertainment Applications for Electrically
Actuated Polymer Actuators," Ch 18 of electrically Actuated Polymer
Actuators as Artificial Muscles, SPIE PRESS, Washington, USA, Vol. PM98,
Ch. 18, 2001.
Hanson D., Pioggia G., Bar-Cohen Y., De Rossi D., "Androids: Application of
EAP as Artificial Muscles to Entertainment Industry," Proc. SP/E's
Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices Conf., 7m Smart Structures
and Materials Symposium, Newport Beach, USA, 2001.
JPL EAPAD newsletter, artificial muscle articles: 2001, fall 2002, 2004, 2006.
T A I K AGI (ARTIFICIAL GENERAL INTELLIGENCE), OXFORD UNIVERSITY, KEYNOTE LECTURE: "OPEN
GENIUS MACHINES", 2012.
THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE, "BIG SCIENCE SUMMIT", Menlo Park, 2012.
TEDx TAIPEI, 2012.
TEDx HONG KONG, 2012.
UNIVERSITY OF TExAS CHANCELLORS' MEETING, MAY, 2012.
IIT ROORKEE, COGNIZANCE, MARCH, 2012.
IIT DELHI, JANUARY 2012.
U.T. ARLINGTON ENTREPRENEURSHIP SYMPOSIUM, JANUARY 2012.
H+, HONG KONG, December 5, 2011.
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NORTH TEXAS MENSA, February and November, 2011.
UT DALLAS, INTERACTIVE ARTS CLASS, 2011.
WETA WORKSHOPS, WELLINGTON, NZ, 2011
UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND, NZ, 2011.
MORGO ENTREPRENEURSHIP WORKSHOP, NZ, 2011.
LORENTZ CENTER WORKSHOP ON CREATIVITY, MECHANISMS AND METHODS. University of
Leiden, Netherlands. Spoke on the physical and computational
mechanisms of creativity. September 2011.
RADIOLAB, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, 2011.
THNK-THE AMSTERDAM SCHOOL OF CREATIVE LEADERSHIP. As visiting faculty,
delivered a lecture on integrative creativity in April 2011.
AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (APS), INVITED TALK: "ROBOTICS IN THE WORLD OF
ENTERTAINMENT", 2011.
SPEAKER AT IEEE HUMAN ROBOT INTERACTION (HRI), 2011, "EFFECTS ON EXPECTATIONS
WITH HUMANLIKE ROBOTS", UNVEILING THE NEW ZENO ROBOKIND.
EASTFIELD COMMUNITY COLLEGE, NATIONAL ROBOTICS WEEK GUEST LECTURER, INVITED
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) SPEAKER, MARCH 2011.
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL ROBOTICS WEEK GUEST LECTURER, INVITED NATIONAL
SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) SPEAKER, MARCH 2011.
PRAGYAN'I I , CHENNAI INDIA, GUEST LECTURER, FEBRUARY 201 1.
AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (APS), INVITED TALK: "ROBOTICS IN THE WORLD OF
ENTERTAINMENT", 2011.
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB, ROBOTICS CLUB "Humanlike Robots". PLANO,TX, 2011.
HUMAN ROBOT INTERACTION (HRI), IEEE Workshop on Managing Expectations in
Human Robot Interactions—Lausanne, Switzerland, 2011.
ASME SESSION CHAIR, "BIOMIMETIC ROBOTICS", 2011.
INVITED SPEAKER AT IEEE HUMAN ROBOT INTERACTION (HRI) WORKSHOP, 2010.
USC FILM SCHOOL, 2010.
SPEAKER AT LONG BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 2010.
GUEST LECTURER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PISA, 2009.
CARRERE ACADEMY OF ART, 2009.
U. MESSINA MEDICAL SCHOOL WORKSHOP ON ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, 2009.
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW (CES), lecture title "Character Robotics", SPECIAL
SESSION ON ROBOTICS, 2009
SPEAKER AT IDEACITY, TORONTO CA, 2008.
SPEAKER FMX 2008, CEBIT, 2008, NEW ZEALAND CONSULATE IN HAMBURG 2008.
CO-ORGANIZER AND SPEAKER AT THE 2003 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS) ANNUAL MEETING in Denver CO, of a symposium
entitled "Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robotics". Co-organized with
Yoseph Bar-Cohen of JPL/CalTech and Cynthia Breazeal of the MIT Al lab.
EXHIBITOR AND SPEAKER, AAAI NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, 2005.
SPEAKER AT SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES, "COGNITIVE SYSTEMS WORKSHOP", Santa Fe
New Mexico, July 2003. Talk entitled: "Facial Verisimilitude in Robotics as a
Tool for Understanding Human Social Cognition".
SPEAKER/INVITED Speaker at the SPIE Smart Materials and Structures Conference,
Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) Symposium, San
Diego, CA, March 2001,2002,2003, and 2004.
SPEAKER AT AAAI, IN EDMONTON CANADA "Identity Emulation; integrated aesthetic
robotics", August 2002.
PARTICIPANT AND SPEAKER at the International Workshop on Perceptive Social
Agents and Robots in San Diego, Jan. 9-10,2003.
DARPA FACE WORKSHOPS SPEAKER AND CONSULTANT, 2005-2007.
David Hanson, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 p. 5
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GUEST LECTURES AT UNIVERSITIES: MIT, KAIST, UCSD, Rhode Island School of
Design (RISD), Carnegie Mellon, BROWN, Dartmouth, Sung Kyun Kwan
University, the University of Messina Medical School, the University of Pisa,
University of Memphis HT, the University of Canterbury, the Art Center
College of Design in Pasadena, USC film school, USC ICT, Accademia
Carrara, Richland College, the Palermo Academy of Fine Arts, U. Penn,
Drexel, and the University of Washington HitLab.
Invited Talks at Google, EyeBeam, Telecom Tech, Dallas Public Schools, WIRED
Nextfest, Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (SMIT), various
elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, DARPA working
sessions, and others.
SHOWS "BINA 48" AND "THE ANDROID PORTRAIT OF PHILIP K DICK", AGI, OXFORD, 2012.
"NEW DIEGO SAN", @ UCSD. Built as a Renaissance-style figurative work in the
media of robotics, this robotic baby boy was built with funding from the
National Science Foundation, and serves cognitive robotics and human-
robot interaction research. 2012.
"THE ANDROID PORTRAIT OF PHILIP K DICK", ROUNDUP FOR AUTISM, DALLAS AUTISM
TREATMENT CENTER, 2012.
"HANSON ROBOKIND ROBOTS", NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, NSTA
CONFERENCES ON SCIENCE EDUCATION. NSTA NATIONAL CONFERENCE, INDIANAPOLIS,
IN, 2012.
"ROBOKIND ROBOTS ALICE AND ZENO", TECHSUCCESS, 2012.
ART FUTURA: TECNOPOLIS. "GHOST MACHINES", Intelligent robotics, mixed media.
Buenos Aires, August, 2011.
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, "ZENO MACHINE", CHICAGO, 2011.
SINGULARITY SUMMIT, "ZENO MACHINE", a conversational portrait of Zeno of Elea,
September 2010.
"BINA MACHINA, ROBOTIC PORTRAIT OF BINA ROTHBLATT", Terasem Movement
Ashram, Bristol VT, 2010. Reviewed on the front page of the NY Times,
2010
ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS IN CARRARA, MIA ALICE ROBOTIC SCULPTURE, May 2009.
TAIPEI MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, "FUTURE FACE", 2009.
THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS IN PALERMO, SICILY, MIA-ALICE, June 2009.
TED, "Computational Compassion" talk & display of robotic sculptures, 2009.
"SOULS AND MACHINES" SHOW at the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, "JULIO THE
UNCANNY" collaboration with David Byrne, 2008.
"ART FUTURA", ZENO ROBOT, in Barcelona, summer 2008.
"FAST FORWARD", Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, 2008-2009.
TOKYO MODERN, "FUTURE FACE", 2007.
"FRANKIE", in the EXPLORATORIUM SCIENCE MUSEUM, 2007.
VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM, "Future Face" Show, 2006.
PUNCTUM" in the "SECOND SKIN" SHOW, representing the Cooper Hewitt Design
Museum in Essen Germany, summer 2006.
COOPER HEWITT SMITHSONIAN DESIGN TRIENNIAL 2006-2008.
"ALBERT HUBO" at the APEC summit in Busan Korea, NOVEMBER 2005. Also
showed at the winter Olympics, in Turin Italy, February 2006, at Nextfest
2006 and 2007, and in Dubai in 2008.
EYEBEAM, NY NY, speaker and panelist, on robotic sculptures, Nov. 2005.
"PHILIP K DICK ANDROID PORTRAIT, WITH VALIS ROOM", in UnReal show at the
University of Texas, Dallas, September-November 2005. Reviewed in the
NY Times, Washington Post, Chicago Sun, and WIRED.
OGDEN MUSEUM, NEW ORLEANS, "PHILIP K DICK ANDROID" AUGUST 2005.
David Hanson, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 p. 6
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WIRED MAGAZINE NEXTFEST, 2005, A WORLD TECHNOLOGY-FESTIVAL, CHICAGO, JUNE 05.
"PKD-A, an Android Portrait of Philip K Dick".
TED, robotic art display: Kbot and Stinky Dick the Pirate, 2004.
EXHIBITOR AND SPEAKER, 2005 AAAI NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
"MCANIMOUS" GROUP SHOW AT MARKET GALLERY, LOS ANGELES 2004.
RISD ALUMNI SHOW, "DOG AUTOMATA ON FISHING POLE, DANCING THE STRANGE
ATTRACTOR IN FAUX EFFORT TO ESCAPE". Los Angeles 2003.
"GYMNOSOPHORE", SCULPTURE SHOW AND INSTALLATION, 2001; SIDE STREET GALLERY,
L.A. A two-man show with David Deaney, Gymnosophore offered
functioning, sculpted hot-tubs for the use of visitors. Reviewed favorably
in the Los Angeles Times art reviews by lead critic Christopher Knight.
TOKYO DISNEYLAND THEMEPARK, Sculpted numerous features in Pooh's Hunny
Hunt, serving as lead sculptor on the character trees and Heffalump
balloons. 1999.
TOKYO DISNEYSEA THEME PARK, Sculpted numerous props and characters,
including parts of Mermaid Lagoon, Arial's Grotto, 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea and others. ] 999.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE, ORLANDO, FL, Sculpted several mythical
creatures for the Atlantis Island.1998.
ATLANTIS CASINO RESORT, PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS; Designed and sculpted
numerous figurative works, including signature marlins (23' tall),
seahorses (14' tall), nautili (14' long), seashells (up to 18' tall), and light
fixtures.1998.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS THEMEPARK, ORLANDO, FL, Sculpted several parade floats,
including signature dragons.] 997.
WALT DISNEY WORLD, WORLD OF DISNEY THEMESTORE, Co-sculpted and co-painted
the Peter Pan Crocodiles and the Alice in Wonderland, winning a TEA best
display of the year award.1996
"BLISSKRIEG—ENTER THE GYMNASIUM". An immersive, performance environment,
Bliss-Krieg inspired participation, disorientation, creative scheming, and
unsettling transformation. Modeled after a themepark, this "Gymnasium"
had custom, surreal architecture including waterslides, running river, and
cabala labyrinth, with nodes of sensual delight. The evening was run like
an opera, with a climax of the dam opening to release a flood of 40,000
gallons of water to wash over the entire space. This work represented the
culmination of the "gymnasium" series (1991-1995). Built with support
from several DFW-area arts groups: the D-crats, Good-Bad, Hazy
Daze,and others. 1995.
"GYMNASIUM", RISD PROMENADE AND AUDITORIUM. Hot-tub performance event, with
behavior imperatives involving sit-corn improvisation via RPA rules, with
participation by Seth MacFarlin creator of Family Guy, 1995.
"PRIMORDIAL OOZE BATH," SCULPTURE INSTALLATION ON THE RISD GREEN, 1995.
70 feet wide and 40 feet long, this yoni-lingual swimming-hole sprayed
1200 gallons of seaweed goo (carageenan) over hundreds of playful
students, philosophically investigating the physics of creativity, garnering
favorable reviews from CNN's Headline News, the front page of Providence
Journal Bulletin, the L.A.Times, and the Chicago Tribune. This work was
third in the Gymnasium series of performance-architectures.
"RPA—ROBOTIC PARTY ARCHITECTURE". Automated psychoactive architecture,
designed to unlock wonder, creativity, and participation in the audience.
This concept was designed for a Brown CS course, under the advice of Tom
Dean, culminating in a term paper by the same name—RPA. Principles from
RPA were used in numerous subsequent events including the Primordial
Ooze Bath, Gymnasium, Disturbathon, and the robotic personalities of my
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androids. 1994-1995.
"PROTOGYMNASIUM"-A "BEHAVIOR IMPERATIVE HAPPENING". A performance-event
with performance edicts given weeks in advance to invitees, the
protogymnasia engendered structured participatory improvisation,
resulting in surprising, emergent imagery and experiences. 1994.
"SAUSAGEMAN", A PUBLIC PERFORMANCE AT 2 COLLEGE STREET. This McCarthy-esque
performance involved myself in tighty-wighty BVDs, a 40-foot sausage
suspended on small towers, which then disintegrated into pieces of
dissolving "manhood"—the plight of the aging male ego.
"SCUTTLING HEAD," My first humanoid Robot, built for a RISD independent study
with prof. Gary Metz, and displayed at Brown/RISD festival of Art and
Technology Festival called "PONG", 1995. This robotic self portrait of David
Hanson, functioned as a human-relations telepresence robot. My sculpted
robotic likeness rode atop a retractable 5' stalk emerging from an agile
robotic rover, receiving control signals from a distant user for robotic head
gestures, while transmitting video and 2-way audio to facilitate distant
conversation. 1995.
"Disturbathon", Dallas TX. Founded by Hanson, this immersive, primal art
environment inspires performative participation from the audience, as it
challenges the artifice of many taboos and playfully assays the complex
boundaries of social morality; annually from 1989 to the present.
HONORS ALUMNI OF THE YEAR, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS, 2012.
CHAIR, COGNITIVE ROBOTICS SESSION, AO, 2013.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, ARTIFICIAL GENERAL INTELLIGENCE (AGI), 2012.
WINNER, HONG KONG CITY ITF GRANT (CORECIPIENT W. BEN GOERTZEL $ GINO Yu), 2012.
INVITED SPEAKER, TEDx TAIPEI AND TEDx HONG KONG, 2012.
WINNER, NSF SBIR GRANT (CO-PI WITH KINO COURSEY), 2012.
DARPA ROBOTICS CHALLENGE GRANT UNDER PI DAN POPA, UTA's RESEARCH INSTITUTE
(UTARI), 2012.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, ROBOTICS INITIATIVE GRANT, UNDER PI DAN POPA OF
UTA's RESEARCH INSTITUTE (UTARI), developing sensitive, lifelike prosthetics
using Frubber, in collaboration with Advanced Arm Dynamics and Hanson
Robotics, 2012.
WINNER OF TEXAS MEDICAL RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE (TxMRC) GRANT (WITH
CORECIPIENTS DAN POPA AND NICOLIERI BAGNARU, UTA), 2012.
SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY (NTU), 2012-2013.
P.I., AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABS (AFRL) RESEARCH AWARD: "Improving Respirator
Testing with Hanson Robotics' Technologies", using Hanson robotic faces to
test respirators' protection against pathogenic nano-particulates such as
HI NI, anthrax and radioactive materials; awarded April 2011, ongoing as
of January 2013.
ART FUTURA, INVITED ARTIST AND SPEAKER: TECHNOPOLIS, BUENOS AIRIES. 2011.
CHAIR OF ASME BIOMIMETIC ROBOTICS WORSHOP, 2011
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PANELIST, 2009-201I.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, PIRE AWARD COMMITTEE MEMBER, 2010.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR, IEEE HUMANOIDS, 2010.
SPEAKER AND EXHIBITOR, TED 2009.
WINNER OF 2009 ITALIAN CENTRO NATIONALE RISERCHE (CNR) SCHOLARSHIP-6 MONTHS
COLLABORATING ON ROBOTS IN AUTISM RESEARCH WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF PISA, STELLA
MARIS NEUROLOGICAL HOSPITAL AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MESSINA, 2008-2009.
WINNER OF TECHTITAWS "INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR" AWARD, 2007.
WINNER OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD, 2007.
David Hanson, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 p. 8
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COOPER HEWITT SMITHSONIAN DESIGN TRIENNIAL, 2006. Exhibitor, panelist, speaker.
INCLUDED IN NUMEROUS 'TOP 10 COOLEST ROBOTS" LISTS, INCLUDING: TECHEBLOG,
WWW.ODDEE.COM, AND FITTP:i NYAMAZINGFACT.BLOGSPOT.COM 2008/ 09 / 10-
Coot EST-ROROIS.H I M1 .
CO-RECIPIENT OF 1ST PLACE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CLINICAL POSTER PRESENTATION AT
THE 12TH BIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECONSTRUCTIVE PREPROSTHETIC
SURGERY, WITH DR. KENNETH KENT, "ROBOTIC ANIMATION OF FACIAL PROSTHESES".
Presentated by Dr. Kent, 2006.
COVER WIRED MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2006. Albert Hubo robot ranked the #17
greatest robot of all history, with KAIST Hubo Group, using our Einstein
portrait atop the KAIST walking Hubo robot.
KAIST "ALBERT HOBO" greeted world leaders at the APEC summit in Busan Korea,
NOVEMBER 2005; Also at the Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, February 2006.
PATENT AWARDED: "A Human Emulation Robot System", issued September 2006,
(priority dated to June 2002). Two more patents pending.
UTA ARRI INNOVATION AWARD, FEBRUARY 2006.
AAAI AWARD, FIRST PLACE FOR OPEN INTERACTION, for the PKD Android, 2005
NSF STTR AWARD, to investigate piezo-actuated facial expressions with
Shashank Priya of ARRI.
WIRED MAGAZINE NEXTFEST, 2005, CHICAGO, JUNE OS. "PKD-A, Philip K Dick
android". Also featured exhibitor at Nexfest '04, '06, '07 and '08.
WIRED NEXTFEST, 2006. Exhibitor and panelist, showing Jules the Androgynoid
(with UWE), and also with the KAIST Alex Hubo.
FEATURED IN WIRED MAGAZINE, JULY 2004, JUNE '05, JANUARY '06, MARCH '06, AND
ONLINE SEPTEMBER '08.
WIRED MAGAZINE, PC MAGAZINE AND POPULAR SCIENCE described Hanson and his
work as "genius" in various articles.
WORLD TECHNOLOGY AWARD 2004, NOMINEE & SEMIFINALIST: BEST IT HARDWARE.
NIST ATP AWARD, 2004, my team and I won a "highly meritorious" designation,
with funding pending the 2005 congressional spending bill.
CO-CHAIR OF EAP APPLICATIONS SESSION at the SPIE International Smart Materials
Conference, in San Diego, March 15-19, 2004.
EXHIBITOR NEXTFEST, WIRED magazine's technology festival, SF, CA, May, 2004.
EXHIBITED AT TED, "TECHNOLOGY ENTERTAINMENT DESIGN", Monterey CA, Feb, 2004.
JPL OPEN HOUSE, 2002, 2003, AND 2005. Presenting my robots with the JPL
Advanced Actuators Lab.
CO-ORGANIZER AND SPEAKER AT THE 2003 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS) ANNUAL MEETING in Denver CO, of a symposium
entitled "Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robotics". Co-organized with
Yoseph Bar-Cohen ofJPLICalTech and Cynthia Breazeal of the MIT Al lab.
SCIENCE MAGAZINE PROFILE, March 28, 2003, described Hanson as "Head of his
Class" in sociable robotics.
THEMED ENTERTAINMENT ASSOCIATION, BEST THEMED DISPLAY AWARD 1996, TEAM-
SHARED is' PLACE for the "World of Disney Themed store", at Walt Disney
World, Orlando.
NASA INVENTIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS SPACE ACT MONETARY AWARD, 1994: TEAM-
SHARED 2No PLACE. NASA prize for best invention of the year, awarded to Dr.
Heinrich Gerritsen, Mary Lou Jepson and myself for a novel space shuttle
lighting system. Using a custom Fourier transform light-filter, this device
output a nearly perfect diffusion of light, useful for science experiments
and reducing astronaut eye-fatigue.
CO-INITIATED THE UTD COMPUTER GAMING COMPETITION, organized 525k USD
funding from Hughes Ventures, 2006
David Hanson, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 p. 9
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ORGANIZER AND CHAIR, "MIRACLES AND MONSTROSITIES" 1993 symposium on
genetically engineered art, at RISD-Brown art +tech festival PONG.
ODYSSEY OF THE MIND, EDUCATIONAL COMPETITION, 1992: FIRST PLACE WORLD. Co-built
a robotic vehicle to navigate an obstacle course, automatically dock to a
trailer, gather objects, and deliver them to a designated area.
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN (RISD) MERIT AWARD, 1992-1996.
VICE PRESIDENT, RISD STUDENT GOVERNMENT, 1995-1996. Co-managed a budget
of $365,000; organized functions, lectures, and various student -driven
initiatives (such as INTER ALIA, the Student Art-Science Initiative). Co-
organized RISD-Brown art +tech fest PONG.
OUTREACH RESEARCH AND SERVICE AT THE DALLAS AUTISM TREATMENT CENTER, 2012, AND 2010-
PRESENT. Co-developing autism treatment curriculum, in collaboration with
Clinical Director Dr. Carolyn Garver and UTD/Callier Center researcher Dr.
Pamela Rollins. Boston researcher Dr. Kathy Quill, and ATC clinician Kellie
Reynolds.
O.T.O. ACTIVE 2010 TO PRESENT.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE, N.TX FIRST ROBOTICS, 2008-2011.
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB, ROBOTICS CLUB "Humanlike Robots". PLANO,TX, 2011.
ADVISOR FOR STUDENTS AT UTD AND UTA, 2004-2011.
ADVISOR FOR SLOAN AWARD WINNING FILM PROJECT, W/ANYA MEKSYN, 2008-2011.
STEERING COMMITTEE FOR TEDx SMU, 2009.
SPEAKER AT LONG BRANCH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 2009.
CO-FOUNDER OF UTD BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION, WITH KINGDON HUGHES, 2006.
MEMBER American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since
2000.
MEMBER American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), since 2001.
MEMBER SPIE, since 2001.
PRESS ATTENTION Hanson has been featured in numerous popular media outlets including NY
Times, Scientific American, The Figaro, The New Yorker, Smithsonian
Magazine, Science Magazine, Popular Science, Good Morning America, the
BBC, CNN, and an August 2011 feature in National Geographic. Here are a
few select articles:
htto:lispectrum.ieee.orglautomatoniroboticsihumanoids/whv-we-should-
build-humanlike-robots
htto://www,obs.ora/wabh/nova/tech/social-robots.html
http: / iwww.qa.cominews-politics/ biq-issues/201103/ robots-say-the-
damnedest-things
littxj/sPectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/david-hanson-
robot-heads
httplidiscovermagazine.com/ohotos /body-shop-where-life-like-androids-
born
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you.html
htto://discovermaciazine.com/ohotoslbodv-shoo-where-life-like-androids-
born
htto://www.acm.oraiubiauitylinterviews/v7i18_hanson.html
l- p://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2001 /04 /02/Z$321.html
htto://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10391357-1.html
htto://www.nevworker.com/reoortina/2009/11/02/091102fa fact ar000ma
n?currentPage=all
David Hanson, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae 01-01-2013 p. 10
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http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Birth-of-a-Robot.html
htto://ndeaa.iol.nasa.gov/nasa-ndeinde-aa-lIcliooing/Pooular-Science-
Sept-2003.pdf
http://www.usnews.com/monevibusiness-economy/small-
businessiarticles/2008/01 /14/rise-of-the-robots.html
http: //www.pcmag.comiarticle2/0.2817.2036407.00.aso
http://www.sciencemachorclicontent/vol299/issue5611/r-samples.shtml
htto: / I iiae.utdallas.edu / news/nog science.html
EDUCATION THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, DALLAS, Ph.D. in Interactive Arts & Engineering/Aesthetic-
Studies 4.0 GPA cumulative, May 2007.
UCSD (visiting student) Cognitive Science, vir/ Jochen Triesch, 4.0 GPA, 2003.
UCLA (visiting student) Graduate Art, studied w/Paul McCarthy, 4.0 GPA, 2003.
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN BFA Film-Video, 1996; Honor Student.
BROWN UNIVERSITY (special student via RISD) courses in Holography, Advanced Holography,
1993-94; Computer Science, 1995-96.
HIGHLAND PARK HIGH SCHOOL, 1988. ARTS MAGNET HIGH SCHOOL, DALLAS; 1986-1987.
SKILLS SCULPTURE Figurative sculpted characters up to thirty feet in height
and as small as 4"; skilled in clay, foam, supersculpie,
fiberglass, concrete, silicone, urethane, moldmaking and
casting.
ROBOTICS /ANIMATRONICS
I develop complete humanlike robots, including faces and
walking robot bodies, transitioning this research into
mass-produced product in the Jetta factory environment in
China and Texas. For my humanoid robots, I co-designed
numerous animation control systems, with saccade and
other motion control architectures, integrated with custom
narrative dialogue systems designs, and co-developed
natural language reasoning and statistical narrative
assembly using LSI, semantic vectors and other techniques;
in collaboration with Dr.s Kino Coursey, Doug Miles,
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