Willow Garage Blog
October 6, 2008
Willow Garage is laying the technological foundation for future research and development in an uncharted industry. If you want to be part of our diverse team of engineers and researchers who are working to make personal robotics a reality consider joining the Willow Garage team.
We are looking for smart and creative technical people who are passionate about making robots that can help people. We have a collaborative, flexible work environment that values innovative thinking, high energy, passion, and deep technical know-how - and we are actively building the best team in the industry!
If you don't match one of these positions exactly, but think you can contribute here, please send us a resume and explain your background and what you would contribute to Willow Garage in a cover letter.
To apply, email your resume (pdf preferred) and a cover letter indicating which job you are interested in, plus with a link to any relevant projects that you'd like to share with us to: jobs@willowgarage.com
Willow Garage, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to the principles of workplace diversity
Still in school?...Check out our Intern Program and Internship Opportunities
October 2, 2008
6 alpha pan tilt heads are coming together. Notice the bolt pattern on the top of the head (face down on the table in these photos)
September 8, 2008
Creativity is important in a research lab: At Willow Garage, we push the envelope, test the limits, and in this case find a workaround to the law of gravity.
On Saturday, as a culmination of our our summer interns program about 30 folks from Willow Garage took a ride on G-Force One, the 727 that has been modified to provide a weightless experience for its passengers. Each zero gravity parabola provides about 30 seconds of weightlessness, followed by 20 seconds of 1.8 G's as the plane pulls out of its dive and climbs for the next cycle.
The short weightless sessions were frenzied and fun (see more pictures).We did the standard stuff: flying like superman, flipping, eating M&M's out of the air, watching water float (and then drop when gravity comes back). We also tried some new stuff. Scott brought along 400 ping pong balls and released them all at once (see the video). When my kids were little I could "bench press" them, and on this trip I pressed (tossed may be a better word) my oldest son Jonathan, who now weighs about the same as me, in moon gravity.
August 29, 2008
June 26, 2008
Leads software development for Personal Robotics Program
MENLO PARK, CA – June 26, 2008 – Willow Garage Inc., a privately-held
research lab focused on delivering open source autonomous robotic
platforms, today announced the addition of Brian P. Gerkey as a
Research Scientist. A long-time proponent and developer of open source
software, Gerkey will lead software development for the Willow Garage
Personal Robot 2 (PR2), and guide the design of ROS (Robot Operating
System), a collaborative project between Willow Garage and Stanford
University.
May 15, 2008
Researcher, Lecturer and Author to Direct Projects involving Perception and Mapping
MENLO PARK, CA – May 15, 2008 – Continuing its investment in Open
Source robotics platforms and expanding its senior management team,
Willow Garage Inc. today announced the appointment of Kurt Konolige as
Senior Researcher. Konolige, previously a Senior Computer Scientist at
SRI International’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and currently a
Consulting Professor at Stanford University’s Computer Science
Department, is known for his contributions to robotic perception and
mapping.
April 1, 2008
On the first day of the fourth month of 2008 we finally have our first arms on the robot. Look at those dexterous hands - wow!
March 16, 2008
The first piece of computer art that is organic and dynamic. What does a computer dream about? Does it count sheep?
Scott Draves has created a network of 50,000 computers worldwide working together to generate art.
We have an installation of Scott's art called "Dreams in High Fidelity", his rendition of what computers might dream about while they sleep. I asked him to create a high resolution version that moved 12x slower and with longer transitions - something our staff and visitors might enjoy.
Scott agreed and created a dynamic, organic work of art using the equivalent of 500 years of CPU time. Our installation appears on a 60 inch screen, has 200 sheep and 800 transitions - with each sheep playing for one minute and having four transitions that last for 30 seconds before the next sheep appears. Although all the sheep are based on the same algorithm, each is completely different, unique and complex. Most are beautiful and engaging.
If this sounds interesting, and you are near Menlo Park or Palo Alto, please feel free to stop by. We'd like to share it with you.
--- Scott Hassan
December 4, 2007
Researcher, Author and Industry Speaker Becomes Company's Senior Scientist
MENLO PARK, CA - December 4, 2007 - Continuing its investment in Open
Source robotics platforms, Willow Garage Inc. today announced the
appointment of Dr. Gary Rost Bradski as Senior Scientist. Bradski will
leverage his experience in robotics, machine learning and computer
vision research at Stanford University's AI Lab, and will apply that
knowledge to Willow Garage's personal robot
and the autonomous vehicle programs.
October 24, 2007
Donation to Stanford Furthers the Development of Tools for Robotics Application Development
MENLO PARK, CA – October 24, 2007 – To jumpstart the development of
future robotics applications, Willow Garage Inc. today announced its
plan to develop an available, standardized robotics platform. The
company also announced that it has donated $850,000 to the Stanford
Computer Science research group of Assistant Professor Andrew Ng. That
Lab is currently developing advanced open source software for personal
robotics.
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