Biographical Information and Statement

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.

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.

“All companies have three classes of problems: Class 1 problems are the mission critical problems that your best people must focus on for survival. Class 2 are the strategic problems that have been sitting on your back burner for years, for lack of time and skilled labor to address them. Addressing these problems could significantly and positively affect your bottom line, provide a foundation for explosive growth or enable successful entry into a profitable new business area. Class 3 are low-level problems that have no significant impact on your corporations operations.

If you have a really great Class 2 problem, one that could significantly benefit your company but has been sitting on your back-burner for years, if you know deep in your heart that solving it would have a dramatic upside for your company, if you would be interested in exploring the pure venture R&D opportunity of having a team of 6 world-class, innovative, entrepreneurial engineers backed by Olin’s faculty, staff and cutting edge facilities focus on it for a year, please contact me. Olin students can do extraordinary work; let them take on your challenge and work for you. “

- David Barrett