Dr. Barrett is responsible for developing the SCOPE program, establishing the strategic corporate partnerships that support it and directing the student/faculty SCOPE teams. Prior to joining the Olin faculty, Dr. Barrett was Vice President of Engineering at the iRobot Corporation. Before iRobot, Dr. Barrett held positions as a Director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Corporation, as a Research Engineer at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and as a Technical Director at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory. With over 25 years of experience in the robotics industry, Dr. Barrett has built robots that walk, hop, swim, roll and entertain for a wide variety of government, commercial and industrial customers.

Dr. Barrett received his Ph.D. and M.S. in ocean engineering and M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Lowell. He teaches Mechanical Engineering and Robotics at Olin. His research laboratory at Olin works in the area of unmanned robotic vehicles.

In addition to his many published articles, Dr. Barrett holds nine patents with previous colleagues on a variety of robotic systems. He is a member of numerous professional societies including IEEE Robotics and Automation, Vehicular Technology and Ocean Engineering Societies. Robotics, intelligent/unmanned vehicles, mechanical design, agricultural engineering, ocean engineering, design for manufacturing, and product design are a few of Dr. Barrett's teaching and research interests.