engineering

Mark Tilden

Mark Tilden is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mark Tilden rather than just read about it. In short: Mark W. Tilden is a robotics physicist who produces complex robotic movements from simple analog logic circuits, often with discrete electronic components, and usually without a microprocessor.

Key takeaways

Mark Tilden belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mark Tilden to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mark Tilden from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mark W. Tilden is a robotics physicist who produces complex robotic movements from simple analog logic circuits, often with discrete electronic components, and usually without a microprocessor. He is controversial because of his libertarian Tilden's Laws of Robotics, and is known for his invention of BEAM robotics and the WowWee Robosapien humanoid robot.

Early career Born in the UK in 1961, raised in Canada, Tilden started at the University of Waterloo then moved on to the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he developed simple robots such as the SATbot which instinctively aligned itself to the magnetic field of the Earth, de-mining insectoids, "Nervous Network" theory and applications, interplanetary explorers, and behavioral research into many solar-powered "Living Machines" of his own design. Tilden later referred to his early robots as "wimpy" for the results of their programming using Isaac Asimov's Three Rules of Robotics. He accordingly promulgated another set of three rules for what he called "wild" robots, essentially survivalists.

Current Work Having left government service and moved to Hong Kong, Tilden currently works as a freelance robotics designer, consultant and lecturer. His commercial products are marketed through WowWee Toys. Biomorphic robot-based items include B.I.O. Bugs (2001), Constructobots (2002), G.I Joe Hoverstrike (2003), RoboSapien (2004), Robosapien v2 (2005), Roboraptor (2005), Robopet (2005), Roboreptile (2006), RS Media (2006, co-developed with Davin Sufer and Maxwell Bogue), Roboquad (2007), Roboboa (2007), the humanform Femisapien (2008), Joebot (2009), and the Roomscooper floor-cleaning robot (2010). Tilden and his robots have been featured on several television specials, such as "Robots Rising" (Discovery), "The Shape of Life" (PBS), "TechnoSpy" (TLC), "Extreme Machines - Incredible Robots" (TLC), "The Science behind Star Wars" (Discovery), as well as many magazines, newspaper publications, websites, and books. A comprehensive article on Tilden (December-2010) by Thomas Marsh is viewable online through the "Robot" Magazine website. Tilden also was a technical consultant for the robot scenes in the 2001 movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. His robots are also continuous background props in the TV series The Big Bang Theory. Movies which feature his robots in prominent roles include The 40 Year Old Virgin, Paul Blart Mall Cop and X-Men: The Last Stand. Tilden appeared in the 2016 documentary film Machine of Human Dreams, which showed the work of several prominent technologists based in Hong Kong.

See also List of University of Waterloo people Behavior based robotics Robot

References

External links Robotsrule - Detailed information site on many commercially available entertainment robots. Solarbotics - On-line store for parts, plans, kits, and history of BEAM robotics. BEAM Discussion Group - Active on-line discussion group of BEAM robots, builders, events, and history. "Robot" Magazine - Detailed article on Mark Tilden's history, philosophy, and robotics approach, with images. Discover Magazine - Article about Mark Tilden

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark Tilden

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark Tilden claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mark Tilden before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mark Tilden ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mark Tilden

In research: Mark Tilden appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mark Tilden in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mark Tilden is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1961 births, 20th-century British physicists, 20th-century Canadian scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark Tilden outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mark Tilden in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mark Tilden means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mark Tilden out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark Tilden in simple terms?

Mark W. Tilden is a robotics physicist who produces complex robotic movements from simple analog logic circuits, often with discrete electronic components, and usually without a microprocessor.

Why does Mark Tilden matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mark Tilden?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mark Tilden.