Dr. Zoz Brooks
Hailing from Australia, Zoz came to the United States to pursue
graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became
"Dr. Zoz" after receiving a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and
computer science based on research into human-robot communication in the
Robotic Life group at MIT's Media Laboratory.
During this work he was fortunate -- or
bold -- enough to communicate with robots ranging from expressive
humanoid bots, at MIT and in Japan, to a space robot at NASA, to an
alien-looking tentacle robot. His research interests still include many
forms of human-machine interaction, and he continues to participate in
major international conferences on robotics, automation, computer
entertainment and electronic art.
Following in the footsteps of old-school
artist-engineers, Zoz likes to blend invention and art. While attending
MIT, he created a line of self-empowering prototypes with improbable
German names, including FUNKENSCHNORKEL (a backpack broadcast device
that allows the wearer to take control of the local audio environment)
and SCHALLFAUST and LUFTWERFER (two large "toy weapons for adults" that
co-opt beverage containers and compressed and liquified gases to provide
harmless pyrotechnic-style explosions for all occasions). His belief in
the synthesis of function, aesthetics and explosion resistance has a
philanthropic element, too -- while at MIT he worked on prototyping and
blast-testing tools to improve the safety of humanitarian land-mine
removal.
His other interests span far and wide. A
passionate traveler and explorer, he's visited countries across the
globe, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, climbed famous mountains such as
Kilimanjaro and Fuji and journeyed along the ancient Silk Road in
Central Asia. Alongside his computer hacker roots goes a love for
old-style media such as film, radio and print. When he's coding or
building, you'll usually hear heavy metal blasting.
A pyrotechnics enthusiast from a young age, Zoz is also a long-time member of the Pyrotechnics Guild International.
Zoz is a great believer in the power of
education. Before leaving Australia to pursue his graduate robotics
degrees, he earned a diploma in education to "do my small part to get
our countries back on track as being 'clever countries' where our
education and know-how is recognized as one of our great strengths."
Indeed, one of his big reasons for being on Prototype This was "to get kids interested in science and engineering by showing them that it's cool and fun and useful."