Daniela Rus

Daniela L. Rus (born 1962 or 1963)[1] is a Romanian-

American computer scientist. She serves as director of Daniela Rus
the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL), and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi
Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. She is the author of the books
Computing the Future, The Heart and the Chip: Our
Bright Future with Robots, and The Mind's Mirror:
Risk and Reward in the Age of AI.

Biography Born 1962 or 1963 (age 61–62)

Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Citizenship United States
Early life and education
Alma mater University of Iowa (BS)
Daniela L. Rus was born in Romania before Cornell University (MS, PhD)
immigrating to the United States with her parents. Her
Awards IEEE Edison Medal (2025)
father, Teodor Rus, is an emeritus professor of
NAS member (2024)
computer science at the University of Iowa.
AAAS member (2017)
Rus received a Bachelor of Science with majors in NAE member (2015)
computer science and mathematics from the University MacArthur fellow (2002)
IEEE fellow (2009)
of Iowa in 1985.[2] She received a Master of Science in
AAAI fellow (2009)
computer science in 1990 and a Doctor of Philosophy
in computer science in 1993, both from Cornell ACM Fellow (2015)

University.[3][2] Her doctoral advisor was John Scientific career

Hopcroft, and her doctoral dissertation was titled "Fine Fields Robotics; AI; Computer Science
motion planning for dexterous manipulation".[4] Institutions Dartmouth College;
Massachusetts Institute of
Career Technology
Thesis Fine motion planning for
Rus started her academic career as a professor in the
dexterous manipulation (https://
Computer Science Department at Dartmouth College
www.proquest.com/docview/303
before moving to MIT in 2004. Since 2012 she has
965354) (1992)
served as Director of MIT Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), which - Doctoral John Hopcroft
with more than 125 faculty and 1700+ members - is advisor
the university's largest interdepartmental research lab. Doctoral Cynthia Sung
students
As director of CSAIL, she launched a number of research programs and initiatives, including the AI
Accelerator program, Toyota-CSAIL Joint Research Center,[5] Communities of Research (CoR), a
postdoctoral program called METEOR, Future of Data Trust and Privacy, Machine Learning
Applications, Fintech, Cybersecurity. As head of CSAIL's Distributed Robotics Lab, Rus focuses her
research on the science and engineering of autonomy, with the goal of developing systems that seamlessly
integrate into people's lives to support them with cognitive and physical tasks.

Organizations
Rus is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences (AAAS), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and a fellow of ACM, AAAI, and IEEE. She
was also the recipient of an NSF Career award and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship, and of the
2002 MacArthur Fellowship.[6]

Research
Rus has published an extensive collection of research articles that span the fields of robotics, artificial
intelligence (AI), machine learning, and computational design.

In her work Rus has sought to expand the notion of what a robot can be, exploring such topics as soft
robotics, self-reconfigurable modular robots, swarm robotics, and 3D printing. Her research approaches
the study of the science and engineering of autonomy as integrated hardware-software, or body-brain
systems.[7] She has said that she views the body of the robot as critical in “defining the range of
capabilities of the robot,” and the brain critical in “enabling the body to deliver on its capabilities."[8]

To this end, she has developed a range of algorithms for computation design and fabrication of robots, for
increasing the learning capabilities of machines in safety-critical applications, and for coordinating teams
of machines and people. In addition to contributing fundamentally to the design, control, planning, and
learning for agents, Rus also considered what is necessary for robots to be deployed in the world. One
example is her project to develop self-driving vehicles.

She has also spoken and written widely about larger topics in technology, like the role of robotics[9] and
AI[10] in the future of work, AI for Good, and computational sustainability.

Rus has also been active in entrepreneurship. She co-founded the companies LiquidAI, ThemisAI, Venti
Technologies, and The Routing Company.

Rus is also involved in corporate governance. In March 2023, logistics company Symbotic appointed her
to its board of directors.[11] In October 2023, AI SaaS company SymphonyAI appointed her to its board
of directors, where she still serves as of July 2024.[12]

Robotics
Rus has contributed some of the first multi-robot system algorithms with performance guarantees in
distributed robotics, by introducing a control-theoretic optimization approach for adaptive decentralized
coordination.[13] Key to these results is the tight coupling between perception, control, and
communication. The control algorithms are decentralized, adaptive, and provably stable.
Her group has developed self-configuring modular robots that can alter their physical structures to
perform different tasks. This includes sets of robotic cubes that use angular movement to assemble into
different formations,[14] and magnet-controlled robots that can walk, sail and glide using different
dissolvable exoskeletons.[15] She has also worked on algorithms for robots to fly in swarms,[16] and for
boats to autonomously navigate the canals of Amsterdam & self-assemble as floating structures.[17]

Rus was an early contributor to the field of soft robotics, which some researchers believe has the potential
to outperform traditional hard-bodied robotics in a range of human environments.[18] Her work has
introduced self-contained autonomous robotic systems such as an underwater “fish” used for ocean
exploration [19] and dexterous hands that can grasp a range of different objects.[20] Rus has created
inexpensive designs and fabrication techniques for a range of silicon-based robots and 3D-printable
robots,[21] with the goal of making it easier for non-experts to make their own.

Her projects have often drawn inspiration from nature, including the robotic fish and a trunk-like robot
imbued with touch sensors.[22] She has also explored the potential of extremely small-scale robots, like
an ingestible origami robot[23] that could unfold in a person's stomach to patch wounds. Other work has
revolved around robots for a range of logistics environments, including one that can disinfect a
warehouse floor in 30 minutes.[24]

Machine learning
Rus and her team are trying to address some of the key challenges with today's methods for machine
learning, including data quality and bias, explainability, generalizability, and sustainability. She is
working on a new class of machine learning models that she calls “liquid networks” that can more
accurately estimate uncertainty,[25] better understand the cause-and-effect of tasks,[26] and even that can
continuously adapt to new data inputs[27] rather than only learning during the training phase. Rus'
research has also involved developing machine learning systems for a range of use cases and industries,
including for autonomous technologies for vehicles on land, in the air and at sea. She has worked on
algorithms to improve autonomous driving in difficult road conditions, from country roads[28] to snowy
weather,[29] and also released an open-source simulation engine that researchers can use to test their
algorithms for autonomous vehicles.

Human/robot interaction
Many of the Distributed Robotics Lab's projects have focused on enabling smoother and more natural
interaction and collaboration between humans and robots. Rus has created feedback systems that allow
human users to subconsciously communicate through brainwave activity whether a robot has made a
mistake in manufacturing environments.[30] Using wearable body sensors, she has developed systems that
enable users to more smoothly control drones[31] and work with to lift and transport goods.[32]

Her group has also worked on projects geared towards helping the physically disabled. They have
collaborated with the Andrea Bocelli Foundation to create wearable systems [33] to help guide the visually
impaired, as well as a “smart glove” that uses machine learning to interpret sign language.[34]

Computational design and fabrication

In recent years Rus has worked with MIT colleague Wojciech Matusik to create methods for 3D-printing
robots and other functional objects, often made out of multiple different types of material. She has 3D-
printed soft robots with embedded electronics,[35] items with tunable mechanical properties,[36] and even
“smart gloves” that could help with grasping tasks for people with motor-coordination issues.[37] Her
group has developed methods for 3D-printing materials to sense how they are moving and interacting
with their environment, which could be used to create soft robots that have some sort of understanding of
their own posture and movements.

Awards
In 2017, Rus was included in Forbes "Incredible Women Advancing A.I. Research" list.[38]

Rus was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2015 for contributions to
distributed robotic systems.

A select list of her awards include:

2025 winner of the IEEE Edison Medal[39][40]

2024 Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences[41]
2024 Awarded the John Scott Medal[42][43]
2024 The Boston Globe's Tech Power Players 50 [44]
2023 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Award[45]
2022 Schmidt Futures’ AI2050 Fellow [46]
2022 The Boston Globe's Tech Power Players 50 [47]
2021 AI Magazine's Top 10 Women in AI [48]
2021 Top 100 Women in Tech (16) [49]
2020 named to White House science council [50]
2020 IJCAI John McCarthy Award [51]
2019 Mass TLC Innovation Catalyst Award [52]
2018 IEEE Pioneer in Robotics and Automation Award[53]
2017 Engelberger Robotics Award [54]
2021 Elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
2017 Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2015 Elected member of the National Academy of Engineering
2015 Elected fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
2009 Elected fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
2002 Awarded the MacArthur Fellowship (“genius grant”)

Books
Daniela Rus with Adam Conner-Simons, Computing the Future: A Decade of Innovation at
MIT CSAIL, Cambridge, MIT Press, 2023, ISBN 979-8-218-27291-3.
Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone, The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots,
New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2024, ISBN 978-1-324-05023-0.
 Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone, The Mind's Mirror: Risk and Reward in the Age of AI, New
York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2024, ISBN 978-1-324-07932-3.

Controversy
Rus and MIT CSAIL have been accused of complicity in Israel's Genocide on Gaza due to ongoing
research projects sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD). IMOD-sponsored projects
include the development of algorithms with applications in "multirobot security defense and
surveillance," "city-scale observation systems," and teaching small, unmanned vehicles, such as drones,
to track and pursue targets with increase autonomy.[55][56][57][58][59] In response, there has been
considerable pushback from the Cambridge and MIT community.[60]

Notably, Israel has used unmanned quadcopter drones mounted with guns to target Palestinian civilians in
the Gaza Strip.[61]

References
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13. Schwager, Mac; Rus, Daniela; Slotine, Jean-Jacques (2009). "Decentralized, Adaptive
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31. "MIT muscle-control system for drones lets a pilot use gestures for accurate and specific
navigation/" (https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/27/mit-muscle-control-system-for-drones-lets-a
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32. "MIT's new robot takes orders from your muscles/" (https://www.popsci.com/mit-robot-sense
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39. [2] (https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/recipient/daniela-l-rus/)
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55. "Despite censorship and intimidation we continue to demand: no more research for
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ttps://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TRO.2023.3263459). Trans. Rob. 39 (4): 2569–2584.
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ACX-1vQsS4Hzfinaih0IyygLjEYjL-L_vK8BW7oY-y9c_YJfrSqoooKEOVezQPX-pADHHh5hM
AW34McITp56/pubhtml). Google Docs. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
61. Lonsdorf, Kat (26 November 2024). "Eyewitnesses in Gaza say Israel is using sniper drones
to shoot Palestinians" (https://www.npr.org/2024/11/26/g-s1-35437/israel-sniper-drones-gaz
a-eyewitnesses). National Public Radio.

External links
Daniela Rus Home page at MIT (http://people.csail.mit.edu/rus)
Daniela Rus CSAIL home page (https://www.csail.mit.edu/user/876)
Daniela Rus MacArthur Fellows Page (http://www.macfound.org/fellows/697/)
MIT Distributed Robotics Lab Homepage (http://groups.csail.mit.edu/drl/wiki/index.php?title=
Main_Page)

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