engineering

Robert Wood (roboticist)

Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist) rather than just read about it. In short: Robert J. Wood is a roboticist and a professor of electrical engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and is the director of the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Robert J. Wood is a roboticist and a professor of electrical engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and is the director of the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory. At Harvard, he directs the NSF-funded RoboBees project, a 5-year project to build a swarm of robotic bees.

Background Wood received a BS in electrical engineering from Syracuse University in 1998. He received a PhD in electrical engineering in 2004 from the University of California, Berkeley under Ron Fearing with a thesis titled Composite microstructures, microactuators and sensors for biologically inspired micro air vehicles.

Awards 2018 Max Planck-Humboldt Medal 2014 National Geographic Emerging Explorer 2012 Alan Waterman Award 2008 MIT Technology Reviews TR35 list 2008 DOD Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers 2008 NSF CAREER Award 2008 ONR Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award 2008 AFOSR Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award 2006 DARPA Young Faculty Award

Article The Robobee Project Is Building Flying Robots the Size of Insects by Robert Wood, Radhika Nagpal and Gu-Yeon Wei in the March 11, 2013 Scientific American

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robert Wood (roboticist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist)

In research: Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist) 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: Robert Wood (roboticist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American electrical engineers, American mechanical engineer stubs, American mechanical engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robert Wood (roboticist) in simple terms?

Why does Robert Wood (roboticist) 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 Robert Wood (roboticist)?

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 Robert Wood (roboticist).